I’ve done some research about smartphones available on the market and instead focusing on high-end phones ones that you have to pay $700+, I focused on almost as good phones but that you can find at half price. I’ve excluded devices from companies like Huawei, Lenovo, ZTE. They make good phones, but Chinese companies have a reputation of making not-so-good phones and wanted to avoid that.
After extensive research I came up with 2 smartphones that come from top brands, available worldwide, with good hardware and updated software: Asus Zenfone 3 and LG K10. You can find versions of these phones from $150 to $300.
Asus Zenfone 3
I used a lot of Asus products ( phones, computers, routers ) and the quality of their products si very high. It is one of the top brands in consumer electronics. I asked people who have this phone and only got good reviews. The specifications are very good and will satisfy all needs. The latest version comes with octa-core processor and 3GB RAM. Enough for all current applications to run. I agree that there are many phones better, faster, with more shiny features, but those costs 2 or 3 times than this phone.
LG K10
Since I first used Android, I had 2 LG smartphones as my primary phone, and I was satisfied both times. This might not be a cutting-edge phone, but you can do almost anything on it and it is a good choice considering the price. If you are on a budget and you can’t get top smartphones like Pixel, Galaxy s7, etc, LG K10 is a great option.