Smartphone Buying Advice?

Hey everyone,

So my situation is that I have been offered a Galaxy S3 for $160. My buddy is using it to cover the cost to upgrade to a Galaxy S5. What he is doing though is getting it replaced through a warranty so I will be buying it in essentially new condition.

The phone I currently own is a Galaxy Nexus, which I understand is only slightly behind in performance. However I got my Galaxy Nexus for free and it has the green battery symbol burned into the screen.

I thought $160 for the Galaxy S3 would be a reasonable price. I don't want to buy a new phone from my carrier because I have a really cheap plan and I don't want that to change due to going on a contract. I'm a little put off at the 720p resolution, but that's not a huge deal. It's still a very nice phone that I see a lot of people still using, and the last price I saw it go for was $300 on sale at newegg.

So what are all your thoughts on this? Is this a good deal, are there other options?

Given the fact that you're getting a new/refurb phone with a new/refurb battery I'd say go for it. It'll probably have a really old version of Android on it, which sucks, but other than that it's still a decent phone. Obviously not as good as an S5, but still decent enough.

I wouldn't pay $160 for it. Even if it's worth $300... it's so old... Offer the guy a hundred bucks and see what he says. JM2C.

Well I'm not going to turn around and low ball him like that. And the phone will have at least 4.3, with rumors of it getting 4.4.2 or 4.4.4. But the differences between 4.4.4 and 4.3 are pretty minor. Maybe $100 would be a fair price for an S2 or a Galaxy Nexus in brand new condition.

kmo_9000 said:

Well I'm not going to turn around and low ball him like that. And the phone will have at least 4.3, with rumors of it getting 4.4.2 or 4.4.4. But the differences between 4.4.4 and 4.3 are pretty minor. Maybe $100 would be a fair price for an S2 or a Galaxy Nexus in brand new condition.

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I always lowball. Especially when something is offered to me and I didn't ask for it. The guy's your friend. He should give you a better deal. JM2C.

I don't see why $160 is not a good deal when $160 everywhere else gets me phones that have considerably lower specs all around (such as this), and to buy anything better would cost hundreds more. Heck most used Galaxy S3's on kijiji are at least $200.

I would get a Moto G, at about the same price and be done with it. Man I was only going to ask $100 for my old N4, i will have to rethink that.
http://www.androidcentral.com/moto-g-2014-review

The Moto G is another good option, I can get in in Canada for $220 from Stables.ca.

But even then, the specs are really close to the Galaxy S3. Both have a 720p screen, with the Moto G being larger. The North American S3 will have the Dual core Snapdragon and 2gb ram, while the Moto G will have the Quad Core with only 1gb ram. And upon further inspection I found that I can't actually remove the battery from the Moto G, which means no battery swapping and wall charging like I would be able to do with the S3.

Did you have a look at the chinese so called "low cost" smartphones?

Some of them are really good for half the price of a Samsung or a Sony with the same perf/specs.

manu2b said:

Did you have a look at the chinese so called "low cost" smartphones?

Some of them are really good for half the price of a Samsung or a Sony with the same perf/specs.

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Like this one? Its out of the $180 budget though, and hard to get. http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/751127-One-One(Phone)-Thoughts

Was thinking more something like this (sorry French site, but you can easily find the tech specs on the page):
http://www.topachat.com/pages/detai...ue_est_wt_smartp_puis_ref_est_tl10012376.html

Or that:
http://www.topachat.com/pages/detai...ue_est_wt_smartp_puis_ref_est_tl10012650.html

Or this one if you like HUGE screen (6"):
http://www.topachat.com/pages/detai...ue_est_wt_smartp_puis_ref_est_tl10012135.html

They all compete with smartphones in the x2 price range from well known brand.

Regarding the currency, even if €1 is exchanged fo $1.2ish on the forex, because of high taxes and stuff like that, you just change the symbol to get the pricing in dollars. Galaxy S5 is €509 and iP6 starts from €709 (4.7") and €809 (5.5").

I grabbed a Wiko with the very same specs as the Xperia T3 (which my mother owns) for €140 (no promo, genuine pricing) when the SOny sells for more than €300...

Don't know about the availability in the US, though...

manu2b said:

Don't know about the availability in the US, though...

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You can order pretty much any phone unlocked in the US. Gotta go thru an online retailer.

Personally I like the Oneplus One. It's a little expensive but it competes with an S5 in a lot of ways for less than 1/2 the price.

Theocnoob said:

Given the fact that you're getting a new/refurb phone with a new/refurb battery I'd say go for it. It'll probably have a really old version of Android on it, which sucks, but other than that it's still a decent phone. Obviously not as good as an S5, but still decent enough.

I wouldn't pay $160 for it. Even if it's worth $300... it's so old... Offer the guy a hundred bucks and see what he says. JM2C.

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Samsung announced that S3 and S4 would be update in january or febraury of 2015 with the newer version of android Lollipop. So it will not be outdated at all