Best "Burner" GSM World Phone
September 11, 2013 12:47 PM   Subscribe

Traveling outside of the US for ~4 weeks a year, what's the best/cheapest burner phone that can Whatsapp, GPS/Mapping, and uses fullsized SIM cards?

I travel out of the US about 4 weeks out of the year to Canada, Mexico, various countries in Europe. When there my usual method is to go buy a SIM card for a prepaid plan, stick it in my old jailbroken iPhone 2G (3.1.3 iOS), and that's that. I have a iPhone 5 but it's carrier locked to AT&T and it's harder to find Micro-SIMs even if it was unlocked.

But in the past trip I noticed everyone used Whatsapp instead of SMS which the old iPhone can't do, (along with 3G, GPS Maps).

What would be the best, cheapest, unlocked phone that is 3G (LTE if possible) that can run Whatsapp? I was thinking an iPhone 3Gs but maybe there's an Android that can provide better/cheaper option.
posted by wcfields to Technology (9 answers total)
 
Response by poster: Also, I would prefer a cheapy phone vs my iPhone 5, especially if it gets stolen.
posted by wcfields at 12:57 PM on September 11, 2013


Best answer: Get a used Nexus One.
posted by zippy at 1:22 PM on September 11, 2013 [1 favorite]


and it's harder to find Micro-SIMs even if it was unlocked.

If you go with your iPhone5 and the place you bought the SIM from can't cut it for you (in Asia I've always had success just asking for it), get one of these.
posted by hot soup at 1:27 PM on September 11, 2013


Best answer: Similar to the nexus one suggestion, i was going to say a droid 2 global or one of the newer global droids. They can be had for as little as $30 on ebay now.

LTE is weird, pretty carrier specific and, barely implemented worldwide. You'll be hard pressed to find a cheap unlocked phone that could even use it where you're going. Here's one for cheap, for example.

Extended batteries+the covers are under ten bucks now. It just uses micro USB so you can charge it with any generic charger anywhere.

Unlocked Nexus ones start at about $10 more, and are also a good choice. The d2 is actually a bit more powerful though and cheaper, and you get a hardware keyboard if that's your thing...

The 3GS feels like crap now, and is very overpriced for what you get. If you're really willing to spend $100+ for an unlocked one you can get a much nicer android phone. Maybe even a galaxy SII which can be soft unlocked for free.
posted by emptythought at 3:05 PM on September 11, 2013


Response by poster: Thanks for both answers.

Another reason NOT to use the iPhone 5, especially in places like Mexico, is that I feel it draws attention to myself and if I get pick-pocketed I'd rather loose a $40 android phone.
posted by wcfields at 6:47 PM on September 11, 2013


Response by poster: Also, on the microsim, yes I know a cutter is cheap but im not carrying around one when traveling and I've noticed in phone shops in Belguim and Germany they do cut your Sim but for a €1 - €2 fee which id like to avoid.
posted by wcfields at 1:26 PM on September 12, 2013


for what it's worth, you don't need an actual cutter. Just an x-acto knife or even a bare razor blade of the box cutter type. I've done it on a counter top in 30 seconds before.(the reverse is also true, you can cut an old plastic metro pass/credit card/store rewards card into a micro/mini sim>full sized adapter...)

It's not rocket science if you have another micro-sim(like your current one!) to compare it to, or even just a photo to look at while you're doing it.

I also have a reputation for macgyvering the shit out of things though, so take that with a grain of salt.
posted by emptythought at 3:21 PM on September 12, 2013


Response by poster: Follow Up:

Bought a used Droid 2 Global (locked / as-is) from this guy on eBay for $30 shipped.
&
Bought SIM Unlock Code from this guy in the UK, worked like a charm when I stuck a Telcel (Mexican) SIM card in.

Phone came with 2.4.629 installed, made the mistake of downgrading to install CM. Bricked it and had to jerry-rig a power supply directly on the battery terminals on the phone so I could install the correct Bootloader / version again. (For some reason the boot loader handles charging of the battery, not the hardware????)

Rooted it using Framaroot.apk on an SD card. Still have yet to do the Radio Unlock so it can accept AT&T or T-Mobile SIMs but that's a low priority until after the trip. Don't want to brick the phone right before leaving again.
posted by wcfields at 8:59 PM on September 22, 2013


Response by poster: Motherfucking Verizon!

The band unlock, which I thought was just for AT&T and T-Mobile, blocks Telcel (Mexico) data too!

Should have done that before I gave it to my wife to travel with, since now it's no more effective than a dumb phone.
posted by wcfields at 6:19 PM on September 24, 2013


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