If you have Amazon Prime, here's your answer:
Nice, unlocked phone for $59 (w/ Amazon ads, $109 without). Dual Sim and it'll work with AT&T or T-mobile.
I wasn't impressed with AT&T's plans, to be honest, and went with T-mobile.
Unlimited text, talk and low-speed data (3 GB of high speed data) for $40.
My only knocks against it are the camera is meh, and my personal experience with the battery isn't awesome (but that might be the way I'm using it - I have a thread open to see what others are experiencing).
Alternatively, if you're not really set on an unlocked phone and just want a cheap phone, my local Walmart had some Verizon 2nd gen Moto E in stock for $20. I'd imagine there'd be others.
Nice little phone, basically runs stock Android. I still have one as a back-up.
Save ten bucks, get the amazon BLU phone with 16GB storage and 2GB RAM for $60. Faster CPU with double the storage AND memory. Comes with marshmallow, too.
https://smile.amazon.com/BLU-R1-HD-Exclusive-Lockscreen/dp/B01H2E0J5M/
You can remove the amazon ads by installing a 3rd party lockscreen, and both the modem and the bootloader are unlocked.
Do you have Amazon Prime?
https://www.amazon.com/BLU-R1-HD-Exclusive-Lockscreen/dp/B01H2E0J5M/
I just noticed this myself. I ordered one on Thursday night (it should be delivered tomorrow), but now the page is completely gone. It doesn't say "out of stock" or anything. Just "Sorry, we couldn't find that page."
Caveat: I'm not a Fi rep, so I'm not 100% in the know. But, yes, any unlocked GSM phone with T-Mobile bands WITH your normal Fi SIM (note: NOT data-only) will allow you to make phone calls and receive texts only on the T-Mobile network (i.e., no carrier switching). Hangouts integration should work just fine.
As to phones; I've owned 2 Blu phones and had decent experience with them. Not all Blu phones have ads on them; only the Amazon subsidized ones (in fact, I believe that's only 1 Blu phone, the R1 HD).
I don't know how much you want to spend, but if you are truly looking for lowest cost; it's really hard to beat the Blu R1 HD @ $59 for the 2 GB model (if you're a Prime member).
The chart on the amazon page says "no support" for T-Mobile voice; but that chart is out of date. Blu pushed an update out on the phone in November of 2016 fully supporting T-Mobile.
Yeah I can't wait to flash CM12 once someone breaks this version of FireOS.
Definitely a huge value for people like us. The Blu R1 is another steal from Amazon.
to add to this, I have a Blu R1 HD. the 16gb version is $59.99 with prime, not only that but it's easily rootable You'll want to root it to remove the ad's and crapware and has a glass screen so unlike cheaper tablets it won't get easily scratched. it also runs retroarch well and can play PSX games fine as well as some lighter titles in PPSSPP. LocoRoco plays fine, but Sonic Rivals lags, but that's not really a fault of the phone the emulator just has issues with it. EDIT: Drastic runs fine, no lag or issues not that i was expecting any.
as far as the controller, I also vouch for that specific ipega, not only does it fit my phone but also my smaller windows tablet, and even my new 3DS XL (though it can't be used with it). the controls themselves are nice and held up pretty well in the almost 3 years i've owned it.
EDIT: I also wanna add that I've owned 3 JXD devices and all of them have had flaws and issues, this Blu R1 HD is the only android device I've had that I've been truly happy with. especially because I paid half the price of the cheapest JXD product.
Anyone have one of these Amazon Prime phones? Ran into some phone discussion yesterday on here and it's really got me down on my shitty iphone. I impulse bought this weird ad-fueled BLU R1 HD phone last night for only 60 bucks. Watched some reviews of it on youtube and it seems like it's more than capable of running casual games smoothly.
I'm still unsure of the purchase though since it has some kind of baked-in amazon adverts, which makes me wonder if it's rootable since Amazon would really not want people to circumvent their ads.
I looked at my carrier's offers, including my "free" upgrades, and they're all over $140 at minimum, so if this thing works it'll save me a lot of cash. Anyone have one?