Chip Chick
Want to get your hands on that new Nokia Android phone? The Nokia phone brand, revived by newcomer HMD, is entering the Android market with the Nokia 6. It’s now finally headed to the United States courtesy of the Amazon Prime Exclusives Phone program, which offers phones for a discount in exchange for putting ads on the lock screen.
The Nokia 6 is a budget phone running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 — a low-end smartphone chipset. Not only will that make the phone slower than more expensive phones, reception and network speed will be a little farther behind, which is worth keeping in mind if you live or work somewhat far from cell towers (also note that it works only with AT&T and T-Mobile). But, if you don’t need the latest and greatest, there’s a lot to like — the Nokia 6 has a 5.5″ 1080p display, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage (with a microSD card slot supporting up to 128 GB more), a 16 MP rear camera with phase detect autofocus, an 8 MP front camera, a fingerprint scanner, and a 3,000 mAh battery all for under $200. Music will get a little pop from Dolby Atmos processing, which helps makes individual sounds in a song sound more distinct.
The Nokia 6 is usually more than $200, but not so with the Amazon Prime Exclusives Phone program. You’ll get ads popping up on your lock screen, but in exchange, they’ve taken the price down from $230 to $180, a more reasonable price for the hardware in this phone.
Amazon is adding a quartet of other phones to their discount program this week, including three from Alcatel (a brand operated by TCL). That includes their affordable flagship, the Idol 5S, along with the fantastic light show that is the A50 (similar to the A5 LED) and the A30 Plus, a larger version of the A30 we covered earlier this year. Prices for those three range from $80 to $200 on Amazon.
Last up is the Moto E4, a low-end 5″ Android phone with a 720p display. If you’re desperately, desperately trying to find a phone in 2017 with a removable battery, here’s one! It’s $100 with Amazon’s ad-supported discount.
All of the phones are sold unlocked, but like with the Nokia 6, they won’t all be compatible with all carriers (in particular, some won’t work with Sprint or Verizon, like the Nokia 6). The phones on the Amazon Prime Exclusives page generally aren’t top-flight, but the discounts can be pretty deep, so if you’re in the market for a basic, cheap phone for yourself or a smartphone newbie, they’re worth a look. These five phones will ship out between late June and early July.
