What's the best Lumia to buy for under $120 in 2015?

[mikepalma]

1520 on eBay for.$260 blows them all.away

 

[libra89]

1520 on eBay for.$260 blows them all.away

That is a big phone though, at least to me anyway.

 

[fdalbor]

Owning a 820 and a 925 (my wifes phone) I can tell you the 640 is very nice phone. I picked one up from Cricket yesterday for 99$ and was really surprised how sharp the screen is and how fluid the phone opperates. I highly recommend it. Of the three reps at the Cricket store two of them were owners of the 640 and the third said she was planning on getting one. Maybe WP aint dead yet. They had all three WP's on display in the front of the store. (640,635,530)

 

[lilnickiwonder]

Now I'm still between the 640 at Cricket or the Lumia 830 ATT online. The dealbreaker is carrier choice. I don't know if the ATT one is unlocked, if its not i can't take it to Cricket. The Cricket support told me I had to get the 640 from the store because it's an upgrade, then they wanted to charge me a $25 upgrade fee (really?) I don't like that at all. Just looking for a Windows Phone that is under $175 that is a good buy in 2015. I went to the ATT store to ask about how to get started with gophone if I bring my own phone, the guy told me I would have to pay $27 for the SIM card alone. WHAT? Im looking for something that won't cost me the earth to buy or be super complicated to set up on a prepaid carrier. I'm not sure what the best ATT prepaid option is (that's the network I need to use)?, and I'm not sure which WP to go with. I really want an all around good phone experience for less than $175.

 

[bo_woods]

Now I'm still between the 640 at Cricket or the Lumia 830 ATT online. The dealbreaker is carrier choice. I don't know if the ATT one is unlocked, if its not i can't take it to Cricket. The Cricket support told me I had to get the 640 from the store because it's an upgrade, then they wanted to charge me a $25 upgrade fee (really?) I don't like that at all. Just looking for a Windows Phone that is under $175 that is a good buy in 2015. I went to the ATT store to ask about how to get started with gophone if I bring my own phone, the guy told me I would have to pay $27 for the SIM card alone. WHAT? Im looking for something that won't cost me the earth to buy or be super complicated to set up on a prepaid carrier. I'm not sure what the best ATT prepaid option is (that's the network I need to use)?, and I'm not sure which WP to go with. I really want an all around good phone experience for less than $175.

ATT phones will work on cricket without being unlocked... A locked ATT phone will work on Cricket... Cricket is owned by ATT & uses their network so... Yeah.

 

[RumoredNow]

Cricket is an odd duck. For any other mvno (reseller) that uses AT&T towers, a phone locked to AT&T will work. Not so on Cricket, a phone has to be unlocked even from AT&T to get Cricket service which is AT&T towers. Hunh? Weird, but true.

Which mvno is best is open to debate. Cricket seems to save you a ton of money if you have multiple lines.

Straight Talk gives you the most high speed data (5GB/month) if you Bring Your Own Device.

I just heard of a new one (new to me) today called PureTalk that uses AT&T towers. I guess they don't throttle your data speed (according to a poster) so it's super fast. They have a 2GB cap on data, but for $28.95/month that is the cheapest one line smart phone plan I've seen yet.

It pays to do research and always shop around.

 

[libra89]

To add an additional thing to think about with what has been said, apparently some Walmarts have the 640 as a "gophone" (for AT&T) available. According to the comments, you can unlock it two days after purchases if you were never an AT&T customer but I believe that if you go with Straight Talk (w/ AT&T), you might not have to unlock it.

Unannounced AT&T Lumia 640 GoPhone spotted at Walmart | Windows Central

 

[lilnickiwonder]

Has anyone used Pure Talk? Is it good?

 

[lilnickiwonder]

That 640 on gophone is interesting....

 

[Yazen]

All these 640s... If Microsoft rebranded the 920 as the 650 would it be any more enticing?

Not trying to insult anyone's opinions, just feel as though the 640 may not be the best choice (after the hype).

 

[TechAbstract]

All these 640s... If Microsoft rebranded the 920 as the 650 would it be any more enticing?

Not trying to insult anyone's opinions, just feel as though the 640 may not be the best choice (after the hype).

Lol have you used the Lumia 640? I am using 920 right now. I would switch right away for that screen and battery life on 640.

 

[Ten Four]

The 640 GoPhone is starting to become available at WalMart for just under $80. That's the best deal going under $150. You can take it to any AT&T MVNO and use it without unlocking, but if you use the online form at AT&T before you activate the phone on any network they should unlock it for you for free. I am using a Lumia 635 on PureTalk and they are great. Free SIMs, cost is low for low usage, full LTE speeds now (25mbps download), no hassles. By the way, the GoPhone versions come with a GoPhone SIM card in the package, so no need to purchase one at a store. Follow the instructions in the package to activate it on GoPhone without having to go into a store.

 

[Mathew K Jose]

Go for 730 or 830...compared to Microsoft..the Nokia touch is awesome...feather touch..am using a 730 and my friend got a 640

 

[libra89]

All these 640s... If Microsoft rebranded the 920 as the 650 would it be any more enticing?

Not trying to insult anyone's opinions, just feel as though the 640 may not be the best choice (after the hype).

I doubt you have used it at all. It might not be a flagship but it is a great midrange device and worth a consideration. I enjoy my own, so the "hype" is present for a good reason. Even WC's own Daniel Rubino has/had good things to say about using it.

Edited to add: So does Richard Devine.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Isn't att lumia 830 not even on the most recent windows phone build though?

For those saying lumia 640, I would advise looking to see if you can find unlocked versions and not just cricket versions. The cricket version is locked to cricket which is fine if you like them but buying unlocked places you in a much better position imo


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[Yazen]

I doubt you have used it at all. It might not be a flagship but it is a great midrange device and worth a consideration. I enjoy my own, so the "hype" is present for a good reason. Even WC's own Daniel Rubino has/had good things to say about using it.

Edited to add: So does Richard Devine.

Lol have you used the Lumia 640? I am using 920 right now. I would switch right away for that screen and battery life on 640.

Yeah, I have owned the 640. Was considering a new phone for my father as he broke his original LG Optimus G.

What I liked about the 640:
* Cheap
* Swappable back covers
* High resolution display
* Display is fairly accurate, colors are pleasant, and has little glare.
* Headphone out drives headphones well
* Pedometer
* Miracast
* Overall decent SoC
* SD Card

What I did not like about the 640:
* Modem performance deteriorates
* Optically bonded display
* Loudspeaker / Earpiece quality is OK
* DAC is meh
* Display itself is not calibrated, slower refresh
* No shutter button
* Software keys
* Build materials are not premium

Lumia 640 at $99 MSRP is pretty amazing. I like it better than the Idol 3 and ZenFone 2... Of course at its price point its not going to tick every box the way a flagship would, not knocking on the 640.

My father did not like the size of the 1520 I purchased for him, so I ended up keeping it and trading him my 925. The battery life lasts over a day, and the performance is very snappy. He likes the build quality, very industrial looking phone.

The problem with Lumias in general is that there are a lot of lemons floating across the internet.

 

[lilnickiwonder]

Could I use an 830 locked to ATT on PureTalk?

 

[arn6735]

i guess L640 is the best/cheapest with a premium feel and experience that you can buy for under $120. I have a L640 Tmo for about 3 weeks now and it's working pretty well. Hope this helps.

 

[lilnickiwonder]

It seems all customer service people from Cricket, Pure Talk, etc are telling me the phone has to be unlocked. Is there some way I could get it unlocked after I purchase? What's the best, safest way to do that (ya know without sketchy "ya want a watch" type of stuff

 

[davenc]

It seems all customer service people from Cricket, Pure Talk, etc are telling me the phone has to be unlocked. Is there some way I could get it unlocked after I purchase? What's the best, safest way to do that (ya know without sketchy "ya want a watch" type of stuff

I've used two att go phones on cricket without unlocking them. Customer service is probably not allowed to tell you that gophones will work or they simply don't know.