Advice: Choosing an Android Device for GPT Part 2

Here’s Part 2 of the Choosing an Android Device blog post series.

What to Look For: Newest Mobile Operating System Possible

After price, this might be the most important factor to consider when choosing a phone. This is something that took me a while to figure out.

When I started out in phone farming, I figured I’d buy the phone with the best hardware specs for the lowest price and ignore the Android operating system. But this is a mistake because it’s usually the Android operating system that limits what apps you can use, not the hardware.

In theory, you should be able to put the most recent Android operating system on a phone with sufficient hardware, but that’s only possible if the phone manufacturer releases an Android update. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has the horsepower to run Nougat or Oreo just fine. However, the latest official Android version you can run on it is Lollipop. Samsung could certainly write a version of Nougat or Oreo that works on the S4,  but A), they want you to buy a anew phone, not use one from 2013 and B), so few people still use the S4 now, not enough people may be able to take advantage of the software update.

Sure, you can root your phone, but that takes time and I’m hesitant to do that because I’m afraid third party verification services or GPT providers will detect the rooted phone and flag it is potentially committing fraud (even though it’s not).

What to Look For: 16GB Storage

8GB is enough if you want to run all the Swagbucks video apps and some Perks apps. But that’s about it. Each of these types of apps aren’t that big by themselves, but they end up getting bloated with over 100MB of data (I presume these are cached ads and licensed video clips that are stored) as you use them. A lot of the game apps CashMagnet asks you to download have the same bloat issues. Running the 7 Swagbucks video apps plus AppTrailers, Perk TV, Perk TV LIVE! And Unlock & WIN! is about the max I can have on my Samsung J1 which only has 8GB of storage. If I wanted to have other apps that take a lot of space to use (because they require you to download large apps), like CashMagnet, AppLike or FitPlay, it won’t be possible. The only way I can have all 7 Swagbucks video apps on an 8GB phone along with CashMagnet is to basically have no other installed apps. I also need to disable as many other apps as possible. This disabling ends up clearing several hundred MB which allows me to download all the games CashMagnet requires. However, this still pushes the storage limit and is an inconvenience because I have to constantly disable apps and delete the bloat.

Yes, you can use an SD card, but in my experience, they tend to crash and freeze the operating system. Also, they don’t save that much spaced because the bloating that occurs with these apps takes place on the phone itself, even though the app is stored on the SD card. So that Swagbucks video app itself is on the SD card, but the 85 or 100 MB in bloat is on the phone and not the SD card.

Therefore, I recommend you look for a phone with at least 16GB of storage space. Having different apps to run on a single device is nice to maximize its earning potential. For instance, I’m able to max out my Swagbucks video apps in about 10-12 hours. This occurs during the day when I’m awake and can babysit them. Then before bed, I can start running CashMagnet (which is perfect for overnight passive operation). And the following morning, I stop CashMagnet, then restart the Swagbucks video apps which have reset overnight. This means the phone is running almost nonstop and constantly earning money. And another benefit is that I’m not running CashMagnet all the time, which means it’s less likely for me to run out of passive running time.

When to Buy

Around the Christmas holidays is the best time to find deals on cheap phones. You can find budget and name brand phones on sale for very cheap. What’s normally $30 is now $10, for example. Online retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart usually have these deals. Some are only available in stores, however. If you miss out on these sales, you can still sometimes find decent deals from other sources throughout the year, like eBay, c7recycle.com and phone service providers, like  TracFone and Straight Talk (they’re owned by the same parent company).

Since I use TracFone for my personal phone service, I usually go there. And with a 30% off code (which is available every few months), I can get a very good $30 phone (such as a J3 Luna Pro) for under $25 shipped and after taxes. However, to buy a TracFone phone, you usually have to buy airtime at the same time. This isn’t an issue for me because I need to purchase airtime minutes/texts/data anyways. And sometimes I can get a free phone. These free phones are usually bare bones (8GB storage and 1GB RAM), but the last one I got was the Samsung Stardust which only runs KitKat. However, this would make the perfect phone for CashMagnet. In case you’re wondering, I ended up selling it on ebay for about a $10 net profit instead of farming with it.

Conclusion

If you want to get the most for your dollar when buying an Android device, stick with phones, get the most up-to-date Android operating system possible, look for devices with user replaceable batteries and try to stock up around the Christmas holiday season.