Gadgetory

with new smartphones coming out every month it's easy to believe that you need the latest greatest model just to keep up but in reality I have to bet many big practical advancements and smartphones for a while so buying an older phone isn't really a bad idea especially if you get a great deal donal Bell and this top-5 I'm counting down the best smart phones that can be had right now for just one dollar on contract selected by scene that associate editor Lynne law these are oldies but goodies and the most practical ways these are just as good as any of the top shelf phones of 2013 starting things off at number five the Samsung Galaxy s2 on t-mobile now everyone freaks out about the galaxy s3 but it didn't just drop out of nowhere it was the s2 that set the stage with a 4.5 inch Super AMOLED screen dual-core processor NFC and an 8 megapixel camera this phone was way ahead of its time for 2011 one of the only complaints we had about it was that it was too pricey at $230 they fixed that problem we also wondered why anyone would need to phone this big and now it looks frickin adorable so cute at number four the Nokia Lumia 822 now here's a phone on Verizon that just came out a few months ago it's a Windows Phone with good specs a 4.3 inch screen 8 megapixel camera and enough memory support to let you put in 64 gigabytes of additional storage best of all you get Verizon's 4G LTE network support now when this phone came out we thought it was a little boring for $99 but now that we're seeing it for about a penny boring is fine just treat yourself to a fancy case an AT&T phone comes in at number 3 she Pantech Burst now this is the smallest phone of the bunch with an iphone like 4-inch screen but it's using a beautiful Super AMOLED display backed by a dual-core processor and a classy design that doesn't feel as slick and plasticky as some of these other phones the call quality wasn't so hot but that AT&T 4G LTE makes up for it especially when you consider that this phone is being offered for just up me personally though I don't care how much it costs anything named burst is going nowhere near my pocket region and only slightly less explosive sounding option comes in at number two it's the LG Nitro HD this one's also on AT&T you get a bigger 4.5 inch screen with HD resolution 1080p video capture 4G LTE and a dual core processor when it came out at the end of 2011 it was a four star top shelf smartphone that was 250 bucks on contract now can be had for a penny and it connects to the same internet and gets the same email as any other phone in the room but just in case you're wondering with spending a little more will get you here's seen its top 5 list of the best smartphones overall for February 2013 now a lot of these are going to fall off the list in the next few months but the satisfaction of paying a dollar or less for your new phone as a feeling that never goes away alright and now our number one smart phone pick for cheapskates like me the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Sprint for Android phones having that Google sanctioned nexus endorsement is a big deal and more importantly it means that you get the most up-to-date version of Android on here jellybean 4.6 inch AMOLED HD display 4G data from Sprint's now operational LTE network and even has support for Google Wallet so you can freak out cashiers when you pay for stuff with your phone and tell them all about how you've been sent from the future to prevent a robot uprising all of that for just $1 amazing so there you go five great smartphones that cost less than a sandwich for all of our latest phone reviews you can check out phones cnet.com and for more top fives like this head over to top-5 dot cnet.com i'm donald bell thanks for watching you