What's the best mid-price phone for Pokemon Go

July 19, 2016 5:41 PM

The time has come- I need a new phone, and I want to play Pokemon Go on it. I have Virgin Mobile, and I can't pay $600 for a top of the line phone. What's the best phone under $250 that can actually play Pokemon Go, and that works on Virgin?

I was looking at the Samsung Galaxy J7, but a quick Google reveals that it doesn't have a gyroscope, so it can't do the augmented reality for the game. My son is delighted by the AR, which is the entire point of my desire to play the game. Am I out of luck with my price range? My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S3, and it's so slow and the battery dies all the time, so I definitely need an improvement over what I have.

posted by banjo_and_the_pork to Technology (20 answers total)

Best answer: The newly released Moto G starts at $199 (although I'd buy the $230 version with more memory and storage) and works on LTE bands 25, 26 & 41 which are the LTE bands that Sprint/Virgin uses.

I haven't used it but Virgin sold the previous generation Moto G directly so I would guess it works OK. Best Buy & Amazon currently have the previous gen Moto G on for about $80. My daughter uses an even older Moto G for Pokemon Go and it works fine. Most of the crashes and lag are the server, not the phone.
posted by GuyZero at 5:58 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: And both 3rd and 4th gen Moto G phones definitely have both a gyro and an accelerometer.
posted by GuyZero at 6:03 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've had a Moto G for almost a year on the strength of this review. I don't use a case or screen protector, and have abused it horribly with lots of flinging about onto hard surfaces and attaching it to my bicycle in a way that causes it to bang against the handlebars when I hit bumps and allows it to be rained on. Still works fine, and the only crack I've acquired in the screen is the kind that doesn't impair visibility or use. Good battery life and it seems pretty fast with most apps, though I haven't tried Pokemon Go yet. Would recommend it as a good phone for the clumsy and cost-conscious.
posted by asperity at 6:29 PM on July 19, 2016

Best answer: The 4th gen Moto G does have a gyroscope. Though 3rd gen does not. Boo.
posted by asperity at 6:39 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The Nexus 5x is pretty hard to beat, it's nearly as good as the flagship phones, and you can get the 32gb model on ebay new for $280. (or the 16gb model for $250.)
posted by gregr at 8:31 PM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I have a nexus 5X and my kid just got the brand-new 4th gen Moto G - honestly take the Moto G. The 5X has been a disappointment although it has many more features like NFC and a fingerprint reader.
posted by GuyZero at 9:47 PM on July 19, 2016

Best answer: My son has just bought a Wileyfox Swift which reviews claim will run Pokémon Go quite happily (It has a gyroscope & 2Gb RAM). I’ll let you know how it goes when it arrives.

(May not be available in the US?)
posted by pharm at 3:44 AM on July 20, 2016

Best answer: Just to confirm, I also have a Moto G 3rd gen and was all excited to finally have phone that was a new enough to cope with the latest trends, and it is great, but it doesn't have a gyro, so no Pokemon Go AR. I am very sad about this.
posted by Helga-woo at 4:31 AM on July 20, 2016

Best answer: How much is Virgin's iPhone 5 now? I have one of theirs and it runs the game fine.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:55 AM on July 20, 2016

Response by poster: Virgin's iPhone 5s is actually in my price range, with the promo they're running now. I've been resistant to getting hooked into iPhones, but if I can catch Pokemons on the 5s I would consider it. The Moto G 4th gen looks pretty good, too.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:13 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm not brand loyal to Apple - used to have a Mac and an Android phone, now I have an Acer PC and this iPhone. I haven't run into any weird issues with it, just takes a bit of adjustment when you switch.
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:18 AM on July 20, 2016

Best answer: The iPhone 5s is very, very dated at this point. I would not recommend getting one, especially if you're looking to keep the phone for 1-2 years or more.

Nexus 5x gets my recommendation. It's been a very good midrange phone, and gets you that vanilla android experience. If you're looking to buy one, get it through project fi - it'll be $200 for the 16gb model, then you can immediately cancel monthly service and keep the phone. If you're looking to buy a Moto G 4th Edition, Best Buy is currently running a phone plus $50 gift card for $200 deal.
posted by revertTS at 6:06 AM on July 20, 2016

Response by poster: For anyone playing along at home, according to Reddit, the Moto G 4th gen can't be used on Virgin Mobile. This is so needlessly complicated!
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:58 AM on July 20, 2016

Best answer: I use a Moto G, and it either runs great or really slow. I don't know if using encryption is part of it, but I find the game barely playable at some times.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 7:22 AM on July 20, 2016

Best answer: Ah, I forgot how particular Virgin is - I haven't dealt with them in a long time. You'll likely have trouble activating any phone not purchased directly through them, be it a MotoG, Nexus 5x, whatever.

How tied are you to the carrier? Because one additional perk of the 5x is that it's one of three phones usable on Fi, which is quite a good deal if you use less than 2gb of data a month.
posted by revertTS at 8:02 AM on July 20, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I may just switch carriers, it looks like I can get a better deal on a prepaid account with T-Mobile, and they will play better with more phones. I don't have any particular love for Virgin, I just liked paying $35/month, but I always hit my data cap these days so it's probably time to pay more anyway.

So I'm going to get a new phone and a new carrier so I can play Pokemon Go.....
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 11:17 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Amazon's running a special for prime members on the Moto G 4th generation phone, if you do switch providers (and are ok with lockscreen ads).
posted by Aleyn at 11:26 AM on July 20, 2016

Best answer: If you're carrier shopping, you might look at Ting (which runs on either Sprint or Tmo's network) and Project Fi (which switches between Sprint/Tmo/US Cellular, but has a short list of supported handsets) in addition to Tmo's prepaid plans. They're quirky MVNOs, but very cheap if you happen to be in their niche - which it sounds like you might be if you've been on a $35/month Virgin plan.
posted by revertTS at 11:40 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It runs fine on my iPhone 5. It's not even a 5s. This thing is unbreakable, and happily runs whatever I throw at it.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:03 PM on July 20, 2016

Response by poster: Just a follow up for future Googlers. I bought the Moto G4 from Best Buy and switched to T-Mobile. It's a great phone and the game works on it. A++ super happy with the fiscal decision I made here, it's been well worth the new phone and carrier switch. I was catching Pokemons all day yesterday and on my way to work today!
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:44 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]