My zenfone 2 died this morning (air bubbles in the corners of the screen so wont respond to touch well) and so I am in the market for a cheap off contract phone. Note that by cheap I mean roughly the 200-300 $ US range although below or above is possible if theres some killer feature that warrants it and ups the usability/life time of the device. Before my zenfone 2 I used an LG G2 so Im a big fan of the tapping the screen to turn the screen on or off and would like to see that if at all possible.
I’m really happy with my Pixel. The prompt monthly security updates and ability to switch to the Android Beta channel is awesome. It’s slick and quick, but that price is hard to swallow, but it has a headphone jack, so it’s really great to have something like Tidal. I’ve been waiting for those Android Go Edition phones. They’re supposed to be much cheaper, but I have yet to see one in the US.
The ZTE Tempo Go looks promising, but it’s pretty barebones.
Perhaps you could find a secondhand Gen-1 Pixel for a decent price?
Have you looked at Motorola? The Moto G and Moto E are under $300, water resistant, have a headphone jack, decent battery, work on AT&T, not an iPhone, et cetera.
Aside from that I believe Xaomi has a couple models that are pretty reasonable too, I just don’t remember the models.
Bestbuy has a deal on the Xperia XA2 right now, so it’s $319 instead of the original price of $349. Although Sony do state that it is not a waterproof phone, there is a video that shows that it works fine after getting wet.
I second what @IQCubed said about the gen 1 pixel phones. As long as your okay with second had phones. You can get a 128gb pixel xl on ebay for aroung $250 usd.
Thanks guys. I was looking at the moto g5 / g5 plus but the lack of a notification LED killed that idea. Im thinking the huaewai mate SE is the way to go and have it on the way. I can’t be without a phone for way to long currently.
If you can, try fiinding a v20, I was considering to get one but the V30 came out and im really liking it, iirc the v20 doesnt have water resistance as it has a removable battery but it does come with great audio and the typical LG features you know.
As are turning former Samsung Galaxy S6 owner I’dhighly recommend purchasing an unlocked Galaxy S8ors8+, and from personal experience by all means Stear clear of any generation or sub model of the First or Second Generation Google Pixel line of over priced Motorola Harbahe chipset based "flash ship’Smartphones.
The Pixel 2 XL is an amazing phone. Stock Amdroid and the constant updates is a welcome experience. The camera (front/rear) are amazing as well. I got $300 off on Verizon, and Google was doing a similar offer as well. I can’t stress enough the stock android experience.