Any experience with these unlocked Amazon Phones (Moto G or BLU)

[umsami]

DS1 was gifted an old iPhone that cannot have its IOS updated, so is kind of useless.  Looking at a new phone for his bday, but unwilling to pay iPhone prices, especially for an unlocked phone.  Saw both of these on Amazon, which looked good and had good reviews.  Anybody have any experience with either? 

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DZJFWWS/ref=amb_link_477218782_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-top-1&pf_rd_r=GXQZRFNA5S7C2Z8TQW47&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=2576304182&pf_rd_i=2407749011

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H2E0J5M

[hornblower]

My kids have unlocked Moto Gs bought off eBay. They're happy with them.

[catz]

My daughter used a Moto G with Republic Wireless for about 2 years.  It was totally fine.  We just replaced it with some newer Motorola model with similar features. 

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I have a Moto G. I love it, but I should have sprung for the extra memory when I bought it a year ago. 8MB just doesn't cut it!

[Okra]

My daughter has this BLU phone.  It is a nice phone.  But, it is super skinny, and the screen cracked really quickly.  

[Noreen Claire]

I have a Moto G with Republic Wireless. I'm happy!

[KarenNC]

My husband and I just got unlocked Moto G4s from Best Buy a couple of weeks ago, using them on Verizon, and they seem to work well. They replaced our LG G2s that we bought through Verizon and I'm happier with this. 

[Lizzie in Ma]

We have one of each, eldest got the Blu, she loves it, only issue she has with it is that the speakers are not great for her music so she just uses her bluetooth one.

Youngest has the Moto G and it is fantastic.

Both are straight up Android, simple, fast, perfect and you can't beat those prices!

The special offers don't bother them at all.  One linked to her Amazon account, the other didn't bother.

[Lanny]

For GSM phones, Motorola and Samsung connect the best. Our friend who has worked for a Cellular Provider for many years told me earlier this year that of the last 5 phones he's gotten, 3 have been Motorola and 2 have been Samsung.  Motorola phones have a much cleaner installation of Android.

 

In our house, we have two (2) Motorola G phones that were purchased in January and February. My wife bought the first one, at the end of January. Motorola G Turbo or something like that. A week later, I bought a less expensive version.  I ended up giving that to my wife's daughter in law, about 2 months later, because she'd dropped and destroyed her phone and needs a phone all day when she is working.

 

Both of those Motorola phones work very well.

 

Those phones left the Motorola factory unlocked. They were never branded and sold by a provider.

 

The only thing my wife ran into, and this is something one wouldn't normally need to do, was that the USB Port on her Motorola doesn't have a technology that would enable it to work with an Adapter (USB to HDMI) that we were going to buy. She says other than that, it's perfect.

 

I am using a low end Samsung phone made in 2014.  It works, without any issues. I have been using it for months, so now I cannot remember what is different in the Android Menus, that makes Samsung phones a little harder to use than Motorola phones.  This phone was branded for/by Movistar and was then unlocked so it is not the same as if we had purchased an Unlocked phone in the store where we purchased the 2 Motorola phones. The phones that store sells are truly "unlocked". They have never been branded to a particular carrier.

 

There is also a Lenovo phone in our house. My stepson says it is identical to my wife's Motorola G Turbo, but it cost less. Lenovo owns Motorola Mobility.

 

Whatever you buy, I hope you will be happy with it!

[Lanny]

OP I clicked on both of the links you provided. There is a huge differential in the prices.  If the cost is not an issue, I would suggest going with a Motorola.  I am pretty sure I have seen BLU cell phones for sale here (in Colombia) when I glance at phones, but I do not think of BLU as a major provider.  The web site of the superstore where we purchase cell phones that left the factory unbranded (this is better than a phone that was branded to a carrier and then unlocked) does sell BLU phones. This is their web page for BLU phones at this moment:

 

http://www.alkosto.com/telefonos-celulares/smartphones-1/android/ver/blu/libres/

 

Very possibly those BLU phones are terrific, but I wouldn't pay that much $ for something other than a Motorola or Samsung phone.

 

If you buy the Motorola, you are probably going to get "Gorilla Glass" on the display, which IMO any really good phone should have.  If you buy the Motorola, when the time comes, you will be able to buy a replacement battery (probably you will need to take the phone apart to do that if it is like my wife's Motorola Turbo G) and accessories.   Buying a BLU, which IMO is an "off brand", when it needs a battery or you want to buy an accessory, it may or may not be available. On the other hand, the price differential is enormous.  

 

I would suggest limiting your consideration to Motorola and Samsung phones, based on what the Electronic Engineer who has worked for a celular provider for many years recommended to me, earlier in 2016.  I had asked him  which phones connect best to their towers.

 

Also, the person who previously used the low end Samsung I have now is a 6 year old boy. He was playing games on it. Imagine the abuse it has taken. It works perfectly.  

 

There are a lot of excellent phones on the market and if the one you get works without any issues, then you bought a Winner. That could include the BLU phone you linked to. We have no experience with that brand.  There was a high end LG phone my Stepson bought years ago and it was a "Lemon", but in general our experience with LG products isn't good. That may have been a fluke with that particular phone, or it may have been typical. I would not touch an LG phone.  

 

Motorola, Samsung or Lenovo are my suggestions, in that order of preference. Here in the store where we buy them, Motorola phones are usually the most expensive of those 3 brands, so if I could get a 4G phone for much less, buying a Samsung or Lenovo, I'd go that route. My Samsung is a 3G phone and it has Android 4.4 (?) but if I was buying a new phone, I'd want a recent model, which has 4G technology and Android 5.1.        

[dirty ethel rackham]

Dh and ds have Moto g phones purchased off of Amazon.  They are very happy with them.  I am not sure what internal memory they have, but they both have micro sd cards for storing music, photos, etc. 

[Lanny]

I just clicked on the link you provided for the BLU phone again and read the first part. For the price differential, I would click to buy that BLU phone for $110. It says "Stunning 5" HD display with curved Gorilla Glass 3 protection,"   The Gorilla Glass, to me, is a *huge* benefit for a cell phone. It has capability for Dual SIMS (my wife's phone and my phone have 2 SIMs in them).