I’m looking for a cheap phone that’s decently reliable. It’s not going to be getting much use. Is there anything out there under $150 that’s just reliable?
Something, like Purism is precisely what I would prefer. But, that’s way too expensive for now. Ideally, it won’t have Chinese parts, but that’s kind of hard to get around.
So, far I’m considering this.
Literally every phone in the market will have Chinese parts so idk how you will get around that one unfortunately. That phone you linked to looks cool.
I don’t get the dislike for “Made in China”. Pretty much everything you use or buy has parts that were made in China. They pretty much cornered the market. If you want American or some other country, you’ll be spending way more then $150.
Only Purism most likely has an all American part option. Only problem there is the boards they were supposed to carry ended up being different from the one’s shipped.
The secure phone they’re trying to deliver still needs some work.
Worried about backdoors. But, since this phone won’t connect to the internet that’s not really an issue.
If the phone is connecting to a cell network, it’s already too late. That SIM card is a tiny computer that runs embedded Java, it has control over the radios and baseband. If a malicious actor (police, etc) wants to listen in on your calls or intercept your data, they can and will.
Won’t have a sim card. Purism just has privacy focused devices. They’re not certified with Qubes, anymore though.
Does that support Android apps?
What about a cheap Samsung phone? They have plenty of affordable options.
I like the Motorola Moto G it’s slightly more but well worth it. Amazon has it for $164 used or $209 new.
The same goes for the One Plus Nord N200.
In general wanting that privacy contradicts getting a cheap price. The best thing you could do is used a burner phone. I mean to say grab you a pre-paid cellular at the local drug store or gas station or Walmart. Then you can pay for pre-paid cards for minutes and if you really want to go all the way pay with those for cash and or use cash to buy pre-paid credit cards. As someone else mentioned as with every piece of electronics in our home especially anything that uses the internet like your TV or Roku any PC that you are typing on basically everything nowadays uses some kind of chip that is made outside the U.S. You will find that even products that say they are made in the U.S. doesn’t mean that they make all their parts they just buy them and assayable them here the U.S. This is why so many things like video cards all of the way through car sales have been affected through the chip shortage. I hate to say it but 90% percent of the time Made in the USA especially in electronics is just being used as a marketing ploy. Hoping that our partiotism will cause us to lean towards there products. I hate it myself.
Here is a quotw from the Purism phone small print:
" The Librem 5 USA has Made in USA Electronics with all fabrication and manufacturing done at the Purism facility. Individual components used in fabrication are sourced direct from chip makers and parts distributors."
Grandfather has Moto G30, nice phone - great battery, high refresh rate display (low res). Father has redmi note 10 pro (slightly more pricey) also very nice phone on a budget. However, running mui ui is probably reporting back to the motherland so probably not what you’re after. Maybe running custom roms like LINEAGE OS could help out a little.
I could be wrong but I believe all cell phone are digital and require a sim whether it’s built in or removeable . The Purism webpage says it uses a nano sim like most phones today the Wi-Fi board comes from India. the GPS is a TESEO LIV3 multiconstellation GNSS receiver with online updating meaning they can tap into it and update it but doesn’t say where it’s made. The PCB’s which are just the boards that the chips are put it in are proudly said to be made in the USA but as far as the chips, they don’t tell you where they are made just that they are ethically sourced which usually means there aren’t poor working conditions. So no child labor or unsafe facilities. The software might be a little safer. If you wan’t to read up on all of this the website is below.
puri.sm/products/librem-5-usa
Nord N100 looks more appealing, but it’s way overpriced here so we use Galaxy A02S as company phones for most people and they are OK. Keeping up on updates, huge batteries and huge phones. Around 140€ here, so it should fit your budget.
Make sure not to get 16GB version, those have 1GB RAM for some reason, 32 has 3GB, and 64 has 4GB, double check tho.
I’m not sure where you are at so maybe Samsung is made to keep their phones up to date. I’m in the US and they are horrible about how they update their phones. No security updates much less Android updates. My Mother-in-Law has that exact same model and while I do have a Google phone it’s at Android 12 and her phone is on Android 7.0.
You should be much more concerned about Software than parts. The Reason a lot of consumer electronics have gotten much cheaper is because they make more money of spying on you with their software than from the hardware sales itself.
You’ll get spied on by all the top apps on the Playstore and your mobile carrier regardless of the hardware.
If you’re really concerned about your privacy and security, get something like a used Google Pixel and install an Android Fork like CalyxOS or GrapheneOS, get all software you can from F-Droid’s Repositories and remove internet access for anything that doesn’t need it with a good firewall.
I’m with those who suggested Motorola G series. Specifically G Power for me. It has plentiful battery life compared to almost all other phones.
It’s basic. It’s Chinese-made. It does not have NFC, so no Apple/Google Pay.
But it is a solid phone at bargain price (around $150-ish if you shop around).
(It’s my backup phone. NFC keeps my iPhone in my pocket most days, but the G Power has a microSD card, so it is actually more robust in some ways.)
Do you care if the phone is carrier locked? You could get a phone from one of the prepaid carriers, pay a month of service, and walk away with something like a Moto G power for less than $100. Would require you to activate an old phone you have laying around the house so you could port-in as a new customer.
Yeah, if you want to make calls they require a sim card.
Happy user of a Nokia 7 and 6.2. Looking around it looks like Nokia G10 is $150USD