Technologies

Best Phone Under $200: Cheaper Phones for Just the Basics

Devices that cost less than $200 should still be able to handle most apps, games and simple photography.

Smartphones can be expensive. But even if you’re on a budget, you can still find some great options. These are some of the best phones under $200 and they offer a mix of modern features alongside legacy ports you can’t find on today’s more expensive phones. For example, you can get a phone with a 6.5-inch screen and multiple cameras, plus a headphone jack and expandable storage with a microSD card slot.

However, there are trade-offs to keep in mind. Phones under $200 will likely run slower than their pricier counterparts, lack NFC for contactless payments and may receive only one software update. Most of them won’t support speedier 5G connections, either. But you can have peace of mind knowing that they can support most apps from the Google Play Store and will receive a few years of security updates.

What’s the best phone under $200?

Phones that cost $200 before any discounts are also phones that come with minimal features and many compromises. Of the devices we’ve tested and reviewed, the Samsung Galaxy A12 is our favorite. It nails the essentials, like having a 5,000-mAh battery, four average cameras, and years of software and security updates. There’s the newer Galaxy A13 and the just-released Galaxy A14 (which we need to test), but the A12 still hits that sub-$200 price and can often be found selling for less than $100, or even as a freebie.

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Best phones under $200 of 2023

Mike Sorrentino/CNET

Samsung Galaxy A03S

Best for update support

Samsung’s Galaxy A03S at $160 (roughly £130, AU$240) includes plenty of great features and could be a great fit for someone looking for the cheapest possible phone that can handle most essential tasks. The phone’s 6.5-inch screen, capped at 720p resolution, is great for reading the news, watching videos, and playing games. Despite some performance lag found during our review, the phone is good at multitasking. But the phone’s tiny 32GB of storage space could fill up fast, so if considering this phone, it may be worthwhile to consider expanding the storage with a microSD card.

Samsung also plans to support this phone with at least four years of security updates, which at this price range is as good as it gets. On the software side, it’s less clear how many Android versions are scheduled, but the phone ships with Android 11 to start.

Read our Samsung Galaxy A03S review.

Mike Sorrentino/CNET

Samsung Galaxy A12

Most popular

Even though Samsung’s Galaxy A13 has succeeded the Galaxy A12, you can still find the $180 Samsung phone at some US carriers, although it is otherwise discontinued on Samsung’s website. For instance, the Galaxy A12 is available at Straight Talk wireless at a lower $130 price. According to Counterpoint Research, the A12 was the best-selling Android phone of 2021, even outselling Apple’s iPhone SE (2020).

In our Galaxy A12 review, we found the phone took nicer photos than the cheaper Galaxy A03S thanks to its four-camera array with a 16-megapixel main camera, but it was still hindered by the same 32GB of onboard storage seen across all of Samsung’s sub-$200 phones.

While we haven’t tested the Galaxy A13, it’s possible that the $190 4G-only version of that phone is worth considering for its 50-megapixel main camera. But if you do plan to buy the Galaxy A12, know that the phone’s 3GB of memory handled multitasking well during our review, but experienced some lag when shifting between horizontal and vertical screen orientations.

Read our Samsung Galaxy A12 review.

Michael Sorrentino/CNET

Samsung Galaxy A02S

Best budget phone

The $130 Samsung Galaxy A02S was released in late 2020, and is still listed on Samsung’s website along with some wireless carriers. The phone originally shipped with Android 10, but has since received an update to Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1. Even though the Galaxy A02S is the lowest-priced phone in Samsung’s Galaxy line, the continued software and security updates should provide buyers with feature refinements along with protection from vulnerabilities.

During our review, we found multitasking to be the phone’s main shortcoming, along with the tiny 32GB of storage space included. The phone also has no fingerprint sensor, which means a security PIN or pattern will be necessary in order to keep the phone secure.

But the phone does include a microSD card slot for adding additional storage, a headphone jack and a large 6.5-inch 720p screen. If you just need a simple phone primarily for phone calls, texting and taking the occasional photo, then the Galaxy A02S could be a worthwhile choice.

How we test phones

Every phone on this list has been thoroughly tested by CNET’s expert reviews team. We actually use the phone, test the features, play games, and take photos. We assess any marketing promises that a company makes about its phones. And if we find something we don’t like, be it battery life or build quality, we tell you all about it.

We examine every aspect of a phone during testing:

Display.
Design and feel.
Processor performance.
Battery life.
Camera quality.
Features.

We test all of a phone’s cameras (both front and back) in a variety of conditions: from outdoors under sunlight to dimmer indoor locales and nighttime scenes (for any available night modes). We also compare our findings against similarly priced models. We run a series of real-world battery tests to see how long a phone lasts under everyday use.

We take into account additional phone features, like 5G, fingerprint and face readers, styluses, fast charging, foldable displays, and other useful extras. And we, of course, weigh all of our experiences and testing against the price, so you know whether a phone represents good value.

Read more: How we test phones

Phones under $200 FAQs

Are cheaper phones worth it?

Phones that are under $200 just focus on the essentials, which means you’ll have to make some compromises. You’ll be able to make phone calls, text, video chat, browse the web and run most Android apps on these devices. But you shouldn’t expect NFC for mobile payments, 5G connectivity or — unfortunately — much included storage space.

However, these phones otherwise function well and could be what you’re looking for if all you need is a good communication device. They also include features that are becoming increasingly harder to find in more expensive phones, such as an included charger in the box, a headphone jack on the phone, and a microSD card slot for adding more storage.

That said, if you’re finding that your phone needs go beyond basic communication, you may want to consider phones that are under $300 or phones under $500, if you can expand your budget.

What about phones that are even cheaper, like under $100?

Phones under $100 do exist, but they usually come with significant compromises.

For instance, the TCL 30 Z is one of the cheapest Android 12 phones available, at $90. Though we haven’t tested this phone, I have noticed that it uses the antiquated micro-USB port for charging.

Most other Android phones and wireless headphones, even those in the budget price range, now use USB-C for charging, meaning you might find yourself scrambling for a charger if you misplace it. The phone is also getting only one major software update to Android 13 and two years of security updates, which is short but comparable to some phones sold under $300.

We haven’t reviewed any flip phones recently, but anyone looking for a device made specifically for phone calls should be well-served by most available options. Flip phones support 4G signals and — more importantly — HD Voice for clearer voice calls. Some flip phones even support modern apps like WhatsApp and the Google Assistant, albeit in a more limited way compared with how these services function on a smartphone. The , for instance, is a flip phone running on the brand’s KaiOS, which supports downloadable apps and services.

More phone advice

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 12, #1758

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for April 12, No. 1,758.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a tough one, with a double letter that could throw you off. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels, plus one sometimes vowel.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with A.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with Y.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a narrow passageway between or behind buildings.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is ALLEY.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 11, No. 1757, was PRUDE.

Recent Wordle answers

April 7, No. 1753: DENSE

April 8, No. 1754: INLET

April 9, No. 1755: LADEN

April 10, No. 1756: CAROM

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 12, #1036

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 12, No. 1,036.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features a fun mix of categories. The purple one isn’t too hard today, it’s actually a fun one! Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Clothing element.

Green group hint: Viewpoint or outlook.

Blue group hint: Send out from something.

Purple group hint: Barbie is one.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Pants features.

Green group: Perspective.

Blue group: Emit.

Purple group: ____ doll.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pants features. The four answers are belt loop, cuff, fly and pocket.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is perspective. The four answers are angle, position, stance and take.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is emit. The four answers are cast, project, radiate and shed.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ doll. The four answers are paper, rag, Russian and troll.

Technologies

Watch a Robot Stuff Cash Into a Wallet Just Like You Do

Generalist AI’s Gen-1 model is all about «teaching robots physical common sense.»

In 2026, we’re seeing robots progress by leaps and bounds with markedly improved dexterity, the kind of progress long needed in the quest for truly useful household helpers. Now a new AI model has arrived to power robots through activities, including folding laundry, constructing boxes, fixing other robots and even filling wallets with flimsy paper money.

Earlier this month, California-based company Generalist AI released Gen-1, a new physical AI model that makes robots capable of performing all of these tasks (and more) with success. It’s a big step forward in terms of robots designed for the real world based on intelligence born from the real world, Pete Florence, co-founder and CEO of Generalist AI told me.

In most of the example videos published by the company, Gen-1 is seen running on a pair of robotic arms, but that’s not all it’s built for. «Gen-1 is designed to be the brain of any robot, meaning the same model can run on a humanoid, an industrial arm or other robotic systems,» said Florence.

Already, this has proved to be a breakthrough year for general-purpose humanoid robots, with companies including Boston Dynamics and Honor unveiling cutting-edge bots capable of uncannily humanlike movements. The market for robots is expected to explode, with one estimate from Morgan Stanley predicting growth to a $5 trillion market by 2050. Predictions see robots coming for industry, retail, hospitality and care environments before eventually landing in our homes. To get us there, we need to see further advances in AI.

Training robots to live alongside humans

Over the past few years we’ve seen large language models, such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, evolve at lightning speed. The same hasn’t been true of the physical AI models required to power robots, in large part because of a lack of data to train those models on. Robots — and especially humanoid robots — must learn to navigate a world built for humans just as a human would.

Often this data is collected from robots performing tasks while being teleoperated by humans, but not Gen-1. Instead, the dataset used to train Generalist AI’s models has been assembled by humans completing millions of different tasks using wearable technology.

«We built our own lightweight ‘data hands’ and distributed them globally to learn how people actually interact with objects, with all the subtle force feedback, tactile feel, slips, corrections and recoveries that define human dexterity in the real world,» said Florence. «That kind of data is critical for teaching robots physical common sense, the intuitive understanding and ability to adapt in real time rather than execute rigid instructions.»

Generalist AI has released a series of videos showing the model running on robots repetitively performing a range of different tasks, with the most compelling, perhaps, being a robot drawing cash out of a wallet before reinserting it into the same pocket. This is a fiddly task that many humans fumble over. It’s clearly not easy for the robot, either, given the flimsiness of the paper money and the fabric of the wallet — and yet it completes the task.

Another video shows a robot sorting socks by color, folding them in neat piles and counting the number of pairs using a touchscreen. Other tricky tasks the model can complete include unzipping and filling a pencil case with pens, stacking oranges in a neat pyramid and plugging in an Ethernet cable.

These videos show the breadth of Gen-1’s capabilities, but more impressive is the success rate with which it can complete certain tasks. Generalist AI measured the model’s hit rate against the previous version and found Gen-1 could successfully service a robot vacuum cleaner in 99% of cases (up from 50% for Gen-0), fold boxes in 99% of cases (up from 81% for Gen-0) and package up phones in 99% of cases (up from 62% for Gen-0).

Robots do improv

Most robots are programmed to complete a task in a specific and orderly way. But what happens when a curve ball gets thrown? «The smallest changes in the environment can cause failures,» said Florence.

An important skill robots need, which humans innately possess, is the ability to think on their feet. This is why Gen-1 has been designed with improvisation in mind so it can come up with strategies to complete tasks. Florence gives me an example of a robot using two hands to reposition an awkwardly placed part for an automotive task, even though it has only been trained to use one.

«This kind of creativity has been largely absent from robotics until now,» he said.

Significant work still needs to be done when it comes to beefing up robots’ improv chops, but early progress show glimpses of a positive impact on both reliability and speed, says Florence. «We’re beginning to see real progress and are excited to push the boundaries of embodied intelligence.»

After all, there may come a day when you need a robot in your house that can fix all your other smaller robots.