Motorola moto g stylus US$299 The stylus seemed to go out of style with the PalmTreo (Anyone? Anyone? No? It’s OK, it was discontinued in 2008). Samsung brought it back with the S-Pen in the Note line. Now, Motorola’s having a go. Maybe you love the idea of a little input pen thingy for photo editing, note-taking, drawing and the like. Maybe you hate it and will never ever remove the stylus from its integrated stylus slot. It doesn’t matter; the moto g stylus is a great phone at less than $300 either way. It’s got a camera lens array with a 48 MP main camera plus macro and ultrawide options, both of which unlock new photographic possibilities. The 6.4-inch HD+ screen is nothing to sneeze at. Its capacious battery can go two days between charges. Under the hood (back to the car metaphor, apparently), it’s got plenty of power to do whatever you want your smartphone to do. There are other phones in the $300-400 range that won’t lead you astray, but those are three standouts. CSA Online iPhone SE US$399 iPhone in general comes at a significant price premium. This isn’t Apple’s first foray into inexpensive iPhone territory, but it’s been more than four years since the first iPhone SE hit… and that’s a fair spell in smartphone terms. The 2020 iPhone SE does everything that you need it to do. It loses the multiple cameras, but we did without that for years, right? It still grabs great shots. Under the hood, it features some of the same core system-on-chip technology as the iPhone 11. The screen is smaller, the cameras are fewer (two instead of three), but this is far from an iPhone also-ran. Samsung Galaxy A51 US$399 If you like Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone interface, but not the premiumprice tag, the A51 is a score. It’s got an amazing main camera (48 megapixels, if anyone is still counting) and an ultrawide lens that lets you capture the full scene. There are two other cameras, a macro and a depth lens that makes for killer portraits and lets you do post-shutter adjustments such as depth of field and other focus effects. The massive 6.5-inch screen is edge-to-edge and practically melts into the frame. It looks, feels and acts like something you’d expect in the flagship range but, at $400, its price tag is a far cry from said range. Buy unlocked If you want an unlocked phone (and I’d argue that you do), don’t buy from the phone company. The old paradigm was that you got your phone from your mobile carrier. They’d bury the cost of said phone in your bill and get you locked into a contract and an upgrade cycle. Today, with the falling cost of smartphones and with numerous financing options that are way better than phone contracts, you don’t need your service provider in order to get a new phone. In the store, steer clear of any phones that come with service attached. Look for unlocked options just about anywhere that sells phones, including Amazon. If a salesperson approaches, ask them to show you unlocked phones or “phones that will work on any carrier.” With an unlocked phone, if you do decide to switch carriers you take your phone with you when you go. This is especially useful if you’re travelling between the U.S. and Canada (or anywhere else), as you can use the same phone with a different service plan whether home or away, to avoid roaming rates and fees. CSANews | FALL 2020 | 55
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