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Stocking stuffers for Christmas, great Android phones around $150 (what do you suggest?)

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Arlen Holder

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Nov 21, 2019, 8:47:52 AM11/21/19
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I'm looking to buy a handful of unlocked GSM (T-Mobile) 32GB Android
stocking stuffers, around $150 or so, good price-to-performance value, all
T-Mobile existing customers.

I truly love and adore the $130 LG Stylo 3 Plus (model TP450), but it's two
years old now, and still about the same price online (best I can find now
is $150 unlocked new) - which says a lot about Android resale value - but
it's not good when you want to buy a few more as stocking stuffers.

I can find the newer LG Stylo 4 Plus online for a bit more than that price,
but its battery isn't removable (one strike) although it has more RAM and a
bigger screen and a faster processor (all of which matters).

The only decent T-Mobile phone Costco currently has is the Samsung A10E at
$150, which doesn't seem like all that good of a phone for that price, to
me (their A20 is $220), where T-Mobile unlocks unilaterally after 2 billing
periods.

The main requirements are:
o Should be $150 (give or take)
o Must be at least 32GB RAM
o Must have an expansion slot
o Should have removable battery
o Must work on the T-Mobile (USA) network

That's about it for the key requirements.

If you know of good deals on Android 32GB GSM phablets between now and
Christmas, please let us all know so we can take advantage of the specials.

Arlen Holder

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Nov 25, 2019, 7:13:11 PM11/25/19
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On Thu, 21 Nov 2019 13:47:51 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

> The main requirements are:
> o Should be $150 (give or take)
> o Must be at least 32GB RAM
> o Must have an expansion slot
> o Should have removable battery
> o Must work on the T-Mobile (USA) network

UPDATE:

<https://9to5google.com/2019/11/24/best-android-black-friday-deals/>
$100 LG Stylo 5 at Walmart (Black Friday sale)
"One of the most affordable offers for Black Friday falls to
LG's Stylo 5 Smartphone at $99. That's $100 off the going rate"

It seems to be a $200 phone otherwise, but I'm not sure the carrier yet:
<https://www.walmart.com/ip/Straight-Talk-LG-Stylo-5-Smartphone/220381286>

They also have a Boost Mobile (whatever that is) LG Stylo 5 for $130:
<https://www.walmart.com/ip/Boost-Mobile-LG-Stylo-5-32GB-Prepaid-Smartphone/665879207>

I need to call Walmart though, to figure out if it will work on T-Mobile,
and if they will allow the phone to be bought, at the $100 sale price
anyway, for an _existing_ T-Mobile line (which is what Costco allowed when
they had the similar LG Stylo 3 Plus on sale for $130 two years ago).

Does anyone here know if Walmart will sell the phone for existing T-Mobile?

Arlen Holder

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Nov 26, 2019, 4:10:58 PM11/26/19
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On Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:13:11 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

> <https://9to5google.com/2019/11/24/best-android-black-friday-deals/>
> $100 LG Stylo 5 at Walmart (Black Friday sale)
> "One of the most affordable offers for Black Friday falls to
> LG's Stylo 5 Smartphone at $99. That's $100 off the going rate"

What do people think about the $100 Moto G7 versus the $100 LG Sylo 5?

I need to buy a few stocking stuffers, where the two phones that seem like
an ok deal this week are the $100 64GB Moto G7 for $100 from GoogleFi
versus the aforementioned $100 32GB/3MB RAM LG Stylo 5 at Walmart on Black
Friday.

Does anyone have those phones where they can tell us what they think?
<https://www.tspn1.com/2019/08/lg-stylo-5-vs-motorola-moto-g7-specs-comparison.html>

For $100, they're both 8 cores, 1.8GHz, about the same size, displays are
about the same, cameras are about the same, both have headphone jacks, both
have expansion slots, both have the same GPU, both have a type-C USB, etc.

If I look for hardware differences, the lack of a stylus in the Motorola G7
is one, but that doesn't matter since I almost never use the stylus I have
on my current $130 LG Stylo 3 Plus; where, likewise, the Moto G7 has two
SIM slots but I don't envision anyone receiving them wanting two SIM slots,
so that's a wash. The LG doesn't have an FM radio, but the G7 has one.

The main difference, AFAICT, is the Moto G7 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 632
versus the 450 for the LG Stylo 5, and 4GB of RAM versus the LG Stylo 5's
3GB of RAM, and, of course, the Moto G7 has 64GB of main storage versus
32GB for the LG Stylo 5.

Neither seems to be waterproof.
<https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9357&idPhone2=9758>

The one huge drawback of both $100 phones is the battery is non removable.
Yet, for the same price of $100 this weekend, which phone do you suggest?
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