5 Best Smartphones for $100 or Less

Motorola Moto G

Carrier Catch: Verizon, Boost Mobile, Cricket and others all offer this phone Price: $50 – $99.99 Specs: The Moto G has some pretty decent specs and runs Android 4.4 KitKat with a 4.5 inch screen that, unfortunately, doesn’t have the best pixel quality but is still totally usable. The phone has a 1.2 GHz quad core processor and water repellent nano-coating designed to help the phone be a little more water resistant. However, it doesn’t actually have any specific water-resistant ratings, so I’d still be careful. The Moto G has a 5 MP camera, 1.3 MP front camera, HD voice and has Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The battery is pretty decent, but not awesome. Some of the cNet reviews said that the newer Moto Gs come with SD slots as well, but the older versions do not. The specs I found on Boost’s site didn’t list an SD slot, but Cricket did list one. Be sure to check with your carrier because the internal memory of the phone is only 1 GB RAM and 8 GB ROM, so a SD card would make all the difference.  

LG Optimus L70

Carrier Catch: Metro PCS and Cricket both offer this phone Price: $49.99 – $99.99 Specs: The LG Optimus L70 has a slightly larger screen than the Moto G. It has a very similar processor at 1.2 GHz and runs Android 4.4 KitKat. It has a 5 MP rear camera, a VGA front camera and an SD card slot to expand its tiny 4GB internal memory. The battery is decent and the phone has bluetooth, WiFi and 4G access. Generally, this would be an excellent mid range phone and has enough features (like the QSlide) and a recent OS so it could easily last for quite a while before being too out of date to use.  

LG Realm

Carrier Catch: Boost Mobile Price: $79.99 Specs: Like the Optimus L70 and Moto G, this phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat and features a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and  much better battery than its competitors so it’s more likely to last all day. This phone has a 5 MP back camera, but also sports a font facing camera. It has several other features like the Knock Code to unlock, QuickMemo and HD Voice for clear calls which make this phone a pretty good low-end purchase. The internal memory is tiny (1 GB) and doesn’t seem to have an SD card slot though, which could be a deal-breaker for some.  

Nokia Lumia 635

Carrier Catch: Metro PCS Price: $69.99 – $99.99 Specs: This is a good entry-level Windows phone running Windows 8 (newer versions run 8.1 and feature Cortana and a higher price point). Depending on whether you get an older version for cheaper on Amazon or a newer version from the Windows store, the phone may have a 1.0 or 1.2 GHz quad core processor with an SD card slot and a 5 MP digital camera with a couple neat options like Smart Shoot (although 5 MP isn’t anything to write home about). It is compatible with Bluetooth, WiFi connectivity and 4G networks. Nothing too spectacular, but if you are looking for a cheap way to try out the Windows phone, this might not be a bad choice. You can get it completely unlocked for $100 or slightly over and locked to Metro PCS for under $100.  

ZTE Sonata 4G

Carrier Catch: Cricket Price: $49.99 – $79.99 Specs: The ZTE Sonata is a little more out of date than the others, and runs Android 4.1.2 Jellybean. Size and weight-wise, it is similar but has a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor and a microSD card slot. The battery isn’t quite as good and the 5 MP camera is about the same as the others. The device has bluetooth, WiFi and 4G compatibility. It comes in white or navy and is a good low-end phone if you are a Cricket user. It doesn’t seem to be available for the other carriers, unfortunately.  

Honorable Mention: iPhone 3 GS

For iPhone lovers I am sad to say that I couldn’t find any iPhones for under $100. But I did locate a refurbished iPhone 3 GS for just slightly over–$108.72 while it lasts.  If you look on eBay, there were a lot of different older iPhones selling for around $100 or slightly over, but that’s really on a first-come-first-serve basis, so I didn’t feel right including it in the list. However, if you are dying for an iPhone, don’t mind getting an older model and don’t want to spend $600, then a little bit of online searching for refurbished phones might be worth your time.]]>