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Comment by philfrasty | Hacker News Reader

Buy a used iPhone? I am on a 6 and it works just fine. Goes for around 150$ to 200$ non negotiated.

Problem is the battery and storage degradation is very real. While a simple factory reset solves some of the storage fragmentation, you'll never get the original owner's same experience with the device (unless you won the used device lottery and received a barely used handset).

But something like an iPhone 6 definitely is a competitor against a brand new $200 Android device (and may receive security updates for longer).

Out of curiosity, when have you last used a 200$ Android phone?

The options available nowadays are pretty good with updates (from Android One initiative) and hardware similar to (in a few cases, significantly better than) last gen flagships.

Care to name a few?

I just bought a few for testing at work. There's the HTC EVO 10 for $185[1], the Huawei Honor 6X for $200[2], and the Motoroloa Moto E4 Plus for $130(!)[3]. I also got a Samsung S6 to test, but at $250 for a much older phone, I wouldn't recommend it (but it is a fine phone, it's what I've been using personally for a few years).

I just set them up today, but I have to say, the $130 price point of the Moto E4 is pretty enticing given it seems responsive and has a fairly large screen (and if you are fine with Verizon, you can get it for $70 no contract[4]). The H6 seems like the one aimed the most to be a flagship phone. Fairly polished, and with a rear fingerprint sensor (all or almost all the rest have a fingerprint sensor, it's just on the front).

Edit: Whoops, the Verizon link and price is for the Moto E4, while what I purchased was a Moto E4 Plus, which Verizon has for $110[5]).

1: https://www.amazon.com/HTC-32GB-UNLOCKED-Version-GunMetal/dp...

2: https://www.amazon.com/Honor-6X-Unlocked-Smartphone-Silver/d...

3: https://www.amazon.com/XT1771-Finger-International-Version-D...

4: https://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/smartphones/moto-e4-...

5: https://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/smartphones/moto-e4-...

Swap the battery. I did on my 6S and it's like a new phone, seriously.

This makes some sense. A few months back Apple was found to be limiting the performance of iPhones with degraded batteries. A fresh battery wouldn't have that issue.

It makes 100% sense, that's why I did it.

the battery could be replaced for 50 usd

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