Samsung Galaxy A36 for $400: At a higher price, you would think that the A36 would be much better than the A26, right? It’s wrong. The Galaxy A36 (6/10, wired review) hits a lot of gaps, including a bright display, good battery life, and solid cameras, but storage isn’t extended, and performance wasn’t very smooth. 6 years of software support is great, but if the phone is already annoying to work with, I can’t imagine how it will be the same in 6 years. It’s a good call, but you can do better.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
Tcl 60 xe Nxtpaper 5g for $250: TCL’s 60 xe (7/10, recommended wired) has a matte-reflective screen called Nxtepha to limit blue light entering your eyes to sleep better and reduce eye fatigue. There’s no evidence to suggest that glossy light blockers work, but if you ignore those claims, this is still a great budget phone with a pleasing matte screen. There is a switch on the side that allows you to change between different display modes that change the screen to a monochrome screen or ink color, great for fans of e-readers. Performance is good, the camera is decent, and there are extras like a headphone jack and a microSD card slot. The only problem is that the screen is difficult to read direct sunlight.
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Motorola Moto G Power 2025 for $300: The power of the moto g (7/10, double recommendation) is Rung below the moto g stylus 2025 more, and while I think it’s a good smartphone, the performance is much slower than the competitors CMF PRO 2 Pro. You get some of the same Perks as the stylus, such as IP68 water resistance rating, headphone jack, microsed card slot, and wireless charging, and the initial storage is 128 GB.
Moto G Play 2026 for $180: The new Moto G Play Motorola G Play 2026 adds 5G connectivity for the first time. However, performance is still quite sluggish, with apps and web pages taking a few seconds to load. If you want to pay a lot less money, this will do the job, but I think you should buy the Moto G Power 2025 instead, because it usually sells for about the same price. While the power performance isn’t amazing, it’s much better than gaming, and it has powerful cameras and a lot of features.
Motorola Edge 2025 for $400: The edge has a water cooled molding, which is a cool effect where the edges of the phone glass go into the sides, creating a small bezel effect. It is the death of the phone because, it turns out, the edges of the glass can interfere with the touch screen and can make the phones annoying to use. It’s not a big issue here, but my main issue is that the performance isn’t very impressive for a phone at this price. Lockerluster’s software update policy also makes it difficult to recommend competitors like the Pixel 9A.
Small phone for $499: Want to reduce your reliance on a smartphone? A smaller phone (6/10, wired review) has an e-paper touchpad and a physical keyboard, but it runs Android. That means you can still access all the applications you want through the Google Play Store, but the experience will be poor, due to the low refresh rate of the phone (good luck watching videos on this thing) and the small monochrome screen. Still, this is a decent option (or maybe even a second phone) if you just want to get away from the mess.
Samsung Galaxy A16 for $200: Samsung’s Galaxy A16 hasn’t reached the top of the Galaxy A14, and that’s because of sluggish performance. Sure, Samsung promises six years of software updates, but that amazing update window doesn’t matter when the phone is slow, and you want to get it out of the window. If you plan on planning using this device but want something from a trusted brand that will stay safe, the Galaxy A16 is perfect. Its performance cannot compete with other similar phones.
Nuu N20 for $130: Right after I tested the Galaxy A16, I moved on to the NUU N20. The color surprised me. Yes, it’s still sluggish, but the performance on this nearly $100 phone is much better and more manageable. I used it for a week without any major problems. Well, except for one thing: The GPS on this device isn’t great. The few times I used it for car navigation, it struggled to find my location, and it was slow to update the map. Another big problem? The N20 is currently running Android 14, so it’s already out of date, and the company tells me there’s no “specific program for software updates.”
Sonim XP Pro 5G for $550: This phone is sold exclusively through Verizon, but I tested it on Google Fi and it had no connection issues. . It lasts quite a long time, and that is the reason to buy it. In itself, it is not completely obvious – you can buy more powerful, richer phones for money. The camera is terrible, constantly moving the blur shot without you staying in the picture. But the performance is good, it comes with 256 GB of storage via MicroSD card slot, and there is a customized button that you can make to open the shortcut or open the app.
Nothing (3a) lite for £249: Nothing phone (3A) lite (6/10, wired review) is the most confusing smartphone in its line. The CMF 2 Pro phone is available for the same price (CMF is not underground), and in general, there are better phones that money can buy. There are no cameras, and there is a lot of bloatware, which sounds like the opposite of the philosophy of nothing. Performance is good, as is battery life, but this phone is also no longer being launched in the US.
What phone calls should you avoid?
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If you look at a – it’s cheap Phone, try to stick to write products. There are a few Smartphones you’ll find dirt cheap on Amazon, but you’ll be able to upload whatever you buy with your information and photos – it’s important to make sure it’s a popular brand with good security measures (or at least a brand with a track record of issuing patches).
