The 10 Best Prepaid Smartphones Available Now

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Carrier: T-Mobile

Price: $300

Best plan: (If you're a heavy talker) $60/mo. Unlimited talk, text, data, (If you're not a heavy talker $30/mo. 100 talk minutes, unlimited text and data

Strong processing power, fast 4G speeds, and a vibrant touchscreen round out the Blaze 4G's biggest features. The 3.97-inch Super AMOLED display guarantees vivid and sharp imagery. TouchWiz features such as AllShare, along with preloaded goods (Netflix and Media Hub) make multimedia streaming a joy on the go. And Qualcomm’s 1.5Ghz dual-core processor is a multitasking workhorse.

Carrier: Boost Mobile

Price: $100

Best contract: $55/mo. Unlimited talk, text, and data

Chances are you’ve never heard of this Chinese telecommunications company, but ZTE has been in the game for several years. And its Boost Mobile offering is proof of the company’s ability to build quality product. The Warp Sequent’s 4.3-inch touchscreen generates great visuals and the inclusion of Android ICS only adds to its value. It’s sleek form factor shouldn't be overlooked as well.

Carrier: T-Mobile

Price: $400

Best plan: (If you're a heavy talker) $60/mo. Unlimited talk, text, data, (If you're not a heavy talker $30/mo. 100 talk minutes, unlimited text and data

Heavy messengers seeking a dope Android phone eqiuipped with a physical QWERTY keyboard might find salvation in the Galaxy Relay. The spacious slide-out keyboard provides additional comfort on the thumbs when tweeting and shooting emails. In addition, the phone’s powerful hardware (1.5GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM) and network speeds keep all user interactions moving at a dashing pace.

Carrier: Boost Mobile

Price: $300

Best Plan: $55/mo. Unlimited talk, text, data

A sharp 4-inch qHD touchscreen, great call quality, and fast 4G WiMAX data speeds have the EVO Design 4G atop Boost Mobile’s best handsets. The phone can also be utilized as a mobile hotspot for $10 extra a month and runs the latest ICS software. You’ll find a microSD card slot behind the battery cover to expand phone memory up to 64GB as well. At $55 a month under an unlimited Android data plan, you can’t go wrong.

Carrier: Boost Mobile

Price: $200

Best plan: $55/mo. Unlimited talk, text, data

Samsung’s last-gen Galaxy phone still carries a more advanced spec sheet than a majority of the newest Android handsets. Enjoy phenomenal visuals on its 4.52-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, and capture great photos and videos with the 8MP rear camera with 1080p recording. A good 16GB of internal storage should suffice for your multimedia needs. The handset also packs ICS and supports Sprint’s 3G and 4G network.

Carrier: T-Mobile

Price: $250

Best plan: (If you're a heavy talker) $60/mo. Unlimited talk, text, data, (If you're not a heavy talker $30/mo. 100 talk minutes, unlimited text and data

So a Windows 8 smartphone might be out of the cards for now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get the best out of its forebear. Take the Nokia Lumia 710 for example. Even with last-gen specs, the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update keeps the handset running at high speeds. Microsoft’s engaging UI offers a number of unique facets including real-time updates and an attractive tile setup that makes navigating through programs easier.

Carrier: Virgin Mobile

Price: $250

Best contract: $35/mo. 300 talk minutes, unlimited text, data

Virgin’s first Galaxy phone welcomes Android 4.0, a speedy 1.4GHz processor, and a WVGA 4-inch display with a 800 x 400 resolution. Expect up to 7+ hours of talk time from its 1700 mAh battery and capture solid photos on the rear 5MP camera with LED flash. Transfer your multimedia library over to any 32GB/64GB memory card and slide the microSD into the expansion slot.

Carrier: Virgin Mobile

Price: $160

Best plan: $35/mo. 300 talk minutes, unlimited text and data

The One V might share the design of another great HTC device, the Legend, but it's software alone makes it one of the prominent prepaid options of the moment. Not only does it support Ice Cream Sandwich and Beats Audio technology, but also the best third-party Android UI overlay: Sense 4.0. HTC even went as far as to integrate its ImageChip technology, which produces the fastest shutter speeds and superior image quality. In short, it's the closest you'll get to owning a One X or One S without a monthly contract.

Carrier: Virgin Mobile

Price: $650

Best plan: $35/mo. 300 talk minutes, unlimited text, data, $55/mo., unlimited talk and data (if you're a heavy talker)

OK. It's not the iPhone 5. But is that a bad thing? Not at all. Apple shows Virgin Mobile some love by offering its last-gen smartphone on the prepaid service. Experience top-notch benchmarks and multimedia performance courtesy of the manufacturer’s dual-core A5 processor, plus take in vivid 1080p HD video output and iCloud support. Siri also makes her presence felt on the device. $35 a month for an iPhone 4S? You can't beat that.

Carrier: AT&T or T-Mobile

Price: $350

Best plan: (If you're a heavy talker) $60/mo. Unlimited talk, text, data, (If you're not a heavy talker $30/mo. 100 talk minutes, unlimited text and data

Google's flagship ICS device is now available through the Google Play shop and can be brought onto any prepaid service: including AT&T and T-Mobile. Experience Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), as well as the company's wireless payment system: Google Wallet. Other notable attributes include a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, NFC technology, and 16GB of internal memory.