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bobinnv

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 1, 2007
9
0
What would be a good choice of phone for an iPhone user that wants to give Android a try? I don't want to spend another $750 on a phone - I'm looking for something decent, but inexpensive that will allow me to compare it with my iPhone, and that I can use either as a backup to my iPhone, or switch to before buying a nicer Android device if I really end up liking Android. TIA.
 

macfacts

macrumors 603
Oct 7, 2012
5,379
6,345
Cybertron
What ever phone you do end up getting, if you find you don't like it, you can customize it and the first simple way is to install the Google Now Launcher from the Play Store.
 

nj-morris

macrumors 68000
Nov 30, 2014
1,897
804
UK
Moto G. Inexpensive, decent specs.

If you can wait, there's supposed to be a new Moto G with a 5.5-inch screen and a fingerprint scanner. Expected to be announced 17th May.
 
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Mernak

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2006
435
16
Kirkland, WA
About what is your desired price range? I would also suggest a Moto G as a really good starting place. Even new they are cheap, and I am sure you could get one used or a previous generation if you want to cut the cost down further.
 
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ozaz

macrumors 68000
Feb 27, 2011
1,615
577
Moto G is always the answer to this question.

Most manufacturers put their own twist on Android by customising it with their own 'skin'. Unfortunately, this can lead to things like two versions of certain apps on your phone (eg mail, messaging, photo gallery) - one from Google and one from the manufacturer. Once you're used to Android you just deal with this. But it's not a good introduction. Motorola hardly do any customisation so you'll be getting a phone that's basically vanilla Android. This makes for a good introduction free from potential sources of confusion.
 

Fernandez21

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2010
4,840
3,183
Moto G, or you can start looking at flagships of yesteryear. The 2014 32gb Moto X is $199 new from Moto.

And of course there's also used/refurbished. You can get a sweat deal on something like the Nexus 5 or HTC One.
 

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
3,443
1,005
What ever phone you do end up getting, if you find you don't like it, you can customize it and the first simple way is to install the Google Now Launcher from the Play Store.

Moto G. Inexpensive, decent specs.

If you can wait, there's supposed to be a new Moto G with a 5.5-inch screen and a fingerprint scanner. Expected to be announced 17th May.

Moto G will likely already have the Google launcher on it. If it doesn't, whatever it has will be darn close.

Moto G is a good choice, get the 16 GB version, it has more RAM also.
 

Andres Cantu

macrumors 68040
May 31, 2015
3,328
8,003
Texas
The BLU Life One X at Amazon. It's $150, but has been on sale for $100 twice before. It has better specs than the current Moto G and will not break your bank. It even has a nicer screen than the iPhone 6s!

I bought two of these phones for my parents in December and I can tell you that Apple will start sweating if low-end phones can be that good for literally less than 25% of the price of an iPhone!
 
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Savor

Suspended
Jun 18, 2010
3,742
918
Moto X (2014)

Snapdragon 801 still holds up.

I went for a $30 AT&T Moto E (2nd gen) which I am using as a fourth stringer since it is compact and splash resistant. The cameras are fairly atrocious and no flash. So get the $200 Moto X (2nd gen) since Snapdragon 801 is still superior to Huawei Honor 5X's Snapdragon 616.
 
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