Looking for Cheap Phone for Apps Only - No Calls

[BostonAndroid]

I was looking to get a electronic Bible for someone as a gift, and thought why not just give an Android phone and use it as apps only with no SIM card. I have 2 options:

• Get an older phone used, root it and make it run fast enough if this is relatively straightforward (might be a fun project for me as I've never rooted one before)

• Get a new phone that's not top of the line

I was wondering if people had specific phone recommendations.

I am looking to pay less than $100 if possible and would need it to be easy to acquire (e.g. ebay, buying a prepaid phone, buying directly from carrier, etc.). No possibility to use a phone contract of course. Not looking to play games or anything intense, just have a smooth experience with apps only (not choppy, and easy to use interface, rooting may help with this?). Thanks in advance for all help.

 

[jerofld]

I would check around for phones with "bad ESNs" and such phones. Bad ESN means that the ESN is 'owned' by someone else and the phone can't be used on a cellular network. (well, that's the simple explination) Those should be pretty cheap to get your hands on.

Anything with a 1 GHz or better processor will run most games smoothly. Getting a phone that is supported by Cyanogen or similar AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROMs (literally means 'read only memory' but is a reference to custom builds of Android). And if you root the phone and install an AOSP ROM (to include Cyanogen), the phone will likely be really snappy.

 

[BostonAndroid]

Thanks for this good advice, I'll be on the lookout for a phone that can work easily with cyanogen and an AOSP rom, I like the principle behind it. I also noticed you can check the ESNs with carriers to see the source of the phone and avoid stolen phones, so perhaps that will be an way to still get one cheaply while not getting one that was stolen (assuming if I ebay it that the seller actually reports it properly).

If anyone has any suggestions for specific phones that might be good targets (e.g., tons were manufactured and now people are upgrading and they are good and cheap), I just started using Android so I'm not too familiar with everything that came between the G1 and today's lineup (aside from seeing Droid commercials on TV, so obviously I'll take a look at that as well as the cyanogen website). If I find some prospects I may post them here. Thanks!!!

 

[TheBundo]

I would check around for phones with "bad ESNs" and such phones. Bad ESN means that the ESN is 'owned' by someone else and the phone can't be used on a cellular network. (well, that's the simple explination) Those should be pretty cheap to get your hands on.

Anything with a 1 GHz or better processor will run most games smoothly. Getting a phone that is supported by Cyanogen or similar AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROMs (literally means 'read only memory' but is a reference to custom builds of Android). And if you root the phone and install an AOSP ROM (to include Cyanogen), the phone will likely be really snappy.

Bad ESN phone = possession of stolen goods. Nice gift.......

 

[EarlyMon]

^Not something to put a Bible on, I should think.

Have you checked out our classified forum? You might zero in what you need quickly and easily -

http://androidforums.com/classifieds/

 

[BostonAndroid]

Thanks, I'll have a look there! Appreciate the heads up on bad ESN, I was thinking I could try to lookup the ESN to see the status of the phone, but maybe it's not so easy. Thanks again!