[senior_chupon]

I bought a used WP7 so I could play some games and earn gamerscore on my Xbox profile.

Now that most games coming out are WP8 only, I am looking some a similar alternative. Is there a good low price phone that I don't have to activate on a carrier?

I've seen the Lumia 520 dropping to around $85 on slickdeals, but just wanted to check and see if anyone knew of anything better.

[Doohickie]

I would think you want the phone with the most memory for starters. For instance, I have an HTC 8X with 8 GB of storage. I don't do any serious gaming and my storage is 3/4 full.

[z33dev33l]

Can't play all games on 520. I'd buy a used 810, they're cheap.

[uselessrobot]

I highly recommend the Lumia 810/820 if you can still find one. Of any Windows Phone 8 device on the market, it's the best, hands down. It's only got 8GB of on-board storage, but it does include a MicroSD slot. More importantly, it's got the same exact CPU and GPU as the 920/925/928/1020. However, unlike those devices it's got a lower res screen, 800x480 versus 1280x768. While that might look like a shortcoming it means the device has fewer pixels to push resulting in better performance. This advantage is reflected in benchmarks and many users have also noted better framerates. Additionally, many games are still set up for 800x480 meaning that they'll look right at home on your device; it's better than the up-sampling that occurs on the higher end models.

Second to the 8-series is the Lumia 9-series. The 1GB of RAM is essential if you don't want to miss out. Every other device is compromised with only 512MB and less powerful hardware. Some games already tax the Lumia 820/920's capabilities so anything beneath those models is a lost cause.

[cckgz4]

The 8x. Has more memory

But Nokia is bringing a LOT of exclusives, so I'd go with a Lumia device (822 has 16 GB and can be unlocked to use for GSM phones)

[Keith Wallace]

I would go with the 822, if you can. The 8X has more storage, but will cost probably something close to the 32GB 92x series of Lumias. The 8xx Lumias will be cheaper than the 8X, I would imagine. The 810 and 820 only have 8 GB of storage, while the 822 has 16 GB. The 520 would work if you don't care that a LOT of games require 1 GB of RAM (including most GameLoft titles), which the 520 and 521 only have half of.

Ideally, get a used 822 for the 16 GB of storage, especially since it offers microSD support that the 8X doesn't (which, while it can't hold apps, will work for music and such). Oh, and Nokia gets timed exclusives with a LOT of games, and Nokia does a much better job of supporting their devices.