Every three or four years I buy whatever seems to be the best "cheap-flagship" Android phone on the market to test responsive websites and Android apps I'm developing... but also to see what it'd be like to use Android as my mobile OS. I use a throw-away Google account (whose backup address is a main account, so they probably know what's up), but, past that small identify obfuscation, I usually allow it to know where I'm at and not worry about too many privacy revelations, a big change from how I act in iOS.

That said, I do tend to use DuckDuckGo, Here maps, and really like Fair Email, the latter the only Android-exclusive app I've paid for beyond a few Humble Bundle Android games years ago.

About four years years ago, I got a Nokia 6. Excellent phone. Nice big screen. Performance was kinda shoddy and the camera stunk. I only used it with my SIM a few times as my "real" phone, and wow, bad camera.

But it seemed like a lot of phone for $200.

I had no idea.

The $120 Android phone... with a year of service.

Recently I bagged a Moto G (2020) on sale at HSN with a "year's worth" of Tracfone service for $120. (thanks, SlickDeals)

It only comes with 1.5 gig of data, but it has 1500 minutes and 1500 texts that can be used over the duration of a year which -- combined with lots of WiFi usage -- might actually be doable. I'm flabbergasted.

The phone's size is right in between an iPhone 12 and a 12 Max at 6.4". I generally like smaller phones, and tentatively plan to get a 13 mini to replace my SE2, but I'm always jealous of my Android phones' giant screens. Cheap components, surely, but the larger size really is nice. It's as large as you'd want a one-handed iPad to be, which is essentially what it is, tall as you can stand and, like single-wides going down the interstate, width limited by the width of your hand.

It's hard to reach the tops of some poorly designed apps, and the app icons on my first home screen matches my limited thumb reach (see below -- can you do that on iOS? I think, short of empty spacesaver icons, no), which is weird to see, but when I'm reading and browsing, the giant screen is fantastic.

You can see how my home screen's triangle matches that orange space on the plus-sized phone screen.

I also want to admit that the "hole punch" selfie cam is great. It's so small (smaller than the red dot I put on the screenshot, above) that it seems like a single notification icon. Huge win over a notch. I realize Apple wants to put that under the screen, but until they do, this is superior. Apple really needs to figure out how to Face ID with less real estate -- or make it optional.

The fingerprint scanner is moved to the back of the phone to stay out of the way of the screen. Smart. There's no face unlock, which is what allows the single selfie cam, but I've hated Face ID since I bought an iPhone XR and gave up within a year. Performance is... amazingly competent. I only sense some slowdown occasionally. Gaming is okay. Asphalt 8 plays extremely well so far, but, strangely, Pokemon Go has stuttered a few times.

The macro lens (there are three lenses, macro, wide, and normal) is a waste of space, but it's otherwise a heck of an improvement over the Nokia 6, as it should be. I don't think it's as good as my iPhone SE2, but it's close. Give me more play time.

And the battery honestly lasts for more than day. You could go two, maybe three light days with this thing on a single charge, no problem. And it's USB-C, so charging or finding a battery pack is pretty easy.

It has 64 gigs of space, expandable to 512 with an SD card. Gosh I wish Apple allowed SD cards. With an iPhone 12, you're paying $150 just to get from 64 to 256 gigs of internal space. What a racket. Just buy this phone and put it in your other pocket.

For $120. Let that sink in. $120. $120 with, at worst, several months of minutes and texts.

Look, I like Apple. I use iPhones as my daily driver.

But how much is someone's privacy worth? Is it $300-700 every two years? Tough call. I'd like to think so. I also suspect that's an inflated view of my self-worth. What do they really learn about me, and how is that likely (lots of caveats here, admittedly) going to influence my life going forward?

You know what's more to the point? More to the point is asking how much someone can afford to spend on privacy. If I'm having a hard time making ends meet and you offer me a giant phone and ostensibly a year's worth of service for $120, I'm buying it every time. And the experience really isn't so far from iOS that I'm going to regret it in my day-to-day for an instant.

Labels: android, ios