Good unlocked Android GSM phone in the $150-$300 range?

I've held out against getting my own phone for as long as I could, but then I found Ting. I like the looks of their service, and they now do GSM (which, from what I can tell by the coverage maps, gets better coverage in my area), so I suppose I'm on the lookout for an unlocked GSM-capable smartphone. I would prefer to find a decent android-based phone in the $150-$300 range, but I can be a little flexible with the price. I have no real knowledge or experience with this stuff, so I was hoping someone here might provide some helpful guidance or recommendations.

Thanks!

The Oneplus One is $249 and the Moto G is around $180 depending on the color you want. They are a great value for what you pay. The Oneplus One can also be purchased without jumping through hoops although both have been available for quite a while.

You may want to look at buying a used device through a marketplace like Ebay or Swappa.

I can vouch for Swappa. I got an HTC One V through there two years ago and gave it to my former girlfriend once I got a Galaxy S3 a year ago. It's a great site!

I bought a replacement S3 for a different provider (MetroPCS instead of Virgin Mobile) back in early January. Turned out that Metro no longer supported that phone since they switched from CDMA to GSM, but the seller claimed that the phone worked fine. I ended up filing a claim on PayPal after the seller insisted that the phone was fine more than once.

Got a full refund (and didn't have to return the phone!) within two days.

Swappa definitely seems like the best place to buy secondhand phones.

Oneplus One is probably the best phone in that price range, but it also doesn't support a lot of the LTE bands. You expressed interest in Ting, and I believe they will be using T-mobile for their GSM network, Oneplus One only supports 1 of the 3 LTE bands that T-Mobile uses, so your LTE coverage could be lacking with the Oneplus One. The Asus Zenfone 2 & Alcatel Idol 3 have been released recently, the Zenfone 2 is more powerful than then Oneplus but it also comes with quite a bit of bloatware and a skin over android that a lot of people are not a fan of, it also lacks support for one of the LTE bands T-Mobile uses. The Idol 3 is not as powerful as the Oneplus One or Zenfone 2, but it runs a close to stock android experience, is not full of bloatware, has a better screen & speakers than the Zenfone 2 and supports all LTE bands on the T-Mobile network, so it would offer the best coverage.

I'm a bit confused, are you saying you've never owned your own phone? How is that even possible?

IMHO

HTC ONE

SAMSUNG GALAXY

GOOGLE NEXUS

are the 3 android models to get

@yesiamaduck: @dprotp: @zidd: Thanks for the suggestions. :) I'll definitely check out Swappa. The OnePlus One appears to be a bitch to get new, so I'd likely only find it secondhand anyway.

@razorramen: Woo, that's a lot of great info! According to this page on the Ting website, their GSM only requires Band 4. Does that mean that it would only use Band 4? If so, the OnePlus One does use that band, so I assume I would only be limiting myself if I decided to go over to another service that accesses multiple bands. Also, I had a question about the bloatware and skins. Is this a situation like buying a PC/Laptop that comes with a bunch of shit and I can just rip it all out and do a fresh install of an OS? Or am I basically stuck with what I get? I'm a tinkerer, so I don't mind fucking around with it if that's possible.

@zevvion: I'm 12.

@millaj: Ah, I see. I hadn't even considered that. Dumb me. Unfortunately, I can't give any good advice on this. I don't know much about phones in this price range.

If you can get a nexus or device with minimal bloatware you'll be better for it. On a PC you can remove whatever or just nuke it and do a fresh install. Android OTOH has locked bootloaders or other obstacles to fight with to install a custom build.

@millaj: Edited your thread title a bit to be more descriptive of the topic. Feel free to adjust that if you need to, but "Smart Phones" was a bit too vague. Thanks.

HTC One M7 is pretty good. I use that as my backup phone

Nexus 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4 are pretty safe options. Nexus comes with clean OS but maybe hard to find, Samsung is all around decent phone but tons of unnecessary Samsung apps built-in. Hardware is identical and very good but Nexus can be smoother to use due to lack of bloatware. Display resolution is same but Samsung's display can achieve better contrast because it of it's Amoled display does not require backlight.

Nexus 5 is a stellar phone for a fantastic price. Fast upgrades, no bloatware, easily serviced, cheap and it does the job.

No idea about bands in the US, sadly, but I imagine whatever carrier you're planning on going with will have a list of phones that'll work with it.

@skullpanda1: Appreciate the tip. I feel like I have a decent idea of what to look for now.

I bought a new unlocked LG G2 on eBay recently for $190 and I'm really liking it. Found the listing on Slickdeals. It's gone now but the same model seems to be on sale often.

Rooting it is super easy and allows you to install Lollipop even if you can't get the OTA update from your carrier (plus get rid of bloatware).