However, it’s not perfect. It’s easy to overlook the low-resolution display, but it’s not very bright, so reading the screen on sunny days can be difficult. The device itself feels very pliable and attracts a lot of fingerprints on the back, so you’ll want to clean it regularly. The main camera can take some decent photos during the day, but it’s pretty dim in low light. Overall, these flaws do not reduce the value of the Galaxy A13 5G. It’s a pretty cheap phone but still works.
Operates on all three major US aircraft carriers.
This OnePlus (7/10, wired recommendation) won’t work on Verizon and only supports 4G LTE on AT&T, but it’s a great 5G phone that delivers impressive specs. That includes an AMOLED display (a rarity at this price point) and excellent performance. It has a headphone jack, NFC, and a MicroSD card, plus it gets security updates for three years. Defect? The camera is just a pass and the A13 will only be updated to Android 12.
Best Under $200 (and Best Battery Life)
Want the longest battery life possible? Two days is pretty awesome from the Pixel 5A or Galaxy A32 5G above, but Motorola Moto G Power (2021) can last about three days on a single charge, thanks to the 5,000 mAh battery. It used to retail for $250 but now it’s almost always $150, which makes it even better value.
Inside the Snapdragon 662 chip with 4 GB of RAM is a perfect fit; you should be able to run all your apps and most games are fine. The 720p LCD isn’t as pretty as our other picks, but it’s still bright enough for viewing in sunny outdoor conditions. Likewise, the rear camera system performs well during the day, but it’s not as good as the Pixel 5A in low light.
It only comes with 64 gigabytes of storage, so you’ll want to use a MicroSD card for more space. There’s a headphone jack and a fingerprint sensor, but no NFC. That means you can’t use this phone to make contactless payments with services like Google Pay. The biggest downside? Motorola will only provide one more year of security updates and this device will not be updated to it Android 12. This could be a deal breaker for you, and that’s completely understandable.
You may be wondering why I don’t recommend the newer one Moto G Power 2022. That’s because after running the benchmark tests, I confirmed my suspicions that the above performance newer handsets significantly worse than the 2021 version (Motorola has switched to a lower Mediatek chipset). Its very sluggish, and the result from the camera is like a downgrade. It do the last three days, but as long as the Moto G Power 2021 remains, I think it’s a better option.
Operates on all three major US aircraft carriers.
Not to be confused with Moto G Stylus 5Gthe Moto G Stylus 2022 is the lower version that lacks 5G and NFC support for contactless payments. It’s a perfectly fine phone, as I noted in my review, but it’s not an upgrade over its predecessor in any way. It works well enough to run most apps and games, you get almost two days of battery life and will get three years of security updates (but one OS upgrade to Android 12).
Only two phones in this guide support wireless charging: iPhone SE 2022 and Nokia XR20 (7/10, WIRED Recommend). If you want the convenience of not having to plug in a charger to charge your phone, that’s a good enough reason to launch the XR20. (Read ours Guide to the best wireless chargers for some recommendations.) It also happens to be rough smartphone without looking too flashy or too thick. I dropped it on the sidewalk three times during my testing, and it was barely scratched (though that’s no guarantee it’ll survive each drop).
It regularly drops to $500 or less, which is why it has found a place in this guide. I was pleasantly surprised when I tested the XR20 in late 2021. You get pretty reliable performance with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G, all-day battery life, a bright LCD display, and dual SIM support, which isn’t. common on most phones sold in the US. There’s even a headphone jack, which is rare on expensive phones, along with an IP68 water and dust resistance rating.
