While flagship smartphones boast impressive features, spending $1,000 is not a prerequisite for a satisfying Android experience nowadays. If you’re in need of a new smartphone and have a budget of approximately $200, there are numerous excellent options available. Surprisingly, some of the best Android phones under $200 come equipped with features like 5,000mAh batteries, multi-lens camera setups, and the promise of extended software updates.
We thoroughly evaluate various Android phones to ensure optimal performance without encountering unexpected issues down the line. If we were to recommend one Android smartphone in the sub-$200 price range, it would be the latest addition to Samsung’s lineup, the Galaxy A15 5G. Boasting a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED screen, a sizable battery with 25W fast charging support, and more, it offers a compelling package. Alternatively, consider Motorola’s Moto G Play (2024) for a straightforward yet functional device.
I just wish they were smaller. I’d love to have a Nexus 4-sized phone again.
Sony made compact versions of their flagship phones until somewhat recently. They were good, and even had basic open-source OS support. I hope they revive that product line.
Another thing I’d like to see more of is relockable bootloaders, so that we can have something like GrapheneOS without Google hardware.
The Xperia 5 Series is pretty much the successor. They feel tiny in the hand due to being really slim and narrow.
Sadly, the Xperia 5 is significantly larger than the compact models.
Its way taller yes, but not much wider and waaay slimmer. I have both and in the hand the 5 almost feels smaller.
That being said, the 21:9 Aspect ratio makes certain things annoying to use, especially Apps that place UI elemts on the top.
Are you by any chance comparing to the XZ2 Compact? That one was an outlier. The others in the Compact line (like the z1c in my link) were much closer to the Xperia 5 in thickness.
Trust me I know my Z compacts ;). I got em all but the Z3. Its hard to describe but the Z1 feels kinda thick and bulky. The 5 I feels nicer honestly. That being said XZ1 still is my #1 in terms of Hand feel.
The XZ2 feels the worst sadly. I hate the odd shape and I sometimes get cramps typing. But thats an issue with the entire XZ2 and XZ3 Line. Thank god they went away with that odd shape in future Sony phones
Z5 Compact is also very nice, but I couldn’t find it atm to fit in the shot.
This is the main reason why I buy the a series pixel phones. Generally they are smaller. Not small enough IMO, but smaller than the major flagships for sure.
I have a 4a and need to upgrade, and have the same size consideration. Are there any downsides to the 6a that you know of? I have to be able to put GrapheneOS on it as I won’t use stock android. Seems like it’s on the device list.
My wife has a 6a. A few things that she has noticed but not deal breakers. After installing a glass screen protector the finger print reader is really hit and miss. I went to enable face unlock but Google doesn’t allow it on the 6a. Custom ROM would solve that, however I don’t know about graphene. Not the best cell reception. Not a huge case selection. At least compared to non (a) versions. Battery life under heavy use is just ok.
Graphene, Lineage, and DivestOS all run great in my experience.
Better performance and battery life.
All very easy to install on Pixel.
I’m using a 6a. I used graphene for like a week but didn’t like it. The only downside I have is no wireless charging. I’ll be getting an 8a as soon as it comes out for that reason. My wife is using a 7a and I’d say it’s perfect.
Hmm, I might wait a while until the 7a comes down more. The 4a is holding me for now I guess.
This! I recently bought a new smartphone and I don’t get why screen size has constantly inched up, and pretty much across all price ranges! I’d understand if it was just gaming or photo-oriented ones…
If this goes on we’ll all end up with comically large clown phones.In many markets your smartphone is your primary, or only, computing device. Many people use their phones as media consumption devices. Those are the two primary drivers of our ever growing handsets.
Don’t forget the “bigger number means better” marketing.
Unihertz!
…tempting! I enjoy the QWERTY keyboard phones as well. Wonder if they’ll bring back the fold-out keyboard that I lusted over back in 2011…
Looks at my Mode one Retro ii Tiny? Check! All day battery? Check! 200$? Check! Do I get called “flip phone” now? Big check!
Asus ZenFone 8
Still gigantic. The screen is a good inch-and-a-bit larger than the Nexus 4.
But weirdly identically width and length and just .5 inches taller.
Google Nexus 4 5.27 x 2.7 x 0.36 inches | 4.90 oz Asus ZenFone 8 5.83 x 2.7 x 0.35 inches | 5.96 oz
It’s because of narrower aspect ratio on newer devices. That’s why it doesn’t make any sense to compare them with diagonal. Also there’s variation in bezel thickness. For example s23/s24 has larger sized display than zenfone 10, but they’re nearly identical in total body size.
And then how long do you get any updates?
I flash custom ROMs, so get updates pretty frequently, but that is beyond most people’s capabilities, for sure. I currently use the OnePlus Nord N200 which i got new for $250 and installed LineageOS 20 (Android 13) on it. You can still tell it’s a $250 phone compared to like $1000 phones but the differences aren’t noticeable enough to cause me issues and make me want to upgrade.
Idk, I bought a used Pixel and use it with GrapheneOS. 150/200€ often, if you repair it yourself its cheaper.
LineageOS is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many components that will likely not get any updates
GrapheneOS is a great project. I had a Pixel 3a XL with Graphene on it and it was a good experience
It has evolved a lot since then
Being able to use Android Auto on GrapheneOS now was a huge change!
Graphene does not offer any support at all though once the manufacturer stops releasing new versions. With Lineage I’ve seen two or three more major Android versions ported than the manufacturer released.
No, they get minimal security patches for nearly a year.
Thats not much but its harm reduction as they cannot
- update any part of the firmware
- maintain an old kernel
- port it to a newer kernel
DivestOS is recommendes AFTER the device is EOL.
For the uninitiated, what’s Lineage OS? Is that like a FOSS alternative OS?
Yes. Its basically AOSP (android Open Source Project) with just enough stuff to make the device useable and you have to add everything else on top of it. A lot of custom ROMs use LineageOS as their base and build from that point.
Unfortunately IME it’s a no go if you’re using banking or government/authenticator apps. (Your mileage may vary and this may change.)
Not how it should be, but how it is.
I think it depends a lot on the app itself. My banking app works perfectly fine, on it with no Google Play services, but I have seen apps that completely will not open at all, except to give an error message, so I know what you mean. That is not specifically a lineage problem as much as its a google play services problem. Yoi can install gapps and those apps will work, but IMO that defeats the point.
It doesn’t necessarily defeat the point if the only reason you are using Lineage is for OS updates and not for privacy reasons. That was my original reason for using it before de-googling.
I don’t have google play services anymore but I do still use microG just for Revanced because I am a psychopath that actually likes YouTube recommendations.
And using a browser will always work.
LineageOS is a project making AOSP (Android Open Source Project) usable. This means bundling it together, combining it with the right drivers and kernel for specific phones.
They also maintain many of the AOSP apps (gallery, phone etc) and modernize them, which is awesome as Google abandoned them.
LineageOS is not security focused and often less secure than stock Android. It has no Google Apps by default, which means a lot of proprietary Apps that rely on the backends will not work, at all.
There is the option to install “NIK Gapps” or other names, which is just a bundle of all Google Apps, installed as System apps, just as horrible as stock Android is.
There also is microG, which is also a system app and is not Opensource, as it downloads official Google Binaries.
Every System app can read critical device identifiers that you cannot change, and can access all files, as it doesnt need permissions.
LineageOS is a usable Android, often more up to date than what came with the device, but those Devices never have full support for Custom Operating Systems, like relockable Bootloader or full security features. So in the end you have more updates but partly less security, more privacy or none.
Also the Updates that LineageOS can even supply are very minor. Android devices use the Linux kernel but a special version tailored to that SOC (System on a chip). They would need to make a custom Kernel just for that phone, often newer, as manifacturers of those cheap phones have nonexistent Update lifespans.
They dont do that as its a lot of (unpaid) work.
Then there is firmware which is only delivered by manifacturers and signed with their private keys. No custom OS can do that and firmware security holes are very important and a lot.
So LineageOS is a really nice project if you donate to them but still save money. Abusing their hard work to buy cheap devices and get their longer OS support for free is not cool.
And in the end it is incomplete, insecure and nothing to build upon when buying a new device.
Btw, a ROM is only a small part of the firmware that you cannot change. No custom OS is a ROM.
Abusing their hard work to buy cheap devices and get their longer OS support for free is not cool.
This is literally a core principle of Open Source. You can charge money if you want, but anyone is fully entitled to distribute your work for free.
It is not and cannot be abuse.
No but I meant buying devices of shitty manufacturers and get an OS for free
That’s not abuse.
If the developers choose to support that hardware, they have a reason. In either case, there is no way to use open source software that’s abusive, with the exception of stuff like Amazon taking an open source project, modifying it without distribution so they’re not obligated to share their changes, and selling the product as a service (at a scale that makes it extremely difficult for the authors to compete). That’s against the spirit of open source even if it wasn’t foreseen when licenses were written and is hard to legislate.
Using open source software to save money isn’t.
Not saying we shouldn’t donate to worthy causes, but if we’re going to call using free software without paying abuse, then there are many technology users to round up.
Do note that although custom ROMs helps provide OS updates, it does not help with any firmware updates to your phone parts as those are vendor released. Once they stop providing those updates, it is no longer secure
I have a OnePlus 3T (2016) that is running Android 11 custom ROM. I use it mainly for some games and browsing. I would never use it as my main phone or use banking apps there though. Don’t want to risk all of my data on there.
That’s why GrapheneOS only supports phones that are still officially updated.
When you say “it’s no longer secure”, can you point to an actual vulnerability on older hardware and what the exploits are?
We keep hearing how unpatched phones are not secure but I’d like to hear more about what the actual risk is.
Millions of people use older phones that haven’t been updated for years, yet it seems to me that scams are more about social engineering than exploiting software vulnerabilities on phones.
You might like this website! It’s quite an interesting website to go through :)
Though to be fair, majority of every day people probably aren’t getting their phones hacked. And not every hardware has known vulnerabilities, at least from what I’ve seen on the website. Also, I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard that for a lot of exploits, the person needs the phone physically.
Not really my field of expertise though
Right?
Show me some stats where this is demonstrated to be a problem.
I run OLD versions - current phone is Android 9.
I’ve had 10x more problems caused by system updates than anything else, let alone “being insecure”.
That is definitely true. Once the vendor stops putting up those patches, it does become quite problematic. So as long as you keep your Android up to date as best as you can and primarily use open source software and ad blockers, you should be alright in most cases.
That only works if there is support for the phone from developers. For many phones there isn’t any, both because the OEM did not make their source available and no individual Dev was interested in doing support for it.
If you want a new phone that has support you need to research it first.
Phones with Mediatek processors tend to be the worst for this, because the source code often is not released, contrary to the open source license.
That is a good point. I always make sure that my devices can run lineage before buying them because I don’t want to be stuck with a brick.
Updates matter shit these days. Honestly. If you have Android 10 or higher 99% of Playstore Apps work today and honestly after Android 10 we haven’t gotten any noteworthy new features.
Not talking about App compatibility but Security. The packaged Linux Kernel literally doesnt get any updates.
Afaik Android apps can have a min SDK and a target SDK, and if an app wants to support a modern SDK with all the cool features it cannot have a very low min SDK. And also afaik Playstore apps need to be updated often to stay on there, but not sure how strict
Article is copied from https://www.androidcentral.com/best-android-phones-under-200
Their recommendations seem a little bit arbitrary though. And Androidcentral recommended 6 models but Gizchina left one out, the Nokia N100. No idea why.
Because it is not Chinese.
Samsung isn’t Chinese either.
Damn, Nokia G100 seems to not be available on the German market. :(
They are all shit they all come with bloat/adware harvesting your data. So may as well get a cheap one if you need to have one. You’re getting taken for a ride either way. If you can buy one with a vanilla or hardened and privacy oriented one then thats another story.
When I bought my phone a few years ago, motorola offered one with relatively stock android, no forced install of facebook or whatever, several years of (timely) android updates, and a large battery. A few years down the line, I’m still getting updates and the battery still lasts days.
And it was plastic and came with a cover, so it’s survived the occasional fall just fine.
Honestly don’t get why you’d spend more on something that can so easily be stolen.
Also they are probably not repairable at all.
Part of the high cost is ensuring that you support the phone not just software wise but also with spare parts for some time and those ultra cheap phones usually do neither
No, opposite on the hardware front. The cheap phones tend to be much more physically repairable, and 3rd parties make parts essentially forever.
Honestly in my mind the best phone is a used one with lineage, like my oneplus 8t was $130 it’s in great shape with 256gb and I’m relatively confident it’ll receive updates for years to come from Lineage.
I’m sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but do older phones running Lineage still receive updates? Say, Samsung S9, is it worth installing the OS despite its age? Not too knowledgable on this area, just wanna learn!
Looks like Samsung Galaxy S9 is still receiving updates. Last build (nightly) was like today.
If the device no longer supports updates, is it safe to still run Lineage on it?
Correct, lineage is actually a great way to extend the life of a device safely
It is safer than not updating at all. Unsupported devices have a lot of exploits and vulnerabilities.
Does that also go for devices that don’t receive Lineage updates anymore?
I mean, you might cover some vulnerabilities that were discovered after the manufacturer stopped updating your device, which is nice. But only time will tell what new vulnerabilies will be uncovered next; but be sure, they will.
Only a frequently updated device will have constant state-of-the-art vulnerability protection. That is, until the maintaner (someone with the know-how to make stable lineage-os builds and mess with the device’s vendor tree doing all this work for free) decides to stop updating that device. Which sounds bad but that doesn’t stop another maintainer from rising up to the task eventually.
Anyhow, with lineage and, generally, any custom OS aimed at phones that can’t relock their bootloader safely you’ll always lose device integrity (can be circumvented with things like magisk) and very likely IMS features (VoLTE and the like).
Another thing to consider is if your device ends up in the hands of a malicious party. If its bootloader is unlocked, you can be sure they’ll have easy access to any personal data inside it.
If you wanna be safe for a looong time I’d consider a pixel phone from this list and flashing grapheneos and then relocking the bootloader.
In any case, good luck and all the best to you! :)
Sidenote: if you are on a Linux system and do intend to flash a custom recovery (necessary step before flashing a custom OS) on a samsung phone, take a look at the Heimdall tool. It’s an open source alternative to Odin that runs natively on Linux.
Any source for unlocked bootloader meaning your data is just there for the taking? Afaik it’s still encrypted and someone would have to pull off an evil maid style attack to get your password/PIN if they wanted to decrypt it. Which certainly is easier/possible with an unlocked bootloader but that’s nowhere near “someone steals your device and bippity boppity boop they got ur data”
Budget Redmi 4A from 2016 just got updated to android 14.
Yeah this is absolutely true, I bought a used oneplus 9 last year for $200 and it is so much better than anything new you can get for that price.
I’m running lineage on a moto g7 I got for $150. It works pretty well for the most part, but it chugs a bit when I try to use a browser
This article seems like each piece was written by the companies themselves. Like it says the A15 only.charges at 25w and then uses words like " charges rapidly at 18w" on the next phone. Really shitty writing.
gizchina.com is an unreliable source for impartial information?!
NO WAI!
Almost like they just threw a bunch of press releases into an AI and let it jumble them into an “article”.
My elderly clients tell me $200 is too much for a phone. They want it to be $50 max. It’s always a big hassle
$200 is too much for a phone. That’s why it’s also web browser, Walkman, gaming device, TV, recipe book, accountant, computer … of course, you know this.
Right, but to them it’s all worthless features. Except YouTube they like that
They’re worthless features. Except cookies. We like that.
Flip phone
Surely they won’t complain then…
I got a flip phone for $20. They’re not wrong if all they need is calling and possibly texting.
Used Moto G then
Ask them how they could conceive of a way to make a pocket super computer with only 3 hours of their time with of money and effort.
There are plenty of feature phones for <$50. Many even have basic cameras, a web browser and even some games.
Got any solid recommendations?
Whenever I browse them they all look like a scam or don’t support LTE.
Nokia still produces feature phones, and newer models have LTE. But they are somewhat overpriced compared to the Chinese companies. They also make smartphones running KaiOS (much more efficient than Android, but cannot run Android apps) in the 50-100 USD range.
I’ll have to look into that.
In my country emergency broadcasts are only supported on lte enabled devices. I’m not sure about the os requirement for that either.
That’s horrible. Poor people with older phones don’t matter, I guess?
Yeah in North America they are in the process of discontinuing 3G service and older support all together as well.
If you’re familiar with the Hawaii missile alert incident. It’s that feature I’m concerned about for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Hawaii_false_missile_alert
3G is switched off in Germany but providers are required to continue to support 2G specifically for emergency services so the dumbest and oldest phones can understand them.
I think RDS is or was mandatory in cars, too, the whole EU is switching over to DAB+ though and that’s the only thing I could find articles about. Much better anyway as RDS would simply send a signal saying “interrupt the cassette, a broadcast is coming in” and then someone would rattle off traffic jams or “people are throwing objects from a bridge”, while DAB+ broadcasts way more data which can then be interpreted by the navigation system, which can then rattle off everything that’s actually relevant to you.
I’m currently using a pixel 5a with grapheneos. A little slow, but otherwise great! Usb-c AND a headphone jack? I feel like that gen was far too short.
200 really is enough for a phone if i am being honest unless you need grapheno or camera you are never gonna see a difference.
If you are shopping for sub 200$ buy used. I have bought a Note 9, S10E, LG G8, … for under 80$ each. Imagine what 200$ gets you.
None of these are getting updates though.
Yeah, buying phones that old is dumb advice
- worn out battery that probably wont charge fully or last another 2 years
- outdated OS that wont get security updates
I’m 100% all for keeping old phones running for many years, but buying a note 9 in 2024 is not how to go about doing that
… Unless you put your own OS on it? Think that’s still possible in 2024, right?
even that will be out of date. when the oem stops updating a device, there’s only so much custom roms can do
That’s assuming you even can. I do not believe Snapdragon based Samsungs can be rooted/rommed.
Well you’re wrong tho, I have a S22 and rooting it was a piece of cake same as flashing a custom rom👌
You’re right, but all these phones will be better than any current budget. People who just need a phone to do basic things will probably not care updates, and they’ll be fine as long as they don’t download anything off random sites.
Yeah that’s not at all how malware distribution works these days. It’s done through hacked websites, shady ad networks, and highjacked apps.
it doesn’t matter, they don’t stop working If you are a couple of Versions behind. App developers have adopted and Always Support multiple old Versions.
Security - yeah maybe but I’d personally would feels 10x safer using a Stock Android Phone that doesn’t get updated than a up to date Samsung.
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Doesn’t have anything to do with updates, but yeah hardware might fail over time. Thats a risk you gotta take.
Yeah thats partially true, but many cricital issues get patches with Google Play Protect Updates. Also at least I’m not aware of any big hacks that happened on old Android Versions.
True yes, but id say 99% of Apps still support Android 9 which is 5 years old.
No they don’t Software becomes more demanding and so things overall feel slower. There can be cases where stuff like the battery can’t supply the voltage and thus the CPU can’t reach its peak Clockspeed, but thats pretty rare
No it became much easier since all phones now are made with glass or plastic. They now can be opened from the back which means you never have to touch the Display - the most fragile part.
Yes thats an issue but if your phone was somewhat popular you can still easily get them. I for example replaced my Galaxy S6’s screen protector last year. Still was able to easily buy one.
I bought Pixel 8 for about $650 and installed GrapheneOS on it. Pretty happy so far.
Did the same for pixel 6 pro, but recently it just keeps killing all apps, including the ones that are unrestricted far as battery is concerned. Starting to get to a point where I should reset it and install LineageOS.
Killing apps? It closes them when they’re running or uninstalls them?
Closes them all. Even if they’re foreground apps that I’m actively using.
Although I daily hate the operating system, my cheapish xiaomi has 120w charging and I never knew I’d love that so much! I can charge to 100% in half an hour!
Install LineageOS
Xiaomi phones are a pain to unlock the bootloader. You have to use their shitty Windows app, wait one week after the first step…
I know, but it’s still worth it to not use spyware.
The best is not to buy a Xiaomi phone to start with
I bought a Moto G Stylus 4G a few months ago for $39. The Blue Box had some online special for some reason. It’s hard to believe how cheaply you can get a nice phone.
My experience with the galaxy a series is they break the first time you drop them . But it’s been about 2 years maybe it got better .
I’ve had the A34 for a couple of months now and everytime it’s fallen off from bed it has withstood the fall
It depends mostly on the surface material. I can comfortably drop my phone from head hight onto a wood flor, but a drop onto a tile or cocrete floor is leathal from waist height.
Their parts are pretty cheap and easy to repair.
I’ve been rocking a Galaxy A52 bought new up to now. Dropped it many times than I could count. No issue except for the back panel glue breaking apart. Nothing I had to break my bank fixing.
Nice . I had much worse luck . I broke 3 galaxy A phones ( can’t remember the exact names , one was the A5 ) my Galaxy S21 seems in destructible. I slipped on some ice and my phone flew 10 feet in the air and landed on pavement with no issues . Also dropped it in a bunch of cat used cat litter someone had dumped in the garbage for my apartment and had to wash it with dish soap and water . Plus my son dropped it a few times from shopping cart height.
I think a good phone case goes a long way. I’ve had to discard a case that fell apart after receiving so many impact, while the phone itself is virtually unharmed.
