Negotiating for purchase a Used Cellphone,..what minor flaws acceptable ?

[RJSV]

    The local shop has repaired CELLPHONEs, as well as a smattering of laptops for sale.
   As a person in 'poor' income situation, I've grown to accept some disparities.   I think my personal income is down around 1/9th of what has been considered acceptable, (for a typical small family).
   I'm prepared to buy a used cellphone, maybe even a phone that has a minor crack, in back of case, or similar.   That's a good incentive for a small shop owner, (I figure), as they most often see finicky shoppers, that don't want to 'accept' cosmetic type flaws.

   A drop-resilient case might be good, as well.   The phones on display for sale include IPHONE15 which could be a nice change.

   Any comments, on helping me make a good phone switch ?   My current phone suffers from touch-screen partial fail....top of screen does not detect my finger presses.

[thm_w]

iphone 15 has a $600+ used price, not really something I would buy with a low income: https://swappa.com/search?q=iphone%2015

Usually you can get a few year old flagship phone for <$200 that will be more than good enough. But depends on what form factor etc you like.
eg samsung s21 is ~$180, or S23 is ~$250

Don't get anything with USB port damage or poor battery health, if you can.

[ebastler]

Assuming we are talking about smartphones, I would look for models which will receive security updates for a couple more years, if your budget allows.

Apple has always provided updates for an above-average time, but they don't announce that coverage ahead of time and it has varied a lot between models. And of course you pay a premium price for Apple devices, including used ones. Samsung has started to guarantee 4 years of security updates for all their phones from the 2019 generation onwards, to my knowledge -- that includes the affordable "Galaxy A" series. Hence, a Galaxy A model from 2022 should still have two more years of updates coming.

Battery life is another important factor, of course -- with heavy use and fast-charging, capacity may already have dropped quite a bit in a two-year-old device. Most (all?) phones can display information on battery health, i.e. what percentage of the original capacity is still available, somewhere in the settings menu. Ask the seller to show you that info.

[andy3055]

Are you looking for an iPhone specifically or an android? Are you locked to any provider?

[Bicurico]

I used to have flagship smartphones.

I am now on my second Xiaomi Redmi Note. They last for 2-3 years, offer similar performance and my current one charges the phone in like 20 minutes from zero to full charge due to the 120W charger.

The advantage of these phones is the price of 200-300 Euro and the fact that they don't get stolen and you don't have to worry too much if you drop or lose them.

I would not buy a second hand phone. It will come with a worn battery and you will have no clue of what the previous owner did. Heck, you might be buying a criminals phone and end up on police surveillance without having done anything wrong.

[RJSV]

   Currently, using Alcatel that was originally something like $85 at local Walgreens drug store.   The monthly service is $40 ATT Card each month.
   (One little irritation, is the AT&T Service is for some 28 days, which is out of sync with normal calendar and means I've often had to purchase TWO of the $40 gift cards...in order to keep service uninterrupted.)

   The small shop guy said he had a couple of refurbished Iphone15's for about $220.
Shop was clean and also sold accessories, like earbuds.
   Apparently the stereo audio jack is not included in some models, which is a good thing, as my music playing had messed up my Alcatel audio, sometimes cutting out the audio, and so the wireless Bluetooth is the only way.
The current phone has, apparently, ongoing heat damage, screen brightness issues, randomly, and the Chrome driver has misc random bugs.
   And,...only the user facing camera works.
I absolutely hate, the Android updating features that I don't control, and Android book (i.e. for Dummies) does not explain things like how to copy to 'clipboard'.

Nice value, for 3 years, at $85 dollars, but the thing is last legs.   Wireless headphones don't sign-on initialize anymore.

   I hear that iPhone tutorials are on-line.

(Most access goes via the house Comcast satelight server.)

Thanks folks, for replies!