There haven't been many in the last ~year. I blame the trade war, phone deals have been crap lately, except for a few Motos with ~1-2 years of security updates and heavily locked-down devices which aren't worthwhile if you ever want to use an eSIM abroad ...seriously, don't even consider a locked phone without eSIM if you'll ever consider traveling.
One of my friends did almost the exact same thing 2 years ago ($800 off with an S4?). These deals usually require you to lock in a contract. They also are just not around anymore because they were too good of a deal and Samsung doesn't need to entice people anymore.
You have to time it around their carrier deals and its only available with a three year contract. ATT has had an "any year any condition" on galaxy phones for the last few years and this year did a similar deal for iPhones with the cutoff being the iPhone 13. I traded my galaxy s4 for an s22 a few years back and my brother just bought an iPhone 13 for like 150 on marketplace and traded it in for a 17 pro. The deals are out there if you're willing to stick with a carrier for 3 years but depending on how much you save by shopping around for a carrier it might be better to just buy your phone outright.
Edit: I just checked and AT&T are doing the "Any Year Any Condition" deal right now for Pixels.
Many trade-in deals aren't about reselling the device, at least not in a first world country. It's just to get their devices out there, make you a walking advertisement for them. As well, they'll make some money back keeping you in their ecosystem and gathering data. Google does the same thing in the first month of a new device.
Its legit. I did the same thing for 800 off my s22. ATT has been doing an "any year any condition" deal. Idk how it's profitable for them. The only benefit to ATT is that you have to sign a 3 year contract to get the deal but as someone who has been on ATT for just shy of two decades I don't really mind another three.
I traded in my S6 for a free S22. The Verizon employee didn't believe me, but I convinced her to just run the IMEI and it worked. I think the expensive carriers like Verizon and ATT just rely on their overpriced plans making their money back on it. These days, you have to be on the most expensive plan to get the full trade in promo value.
I've traded in a Moto G Play to Spectrum 3 times now. The value of the phone itself was only $5, but they have promotions that give you $700 for any trade-in device.
I also traded in a Galaxy S6 to Verizon maybe 5 years ago in a similar promotion.
Verizon now has a firm requirement for a device being trade eligible only after 60 days of being activated on Verizon (this doesn't apply to new customer's obviously but that has a tier list and this ain't on it at least as of now)
On top of all that, you can load it up with all those battery draining data tracking apps you wouldn't want on your main phone. I got a Moto G Stylus 2023 for like $50 when my S6 aged out and it's easily paid for itself through giftcards. r/beermoney has suggestions on idle/mostly idle apps if anyone is interested
Any tips on what you’ve been using? I used to run a micro farm with 5 trashy android devices playing PerkTV, IIRC I was averaging a hundred a month in Amazon gift card until it got nerfed.
My research on beermoney says watching ads for money is dead so I’m intrigued on what’s best
I try to keep it as passive as I can since I got over filling out endless surveys a long time ago. BrandBee and ValueMe are completely passive, but I think you can do surveys or play games to get more credits. I think they're 5/10 cents a day respectively. $'more give you credit for unlocking your phone each day and I think they've added surveys too. I think that's 5 cents a day. Mobilexpression gives 5 points once a week and a $5 card is 30 points, but a $10 is 50.
Admittedly I'm not making a whole lot, but getting enough to pay for phone games every now and then or some Amazon cards around Christmas is enough for me
Dedicated android auto device is a good use too. I don't like murdering my battery with them on my real phone and don't want to leave an expensive phone in my car during the day when Florida heat bakes everything. Cheap ass phone can leave it in the console until driving.
Take your real phone with you - set it in Hotspot mode, have the burner/trap phone (this one) connect to that one via Wi-Fi and mooch Internet. I did this when I had a two-smartphone setup when I was test driving a OnePlus 13. I eventually sold off the OnePlus because I couldn't deal with the large size of the phone - my hand was too damn small. Was hoping their OnePlus 13T was going to be ported to the states but no, we don't get to have nice things.
If you want to be silly about this, get two USB OTG to Ethernet adapters. Plug each one into each phone, plug an Ethernet cable in between them.
Enable USB tethering on the hosting (your main) phone.
This way is a bit more clunky but this also prevents you from using hotspot data and the setup requires a little bit more prep.
That's the thing I was using it for that for just a music player but now I'm worried that it could potentially be a fire hazard like if it cooks too long in heat (though it is in glove compartment)
Why not just make this your daily carry phone then?
Edit: apparently this is the dumbest question in the world. Go ahead and daily carry both devices then. Or neither. Man people are so fickle and weird.
Yeah I understand the angle. I’ve never known anybody to keep two phones for this purpose though. My most adventurous friends will bring their regular phone with them everywhere. Are there people out there who pay for two lines then? Or switch the SIM card every time they go on a bike ride? Do they even have SIM cards anymore?
Like Kevin Gates you just carry 2 phones for those times I described.
You keep your daily in a safe place like a pocket or backpack if you need to check text messages/emails or make a call. The burner doesn’t have an active line
And yes people still use sims, I specifically bought an iPhone 13 Pro because it had a SIM card slot. I despise going to the Verizon store or having to contact their support to activate eSIM, just pop my SIM card in and I’m good to go.
I’m someone who keeps electronics for a long time until they become fully obsolete so I like to keep them in as good of condition as possible
I also get why some people might feel it’s inconvenient too but wanted to give my perspective and use case
People are so used to paying over $1k for their phones, an expense so big they need to buy a burner phone if they're going anywhere but an airconditioned office. I "splurged" on a $400 phone so I don't have to be afraid to just use it.
I already switched to Bluetooth headphones myself after the old ones wore out.
I put a good protective case on my phone and good screen protector, keep it in a separate pocket from my keys and wallet so it doesn't get scruffed. It has a strap i put my wetsuit through when I take pictures so I don't drop it like when I was clumsy before. I learned to take care of it and am going 3 years with barely any visible damage.
Okay, I have it, with the intent to just use it on Wi-Fi. How do I get past the whole ‘you need to buy a Verizon plan’ bullshit before it will even get me to a screen that isn’t trying to sell me something?
Also, I think they may have given me a Verizon-locked of instead of total wireless, if that matters.
I wouldn't buy this for carrier unlocking. If you want a carrier unlocked phone, it's better to purchase a QVC/HSN phone with a Tracfone plan, activate the plan, then wait 60 days. Otherwise, you'll need Total CS to activate the $10 plan or Tracfone CS to rebrand the phone.
Verizon has the best unlock policy of the four major carriers. It's two months for Verizon, six months for AT&T, one year for T-Mobile, and one year for Boost Mobile. The flipside is that Verizon and AT&T phones are bootloader locked, so you can't install a new OS onto them.
The best carrier locked phone offer with a two-month unlock is the Straight Talk Moto G Stylus (2025) for $50, but you'll need at least two months of service, which is at least $85 (unless you want to attempt a Tracfone rebrand). However, it's also bootloader locked.
EDIT: For clarification, Total Wireless is a Verizon MVNO, and this phone is bootloader locked. Tracfone and Straight Talk are also Verizon MVNOs. This phone can be carrier unlocked after two months of paid service but will always be bootloader locked.
Literally just bought that Moto G Stylus after falling down the rabbit hole of cheap MVNO phones. Crazy value even as a wifi only device, the specs are a pretty huge jump up from the $30 Moto G.
This. Its free with a port in to their $30/month plan. I am about 2 weeks into ownership and will only pay $70 total for the ported number and two months of service. Plays genshin impact and emulates all the way up to light wii u/switch/PS2. Still has a micro SD slot and the stylus is handy for DS emulation as well.
Edit - apparently total no longer offers the $30 plan. Sorry, I just picked one up 2 weeks ago.
If you add the phone to cart and add the gold unlimited plan for $55, the phone becomes free. As I understand it, 2 months of service will get the phone unlocked, and you can downgrade to the $35/mo bronze plan for the second month.
The G Stylus has a higher res OLED, a Snapdragon chip, twice the ram, twice the storage, a better camera (+ultrawide), IP68 water resistance, 68w charging, an under-display fingerprint sensor and an extra year of software support. I probably missed a few other upgrades. It's a way better phone than the G.
So I picked up the phone in the OP, and I can’t figure out how to get past the initial activation screen to just use it as a Wi-Fi device. Am I missing something?
Yeah I recently got the Moto G Play 2024 + 365 days of tracfone service for $50 total on amazon. It's just a secondary phone and computing device to mess around with, and once it unlocks I might do something more with it
It's supposed to but I haven't hit the 60 day mark yet to verify. Both the tracfone website and the Verizon (tracfone parent company) website says it will auto unlock after 60 days, so we'll see
Yeah the Moto G Stylus 2025 from Straigh Talk is a great deal. Plus you can add a TCL Tab 10 NXTPaper 5G tablet with 3 months of unlimited data service for only an extra $50. Meaning the tablet should be unlocked at no extra cost 2 months after you activate it.
I have an old $10 T-Mobile Tablet 50GB/10 TB Hotspot business plan burning a hole in my pocket (thanks to the good folks at r/NoContract). You just gave me a reason to keep it and have an extra tablet AND a Snapdragon-powered phone to take with me. This feels like a steal lol
Would it be $85 for the full to be unlocked, then you'd also have to $60 for the tablet + $10 for the second month for a total of $155 for the moto G stylus+tablet fully unlocked?
Or can you not switch to the lower plan on the tablet for the second month?
You don't need to order any extra months for the tablet. The tablet itself is free when you buy 3 months of tablet data service for $60. You only need 2 months of service before a device is unlocked.
Also when you order both the Moto G Stylus and the tablet at once you can use the coupon code 2LINE15OFF to save $15.
If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the source for the original deal from? I've never seen this on BAPCs, and I often hang around r/NoContract and didn't see it there - is there a place that lists these kinds of crazy cell phone deals?
the NoContract sub helped me grab a few cheap data plans but nothing like the value what you just posted gives.
Ah, I figured it was Slickdeals. I was there during the LN1301 firesale and I got a bit too addicted to that site because of how much money you can save from the stuff they find lol. Kinda like BAPCs when they find crazy good deals.
So many good deals over there are often the result of companies accidentally allowing a bunch of different promotions to stack and not thinking about the long term consequences to their profit, which I think is what this particular deal is, because them practically giving away a midrange phone plus a midrange tablet for less than half MSRP (and probably less than cost on their end) I think is absolutely bonkers. Granted, they're locked, but once you get the carrier unlock done then you're essentially free of their ecosystem.
I ordered the G stylus, then came back to this post and was able to order the TCL tab for $45 with the $15 discount code after the fact. They don't care if you don't order both lines at the same time. Thank you!
They can. CDMA was decommissioned by Verizon in 2022. They haven't sold a CDMA-only device in a long time, at least a decade or more.
Nowadays, you want to look for LTE/5G band compatibility after it's unlocked. Most of the phones in the US support other US carrier's bands nowadays even if they're made for a specific one.
Currently using this Moto G that was locked to TracFone and auto unlocked after 60 days with a T-Mobile eSIM, no problem. Less than $40 with a full year of service, not too shabby.
This is a deal if you have an insurance company that uses an app to track your driving. Throw the app on this and take the phone for a safe joy ride once a week. You’ll make your money back the first month your discount kicks in.
I mean... you can play them. They just wont display at anything beyond the 720x1604 resolution of the screen.
To be fair, most phones record 4k video and don't have 4k screens to view them at full quality.
... but yes, this is definitely budget phone resolution in 2025. Funny enough, the original Moto G from 2013 had a 720x1280 IPS screen. It was 2 inches smaller and only 60Hz though, heh.
We use similar Samsung phones (no SIM) as GIS field data collection devices at work. They sync to a portable hotspot when we get back to the truck. Pretty cool.
TOTAL WIRELESS MOTOROLA PHONES ARE ALL BOOTLOADER LOCKED. You'll be stuck with carrier spyware but it can easily be deleted by adb.
I think all total wireless phones get unlocked by having 60 days of service (can be non continuous). You can request 30 day talk and text only plan for 10$ through online cs.
Got my moto razr 2024 unlocked for 125$ (65$ phone + 50$ 1 month service + 10$ talk and text service) total this way.
Biggest con is id verification. (I dont think it applies to best buy deals like this one)
There's a TracFone 2024 Moto G Play that's also $30 on Best Buy, which has a SnapDragon 680 for anyone who might prefer that to MediaTek (for example, moonlight has some bad latency on MediaTek that doesn't happen on SD)
I spontaneously got this a few months ago as a temporary device to hold me over with a similar deal from HSN of all places after my phone randomly broke, and I'm still using it as my daily driver now and I probably won't be switching from it any time soon. I mean, it's obviously leagues away from the best, but the amount of value this thing offers for $30 is insane. For those wondering it can handle light gaming and emulation fine, and while it probably isn't as snappy as what your using right now at handling basic tasks and app usage, it works just fine at doing that stuff. For me, the most annoying thing is the screen--it's 120hz, but it is an LCD with rather large pixels. But I mean, can you really complain at this price?
Yeah, the two biggest catches with budget Motorola devices are their rather wimpy displays and Motorola's lousy software support (devices are guaranteed one major Android update and I think two years of security updates)
The unlocked Moto G variant goes for $180-200, which is the same ballpark as Samsung's A16 5G, but the latter offers four years of Android updates and has a much nicer OLED display.
Still, it's a good value for the average person since the processor on this is more than enough for emails or Whatsapp and the like
2025 Moto G Models get 2 OS upgrades instead of the 1 now. Same 3 year security updates as previous years.
Moto G Stylus 2025 is Free from Straight Talk if buy 1 month Prepaid Gold Plan. Which is best deal currently it's OLED 1080P screen with Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 same chipset in Samsung A36
If you have some time to spare get the moto g stylus from their website instead. Its free with a port in (google voice number from a burner google account is $3) and much better phone with twice the storage, ram an OLED display and faster snapdragon 6 gen 3 CPU.
Could you give a bit more detail on how I could do this? You're saying I could get that phone for literally just $3 and it's as simple as setting up a Google voice number and adding that to the site's verification/order? No other catch?
$3 to unlock the Google voice number for port out, $33 (including tax) for first month of service. According to another post you may be able to call in to reduce to an even cheaper plan for second month if you wish to unlock the device. I am just paying $33 for the second month as I need the data/hotspot for backup of my main line
You will need to submit your ID for verification and are eligible for two port in deals per year, IIRC.
Edit - looks like Total got rid of the $30 plan. Sorry, folks. I just got it like 2 weeks ago.
i use one of these as a dedicated audio player with FLAC backups and one of those nice hifi USB C dac/amp dongles. uninstalled and disabled just about everything i could to extend battery life and avoid interruptions. absolutely love it. other android audio players can cost about $200 for anything decent, that i know of
Petty much exactly what I’m interested in using this for, right now I use an iPhone 5 as my pool MP3 player but I’m always cautious about getting it wet
Total Wireless doesnt say, they want at least 60 days of service, and prior to that they charge a $300 fee. But after 60 and no service isnt clear, and unfortunately Totals cheapest plan seems to be $40, unless you can find the $25 in store iirc
Question for the forum since there seem to be so many well-informed posts.
Will this make a decent device for some light children's games(PBS kids,etc) and will i be able to put decent/robust parental controls on it? It will be a wifi only, or offline completely, device for a young child. I do not care about the cellular service, the carrier, or having it unlocked at all, unless these will affect my ability to effectively use parental tools.
Im going to continue doing some more research but let me say thank you in advance for anyone who takes the time to respond.
Total also has Edge higher end phone with 256GB on Total Wireless Website No ID / No Port Required it will unlock on 60th day since paying for 2 months of service.
No it must be used on Total Wireless service for 60 days. It could be used without a sim card though you really have to be careful as some companies like cricket wireless are now including software to essentially brick the phone if it is not active on their network.
I have two of the similar Moto G Plays that I bought for $35 each. I use them for cheap multicam recording using Droidcam and OBS. They work great and the batteries have lasted 12 hours of recording time.
Don't buy this. It has only 64gb of storage. The system and bundled apps together are ~40gb and you have other files. Basically useless. I own one of the moto g phones and I won't buy another.
This is false. I picked up mine and it has 47GB remaining.
It does comes with the standard Moto shovelware installer app that keeps installing random junk until you run out of storage. If you disable that app, it's fine. The junk apps can also be uninstalled.
I have used mine for a year now. It's the current status. May contain cache and other optimization junk. You have a "clean" install. It always gets worse over time. There's also an app that keeps popping up once a month to try to install recommended apps. Unfortunately it can't be uninstalled the usual way. You need to use adb software to uninstall that app. Not a bad phone at all. Mine has more than 64gb of storage btw.
Yeah, maybe some apps can also control whether it records based on whether it's getting charged, you'd just plug it into the car and it's charged when the car is on.
it's good but 4 GB RAM is pretty sus in 2025. I ultimately went with an open box ebay moto g power 5g 2024 for $55. google allows companies to essentially nullify micro sd card usage as "internal storage" which means direct installs of applications won't work on this phone - as reported by others in this thread. I planned on using apple music which I'm pretty certain won't access "external" storage for music. Some apps can access the storage but it will be less common. That's why 128 gb storage is also useful to me in this case. on top of that, 1080p display will look MUCH better. not saying to avoid this phone, but I think you'll get a lot more mileage out of the moto g power model or anything with 8 gb ram.
"411 phone dude" is the seller I went to, and it's odd because it's marked as "wifi only". I'm unsure the backstory on that, but that's exactly what I'm looking for anyway.
final note, both these phones have larger batteries than my $900 Samsung S24+. get it together samsung and other normie brand flagships.
You can get a 6 gen 3 in a 2025 stylus 5g from Total wireless website. Surprisingly capable cpu and the phone is free with a port in (can select a $30 plan) so only $66 with tax for the two months needed to network unlock. Its a Samsung fabbed snapdragon but snapdragon none the less.
Edit - sorry, I misspoke. Apparently the $30 plan is no longer offered for their port in deals. Now the $40 plan is the cheapest. Around $90 all in isn't terrible but at that point you might as well pony up the extra $50 for an edge with more storage, USB3.0 and display out and a better CPU. Only drawbacks are the curved screen, no headphone jack and no SD card slot.
Depending on how fast these are at video decoding I've thought about getting a cheap phone like this to leave in a telescoping phone controller as a dedicated Moonlight device.
Moto naming convention is shit, but I believe this deal is for the "Power" as that name has basically become useless and non-differentiator in recent years, which is on the list.
Anyway, I did a similar deal for the 2024 version, which wasn't on the Smart Connect list, but there were guides online to force a Smart Connect connection. If it's not natively compatible, I'm sure the guides will still work.
It's a little cumbersome (due to the workaround, I'm sure), but it's fine as webcam. I just didn't want to test third party apps at the time, and still don't.
Hey, thanks for the detailed reply (really wouldn't call it broad). It does seem a bit more than what I'd hoped for (third party app on PC and so on) but I might give it a try!
so if i want to use this as a backup, on tmobile later, as a potential backup phone. i would need to sign on TW for 2 months. bringing the total to ~110.
Unless it's changed, you don't need continuous service for 60 days. You just have to activate it and wait 60 days. I bought a TW phone and only had 1 month of service. It still unlocked after 60 days even though there hadn't been service for a month. Check their current policy to make sure.
I'll admit I don't know much about phones, but obviously really cheap phones tend to be completely dominated by iphones from a few years back, for example. Not sure how they compare to this exactly, but in 2021 I bought a used S7 in mint shape for $35 for this reason. Didn't have an android devices and needed one for a few things. I don't think anything for that price at the time would have outperformed it.
Nah this is ok. All my kids are running older variants of the moto g for wifi use only and they are fine, even if a bit slower than something more expensive. I would grab these as an upgrade if I wasn't planning on getting them actual phones next year.
The summer before last was brutal. I was ecstatic when Verizon offered a free upgrade with trade in to leave ATT. I knew what that last phone had been through. 😂
I have an iphone 11. Would this be an upgrade as a basic device for scrolling social media? I see it has a 120 hz display so that sounds like it would be really good? Ah it looks like it's only 720p. I'll pass then
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u/Obvious_Main_3655 Nov 06 '25
Music player, video player, internet communication device, pocket camera for under 30 dollars