Don't bother getting a new budget phone. Pick up a higher end used one and then just put your sim card into it. Sites like Swappa are a great place to get a legitimate used phone in good condition.

Locked phones can ONLY be used on the carrier they're tied to. You cannot take a locked phone to another carrier, or to another country (other than with expensive international roaming plans on the original carrier). Depending on the carrier, they may be able to become "carrier unlockable" after some time period, but that's not always the case, and that doesn't entirely free you. Almost all locked phones (everything other than iPhones and Pixels) will also have their updates "certified" by the carrier, meaning that whichever carrier the phone was originally tied to will arbitrarily slow down or prevent your phone from being updated for months, years, or forever. People who hate updates might think this is a benefit. It is not. We're talking about security updates, not about when an app developer decides to randomly change everything for no reason. There is no legitimate reason for this, it's only done so that carriers can add bloatware, adware, and spyware to the OS updates.

Budget phones like the A14 will often have promotions from carriers that reduce the retail price of the device. These are locked devices, and they will not unlock the device unless you're subscribed for a certain long period of time. If a phone's page on amazon lists any carrier name, it's locked to that carrier for 6-18 months. The unlocked version of the phone is almost always going to be on the high end of the price range, because it's not subsidized by you being stuck on a specific carrier's plan.

You can get access to the primary carrier networks at cheaper rates using a plan from an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator). They utilize the exact same networks, but have negotiated cheaper rates with the main carrier networks. They pass the savings onto you (and cheap out on other stuff like not having physical locations or huge advertising budgets), so you can access that network more affordably. If T-Mobile has good coverage in your area, Mint Mobile might be a good choice, with an unlimited plan for $15/month. Visible uses Verizon's network and offers a similar unlimited plan for $25/month.

Would like to add the budget phones are a ripoff, the performance on the Samsung A's is abysmal, if you've ever had a phone way past its prime that was prone to stuttering they're like that right out of the box. I usually get a refurbished Galaxy that's several years old, you can still get years of use out of them and you can get solid discounts especially if the exterior is dinged up, you're likely going to be putting a protective case on it anyways and they always replace the screens. Also second getting a MVNO provider, I don't really use my phone a lot when I'm not in range of wifi and pay about $20 a month.

I have a redmi note 11 and I find they work really well for being in that price range. Only downside is you need to get it drop shipped because they aren't sold in North America, and the band comparability isn't the same so the signal can be a little weak.

Most phones these days have specs that are going to cover you for all of your needs. This doesn't apply to people who use their phones for high end mobile games but if you're using one for stuff like maybe listening to some music or doing some web browsing or using a banking app, just about anything will do.

Caveat here to say that ram is more important than processors or anything else. I wouldn't go below 4gb or your phone will probably be a bit sluggish and slow on response.

Most phones have really good cameras these days. I'd say you're likely completely fine. I hear Motorolas have shitty enough cameras that people remark on them being bad but I wish all Motorola a big BDS fuck you anyway (they do a lot with Israel and they should be high on the boycott priority list).

I'm not in the US so I can't speak to bands that comms towers use but you should be able to check if a phone model is suitable for a country by looking it up on https://willmyphonework.net/

The Samsung model you mentioned is good because it has expandable memory, so if you wanted to make your phone a music player then that's completely doable even with an extensive music library.

The ram is a little bit light on but nothing of concern given your described use case however it will be less futureproof (very few phones are though thanks to weaponised obsolescence) but it would be the limiting factor imo and you won't necessarily have lots of room to grow if you, say, start using it as a music player as you're using it as a GPS simultaneously.

You'll probably find the camera to be very capable for your needs. It also has fast charging which is handy and the battery is decent.

I think the only thing that you might want to consider as a feature this phone lacks is that it doesn't have wireless charging. This is a handy feature to have for people who like holding on to their phones for a long time as charging ports often get pretty shitty after a couple of years of use and wireless charging bypasses this issue.

Once you get your phone you should make another thread asking for app recommendations. There are some really good ones out there and YouTube Revanced sits very high on that list.

used iphone, for your budget you might be able to get up to 13, but may have to settle for 12 (which is still a decent choice in 2024)

What's the difference between locked and unlocked?

locked will only work with the carrier specified, unlocked will theoretically work with any carrier as long as the phone is made for your region/country

I'll second buying a used flagship phone over a new budget phone, especially in the $300 range.

Those budget phones made more sense when the technology was getting so much better each generation that having a low quality version of the new phone was better than the top quality of a few generations old phone.

You can get an unlocked s21 ultra 5g for less than 300 on swappa right now.

It's the phone Ive been using since it came out. Great cameras, 10x optical zoom, wide angle, fast image capture. Solid battery life, 65 watt fast charging, wireless charging, big screen with 120hz and small bezels. Still gets major and security updates, although it will only get security updates starting next year supposedly.

Downsides are it's a little heavy and unevenly distributed, big camera bump(a good case can hide it though).

I have the Unihertz Jelly Star. It's really nice. If you like a small phone with a lot of power.

I loaded lineage OS onto it and it works like a dream. You just have to follow some guides on Reddit.

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I have the Unihertz Jelly Star. It's really nice. If you like a small phone with a lot of power.