By Molly McLaughlin on November 16, 2011 in
If you're eligible for a smartphone upgrade or considering buying your very first smartphone this year, there are some tempting looking deals in the Black Friday circulars from Walmart, Best Buy and Target. Best Buy is offering a slew of free smartphones (2-year contract required), most of which are for AT&T or Verizon, though there's also one for Sprint. Target and Walmart have deals on a handful of prepaid smartphones. Here's the details on each smartphone, what reviewers think of it, and whether or not it's a deal.
From Best Buy
Apple iPhone 3GS (AT&T): free
Current price: free
This iPhone received great reviews in its day - it's since been updated twice.
Read the ConsumerSearch review.
Our advice: If you want the 3GS, you can get for free now - no need to wait until Black Friday.
Apple iPhone 4 (AT&T, Verizon Wireless): free
Current price: $99.99
Also well reviewed, the iPhone 4 has recently been replaced by the iPhone 4S, which is available on Sprint, in addition to AT&T and Verizon.
Read the ConsumerSearch review of the AT&T version and the Verizon version.
Our advice: Go for it.
BlackBerry Torch 9810 (AT&T): free
Current price: $49.99
Our review of this 4G BlackBerry isn't up yet, but the gist is that it can't compete with Apple or Android smartphones. It has a decent touch screen, good call quality and battery life and a good 5-megapixel camera, but critics say it suffers from performance lags.
Our advice: If you need an upgrade on your AT&T BlackBerry - this is a worthwhile deal
HTC Droid Incredible 2 (Verizon Wireless): free
Current price: $99.99
It gets good user reviews at Amazon, but there are a few complaints, most notably its overload of bloatware and shortish battery life.
Our advice: Go for it.
HTC Evo Shift 4G (Sprint): free
Current price: $99.99
There are mostly good reviews on Amazon, though there are some complaints about the smartphone's durability.
Read the ConsumerSearch review.
Our advice: Go for it.
HTC Thunderbolt (Verizon Wireless): free
Current price: $99.99
The Thunderbolt is well-reviewed - experts say it's speedy with good features, though battery life, due to 4G access, is poor.
Read the ConsumerSearch review.
Our advice: Go for it (just keep a charger nearby).
LG Thrill (AT&T): free
Current price: $99.99
This 4G smartphone with a 3D camera gets pretty good reviews from experts, who praise its call quality, but say that its 4G speed isn't all it could be.
Our advice: AT&T customers should hold out for a "real" 4G smartphone.
Motorola Atrix 2 (AT&T): free
Current price: $49.99
The Atrix 2, which can transform into a laptop, among other devices, also gets good reviews from experts, though most say it's definitely a "geek" type of phone.
Our advice: Go for it - if you think you're geeky enough.
Samsung Infuse 4G (AT&T): free
Current price: $99.99
The Infuse 4G gets mainly positive reviews at Amazon. Among the complaints are its poor call quality, dropped calls, poor battery life and lack of voice dialing.
Our advice: Skip it - you can do better.
Samsung Stratosphere (Verizon Wireless): free
Current price: $99.99
The 4G Stratosphere is deemed "mediocre" by most experts, especially in terms of performance.
Our advice: Skip this one - there are better 4G smartphones for Verizon out there.
From Walmart
Motorola Kingfisher (Straight Talk): $35
Not currently on Walmart's website
The Kingfisher doesn't get any professional reviews and there aren't enough user reviews at Amazon to form a consensus.
Read our review of Straight Talk, Walmart's prepaid cell phone plan.
Our advice: This smartphone is untested by critics, so it's not really worth buying on Black Friday. Stay home.
Samsung Galaxy Prevail (Boost Mobile): $69
Current price: $149.99
The Galaxy Prevail is well-reviewed at Amazon, though some less than satisfied customers say that the smartphone has very little internal storage, which means you can't download a lot of apps. Other gripes include bad customer service from Boost, poor call quality, delayed text messages, freeze ups, poor camera quality and so-so battery life.
Read our review of Boost Mobile.
Our advice: This is a decent deal - but if you're used to a full-fledged Android phone, you won't be happy with the Prevail. Beginners only.
From Target
LG Optimus V (Virgin Mobile): $49.99
Current price: $129.99
It gets an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon - some users complain that the phone occasionally locks up and that there's not good reception outside of urban areas.
Our advice: This is a good deal - but best if you live in a city - or anywhere that Sprint has a strong signal (Virgin Mobile piggybacks on Sprint).
Motorola Theory (Boost Mobile) $29.99
It's not currently on Target's website, but is available from Boost Mobile for $79.99.
The Theory gets decent reviews from critics and is recommended as a fine messaging phone for prepaid customers.
Our advice: If you're a savings seeking texter, go for it.