There's only one smartphone under $199 worth buying and it's the Moto G3. While it's a bit underpowered compared to some of the other phones on this list, it's still more than fast enough for the vast majority of tasks you'll want to do on a smartphone.
The 720p, 5-inch screen isn't quite high-res enough that you won't spot the individual pixels. But that's an overrated trick in smartphones anyway, and you'll only miss it when you see the G3 next to premium devices. Plus, the lower-res screen allows the battery to last for incredibly long periods.
Like the Moto X Pure, the G3 runs a nearly-pure version of Android. It's also durable, water-resistant, and its customizable plastic body looks way better and more interesting than many more-expensive devices.
I used one for months, and despite being the cheapest smartphone I've ever owned it's still one of my absolute favorites. It's not quite the best value device on this list, due to its somewhat lacking processing power. But it's far and away the cheapest smartphone worth the adjective "excellent."
The $180 version comes with a paltry 8 GB of storage, though it's expandable with an SD card. You may want to go for the $220, 16 GB model though, because it comes with an extra gig of RAM, which is helpful for maintaining solid performance even while multi-tasking.
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