Here's another alternative for the frugal technologist: Get a secondhand phone. In 2012, I bought a used Nexus One for $30, wiped it clean, and put Cyanogenmod

Here's another alternative for the frugal technologist: Get a secondhand phone. In 2012, I bought a used Nexus One for $30, wiped it clean, and put Cyanogenmod on it. The phone was already two years old when I bought it, and it had scratches all over the place (except, thankfully, the screen itself), but it served me well for another two years. Recently, the Nexus One finally broke, so I replaced it with a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. The previous owner had only had it for 6 months, and it was in an impeccable condition (not a single scratch), so I had to pay a hefty $100 for it. Again, I wiped it clean and put Cyanogenmod on it. It feels twice as fast without all the Samsung bloatware and carrier garbage. I fully expect to keep using the Mini for the next two or three years, at which point I'll probably buy another used phone. Sure, it takes a fair amount of research and luck to find a phone that has been well cared for. And I obviously won't take any chances with the stock ROM, who knows what it might be infected with? But as long as you're careful, and if you buy locally from ordinary people (not professional dealers), you can get last year's mid-range phone for the price of this year's shitphone. Why get a $80 shitphone if you can buy a non-shit phone for $60? People in wealthy countries switch phones a lot more often than what even the cheapest phones are designed to last, especially if said phones are kept encased in lots of fancy fabric, rubber, and plastic. In addition, since you're no longer a slave of your contract, you can also save a lot on the monthly phone bill. I only pay $8/mo on average, while everyone else in my country seems to be stuck with $40+/mo two-year plans.