These Android phones are under $100 and well worth your money

Not everybody needs to spend upwards of a thousand dollars on their phone just to get by, especially those on prepaid carriers looking to cut down on spending wherever possible. Luckily, phones at all price ranges have gotten great lately, and that holds especially true in the budget category. It was previously a wasteland of near-unusable devices, but now you can get a shockingly good and reliable phone these days for under a Benjamin.

Best unlocked phone

Ulefone Note 7

Staff pick

Kicking off this list is our top overall pick — the Ulefone Note 7. As far as smartphones in this price range go, the Note 7 is one of the best. It brings a lot to the table, including a 6.1-inch display, three rear cameras, and a 3,500 mAh battery. Android 9 is available right out of the box, along with support for expandable storage. So long as you're on a GSM carrier, the Note 7 is perfect.

$80 at Amazon

Runner-up unlocked

Nokia 5

The Nokia 5 is an older unlocked phone that's still worth buying, with a completely barebones version of Android 9 Pie, great build quality, and a quad-core processor. It's unlocked to work on any GSM carrier, but CDMA shoppers will want to look elsewhere. One of the biggest downsides is the lack of a fingerprint sensor, but for the price, it's a pretty great value.

$89 at Amazon

Best on Verizon

Moto E5 Play

The Moto E5 Play isn't quite as up to date as Motorola's newer lineup, but it still features a quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of expandable storage. The included Moto app allows for some software conveniences that other phones in its price range lack, like the ever-useful Moto Display. So long as you can overlook the huge bezels, the E5 Play is a solid purchase.

$80 at Verizon

Best on Cricket Wireless (AT&T)

Moto G7 Supra

AT&T's Cricket sub-brand has a great selection, including the Moto G7 Supra. This is just a rebranding of the Moto G7 Power, meaning the phone has a 6.2-inch HD+ display, 1.8Ghz octa-core processor, and a downright massive 5,000 mAh battery that should get you up to three days of use on one charge. There's also a fingerprint sensor and expandable storage!

$100 at Cricket

Best on Metro by T-Mobile

LG Q7 Plus

The Q7 Plus is one of the best deals on Metro. It typically costs more than a hundred bucks, but if you switch from another carrier, you can get it well below that price. For your money, you're getting a phone with a 5.5-inch Full HD+ display, IP68 dust/water resistance, a quad DAC headphone jack, and expandable storage. And, yes, there's a fingerprint sensor.

$50 at Metro

Best on Boost Mobile (Sprint)

Samsung Galaxy A10e

Who says budget phones have to look like they're from five years in the past? The Galaxy A10e features impressively slim bezels with a teardrop notch housing the front camera, and it runs modern Android 9 Pie software. The 3,000mAh battery charges over USB-C and the 32GB of internal storage can be expanded by up to 512GB with a microSD card.

$90 at Boost

Great phones don't have to be expensive

You might not think that $100 can buy you much in the smartphone world, but if you know where to look, it's possible to find some shockingly great handsets at or below this price — a prime example being the Ulefone Note 7.

The Note 7 doesn't look the part of a $100 smartphone, showcasing a display with slim bezels and a waterdrop notch, not to mention its triple-camera system on the back. Internally, the phone's rocking a quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, a 3,500 mAh battery, and Android 9. If you have a GSM carrier like AT&T or T-Mobile, this is a solid way to go.

There are also a lot of good deals offered by prepaid wireless providers, such as the Samsung Galaxy A10e on Boost Mobile. This is one of the best budget phones on the market right now, offering things like 32GB of expandable storage, 2GB of RAM, USB-C for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

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Samsung Galaxy S20 wallpaper iPhone mods

This massive collection of Samsung Galaxy S20 wallpapers for iPhone mean you can enjoy the unreleased images on your own device.

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Get ready for the worst kind of 2010s throwback: long, horrible phone names

Of all the trends from the early 2010s we could resurrect, why did have to be these abominable phone names?!

My very first Android phone was a Samsung Captivate Glide. I called it Soarin. I had to; calling it the Captivate Glide just felt ridiculous. The Samsung Captivate Glide was the QWERTY Keyboard variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II. The Glide was the follow-up to the Samsung Captivate, the AT&T-tailored version of the original Galaxy S, which had over a dozen different named variants in in the US alone. It was the dawning of a new era for Android — and for stupid-ass phone names.

The Captivate Glide is actually on the tame end of the spectrum if we look back over the last decade of Android phone naming. The Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G. The T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide. The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. The Acer Liquid Zest Plus. The Casio G'zOne Commando...

And now, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, because somehow in the last 10 years, Samsung hasn't found a better way to name a slab of silicon, glass, and metal.

There's a lot to be excited about in 2020 when it comes to smartphones. After a few years of stagnation and relative uniformity, things are about to get inventive and fresh and weird. We've got folding phones! We've got (mainstream) 5G phones! We've got circular phones! Cool, great, but for the love of all that is sane and logical in this world, could we maybe rein it in with the naming in 2020?

Your phone name should get 3 words, 50 characters maximum.

Once upon a time, Motorola did something bold, daring, and sane: they simplified their smartphone portfolio down to three lines: The Moto X, the Moto G, and the Moto E — Droids don't count since those are carrier contractual obligations. They cut down the clutter and made it easy for buyers to figure out which of their phones they wanted. This worked amazingly well, with the Moto G becoming one of the most popular phone brands in Central and South America. But then Lenovo wanted to have its cake and eat it, too, so the Moto G line split into two models, then three, then four.

Brand marketers want phone names to be instantly recognizable and associated with its successful predecessors. And so when a model splits, we end up with the Galaxy S20 and the Galaxy S20+. And then when the models split again between 4G and 5G, we get the Galaxy S20 5G and the Galaxy S20+ 5G. And then they decide the want to Gigantamax a phone, so that one has to still be a Galaxy S20 5G, but it needs to have a modifier that's even cooler than Plus. Better than Plus....

Hey, that'll work. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G!

Let's give another example: we now think there's going to be three versions of the Pixel 4a. Last year we had the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL, so we'll now have the Google Pixel 4a and Google Pixel 4a XL, plus an extra 5G model that will presumably be called the Google Pixel 4a XL 5G. It's the logical assumption, it follows the easy pattern and makes it easy for buyers to tell where it falls in the Pixel 4a lineup...

You can do better Google, Samsung, and Motorola, and please, in this new decade, let's try something new with the names: each phone gets 3 words and 50 characters maximum, including the company name. 3 words basically rules out tacking on "5G" at the end, and can hopefully encourage some newer, more useful series names you could adopt instead.

In other news this week....

• I agree with Jerry about Google's incentive to get Steam working properly on Chrome OS, and Valve's incentive to get Steam into more living rooms with Chromeboxes.
• Andrew Martonik is utterly wrong about notification sounds and can sit there in his wrongness and get used to it. Cute/nerdy/cool notification tones are great, and you will pry them from my cold, dead hands!!! For a lot of people, and especially a lot of women, we don't in fact keep our phone on our person at all times; they don't fit in our front pockets! So they're on the table, or buried in our purse, on propped up on a wireless stand/throne, and that notification tone is very important.
• However the EU's attempt to standardize chargers on mobile devices shakes out, my goal for 2020 is to not only buy absolutely nothing that still charges with micro-USB, but to recommend to you fine folks only gear that can charge via USB-C. My phones, laptops, power banks, and headphones all charge via USB-C and with the exception of my OnePlus 6T and my Bludio headphones, everything can charge off the same 45W Power Delivery charger in my living room and at my standing desk.

See you in a few weeks, and as a reminder boys, Valentine's is three weeks away and nothing says love like a cute, useful accessory like a PopSocket or a heart red USB-C cable!

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5 useful gadgets to improve your health and wellness in 2020

In 2020, we're celebrating both a new year and a new decade, so there's no better time to adopt a healthy lifestyle and future than now. In fact, we have five great deals on gadgets that will help you improve your health and wellness this year.

UPRIGHT GO 2: Perfect Your Posture Training Device

Excellent posture not only makes you look better, but it also maintains good core and back health. With the UPRIGHT GO 2, you'll be alerted immediately when you break proper posture, allowing your body to get used to sitting and standing upright all day. The companion app will also give you a personalized posture plan to help you track your progress over time.

MSRP: $99.95

Sale Price: $89

Smart Nora: Revolutionary Contact-Free Snoring Solution

Snoring happens when your throat relaxes while sleeping. The Smart Nora is a non-intrusive device that detects your breathing patterns; once the Smart Nora detects the early signs of snoring, it'll gently vibrate beneath your pillow to stimulate your throat muscles and stop your snoring without waking you up or discomforting you.

MSRP: $359

EyeQue VisionCheck

Want to keep track of your eye health without a time-consuming trip to the optometrist? With the EyeQue VisionCheck, you can. This device lets you test your own eye health from the comfort of your home, and you can use your results to order new glasses or determine when you need to check in with your eye doctor.

MSRP: $69

Sale Price: $59.99

ionbox Negative Ion Generator

Longterm exposure to bad air can lead to breathing issues in the future, but most people don't realize that there are countless harmful particles in their own homes. The ionbox Negative Ion Generator produces negative ions that attach to particles such as smoke, bacteria, allergens, and pollen, effectively eliminating them and giving you a breath of fresh air.

MSRP: $74.95

Sale Price: $59.99

FOCI: Focus-Boosting Wearable

Fluttering thoughts run through our heads each day, making it hard to stay focused on the task at hand. The FOCI is a waist-attached device that monitors your focus by tracking your breathing patterns and alerts you with a color-changing orb in FOCI's companion app. With the FOCI, you'll be able to work more productively once you realize you've been distracted.

MSRP: $119

Sale Price: $69

Prices subject to change

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