Best phone (not necessarily sold by Boost only) under $200?

[gotanmp3]

Single core means better battery life. mine lasts almost 2 days, how about yours?

I've done some testing on 2.17.651.5 and the Evo 3D can achieve standby times that almost rival the iPhone 4. The Epic has the typical Android standby drain that kills it regardless of whether you're actually doing anything on the phone. Physically larger extended batteries are also readily available for the Evo 3D, as it's one of the few newer HTC phones that does not have any antennas embedded in the battery cover.

I'm not gonna argue the Evo 3D is worth 3 times the price of the Epic, because it's not. If someone can pick up an Epic for $50, they're still getting a much better phone than anything Boost presently sells with their name on it, at any price. But if all you can find are Epics that cost almost as much as an Evo 3D, the Evo 3D is a better choice.

[BlueNightSky]

Is there a place where I can try the Evo 3D without having to buy it first? Or is there a place I can get it new and still have a 30 day return policy with full refund if I don't like it? I always try my phone's out before I buy them but I don't know if this is possible with the older phones...

[luther349]

boost sells non contract phones at decent prices, in fact with the desine coming the warp got a 20$ price drop. even a ics rom in the works for the warp. its just comes down to wanting the latest and greatest or just getting something decent.

[gotanmp3]

Is there a place where I can try the Evo 3D without having to buy it first? Or is there a place I can get it new and still have a 30 day return policy with full refund if I don't like it?

Cowboom has a 30 day return policy. I personally haven't used the return policy for buyer's remorse, but I did have to exchange a phone when they incorrectly shipped the wrong one. They pay for return shipping, so it's not too bad.

A brand new Evo 3D with a return policy generally means buying for the full, unsubsidized price from Radio Shack, Best Buy, Amazon, etc. and it's usually insanely overpriced. For the most part, eBay is the most reasonably priced place to get a new phone from, but many sellers who offer return policies limit them to DOA and/or not as described returns only. Now, if you just want to play around with the phone a bit before making up your mind, most Sprint stores should still have an Evo 3D on display. It's only recently been end-of-life'd, so there should still be a lot of them out there.

It sucks that Virgin is getting the Evo 3D, because if you badly want a brand new one without the jacked up price, that'd be the way to go. Boost gets stuck with the Evo Design, a laggy single core POS that was only worth putting up with on Sprint postpaid if you had some dire need for international GSM roaming.

Depending on whether or not HTC jerked around with the hardware, it might be possible to use the bootloader downgrade trick on the Virgin Evo 3D and RUU it over to a Sprint modem and ROM. If Sprint wouldn't play these stupid games we wouldn't need these stupid tricks, lol.

[BlueNightSky]

Thanks gotanmp3! I can see if Sprint stores still have it so I can play around with it. I can also go to Virgin and try out it, right? It won't be with the same company, but the phone is the same as the one that works with Boost, right?

luther349, why do you think I should pick the Warp over the Evo 3D? If they are the same price (well, if I buy a refurb or return version of the Evo 3D), why should I get the Warp instead? I'm curious to hear your answer. I really don't know much about the Warp at all. I haven't compared it yet to other phones.

[gotanmp3]

I can see if Sprint stores still have it so I can play around with it. I can also go to Virgin and try out it, right?

I really don't know much about the Warp at all. I haven't compared it yet to other phones.

Virgin doesn't get the Evo 3D until the end of the month, and it likely will only exist in stores as a non-functional "dummy" and sealed blister packages when it finally reaches retailers (usually a month after it hits the web store). The best way to get an actual hands-on demo is to go to a store that has live demos of their phones (usually corporate Sprint stores).

The ZTE Warp is a cheaply built single core phone. Some of the specs on the Warp are incorrect, but this breaks it down pretty well: http://geekaphone.com/compare/ZTE-Warp-vs-HTC-EVO-3D

[luther349]

this has the correct specks. http://www.phonearena.com/phones/ZTE-Warp_id6508

yea its no dual core but its still decently specked for a single core. and its a snapdragon so you get all the features including flash. and for 179$ i think its there best offering.