The words "carrier-exclusive phone" are generally met with disappointment or annoyance. But instead of locking down expensive devices, like Verizon's Motorola DROID devices, T-Mobile could be working on a series of mid-range phones. Android Authority recently obtained an image of what is believed to be the "REVVL T1," expected to be the most affordable device in T-Mobile's upcoming product line.
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Back in February, Sony announced two new budget phones - the XA1 and XA1 Ultra. Comparable to the Moto G and G Plus respectively, Sony calls these devices "super mid-range." Now the XA1 has showed up for pre-order on Amazon and Best Buy for $299, in Black, Gold, Pink, and White.
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Android One is an ambitious smartphone initiative launched by Google in 2014. To date, it's been limited to a handful of countries - mostly in Asia - and it remains at best unclear if it's actually been successful. The idea was nice enough: Inexpensive Android phones built by typical handset-makers, but with Google lending a helping hand on the messy business of software updates. Of course, the carrot also came with a stick. In exchange for this software support, those handset companies agreed to use what Google decided constituted a good, proper Android - no bloat, stock look and feel, and regular security patches.
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The Galaxy Note 7 may have left us too soon, but LG wants you to remember that it also offers stylus-equipped Android phones! Granted, the G3 Stylus and G Stylo weren't exactly in the same super-premium league as the Notes, but they had big screens and pointy sticks, and that's what counts. The LG Stylo 2 wasn't blessed with a G, and perhaps that's why it hasn't come to any American carriers. Spotting a hole where a superfluous letter needed to go, Verizon decided to slap a "V" on the end. So now we have the Verizon LG Stylo 2 V, coming to a retailer near you on October 20th.
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I like budget phones. I especially like those that still let me run the latest version of Android. It looks like AT&T's upcoming GoPhone from LG may be one to add to that list.
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Back in January of 2014, Blu released what I then called my "favorite Blu phone to date"—the Life One X. At the time, it was a solid budget phone, but affordable smartphones have come so far since then. The last year or so has been great for the budget phone scene, and we've watched devices get more and more powerful while prices kept dropping.
Today, Blu announced the new version of the Life One X, and guess what? It's probably the best budget device I've ever used. One might even say it's probably "my favorite Blu phone to date," save for maybe the new Pure XL.
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As I sit here in a hip Los Angeles coffee shop across from the seemingly never-ending whooshes and rumbles of LA traffic on a busy boulevard just outside the door, I wonder if $4 is a reasonable price for the latte now sitting in front of me. It does have one of those latte art fern-shaped things on it. Or, at least it looks like a fern to me.
While not a tiny amount of money, it doesn't seem totally unreasonable. (And trust me: $4 for a latte is a respectable price in Los Angeles.) After all, I am availing myself the use of said business's counter, its rather lovely interior inspired by the owner's Taiwanese heritage (well, supposedly), a nice ceramic cup for my beverage, and the generally relaxed atmosphere the place provides.
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We're entering into an era where you no longer have to spend more than a few hundred dollars on a good, usable smartphone. Manufacturers like Blu have done a lot for the budget smartphone, and more mainstream phone makers like Motorola have brought the words "budget" and "flagship" together in a way we didn't think would ever be possible.
I've been messing with a new affordable device from a relatively new manufacturer to the scene here lately: the Nuu Z8. Nuu currently has a couple of other budget devices on the market, but the Z8 is what the company is calling its flagship device.
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HTC's Desire brand has hung on through two revisions of the "company-wide" One moniker, oddly adopting features and style queues from the flagship series while aiming for a lower price point. So it is with the latest Desire phones to come to Verizon, the 526 and 626. Verizon announced the pair earlier today, with the cheaper Desire 526 going on sale tomorrow (August 13th) and the Desire 626 available "in the coming weeks."
The 526 is the cheaper of the two phones, with a 4.7-inch 960x540 screen and an 8-megapixel camera (according to Verizon's short press release). HTC's website has rather more information, revealing a Snapdragon 210 processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of storage plus a MicroSD card slot, a rather diminutive 2000mAh battery, and a 2MP front-facing camera.
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Competition in Android smartphones is better now than it's ever been, and not just in the flagship segment. With devices like the Moto G, the ZenFone 2, and various Blu designs, the mid-range is heating up with phones that are jam-packed with value. But how about the low-end, entry phone segment? For those people who just want a device that runs a few apps, plays a nice round of Threes, and maybe browse for some sports scores? Before a few years ago, they were limited to whatever bottom-of-the-line, low-margin phones Samsung and LG would spare.
These days things are a little different.
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