Frugal

That's a good deal.

I just got a Pixel 8, but it's not all that frugal since I paid...not the full highest price, but high enough. That said, I plan to hold onto it for the full 7 years of updates--and thankfully, Pixels can be rooted so if I want I can slap my own stuff on there if I don't like what Google's doing a few years in.

I broke my previous real phone about a year ago when I didn't have money to replace it, so I got THE cheapest smartphone in the universe to tide me over--and my god, it was horrible. A year of torture using that thing. I didn't even think a smartphone COULD be that bad--I still think of it as a new technology, cutting edge, so how could any model possibly be awful?--but it was truly awful. Moto G Pure. Don't get one. Awful awful awful. Basically, it just doesn't have enough power to deal with ordinary apps--lots of freezing, lag, etc. Could barely keep one app at a time open. Like, it would choke on ordinary grocery shopping apps. So I'd be trying to apply this or that coupon, and I'd have to twiddle my thumbs in the middle of the aisle like an idiot until it decided to work (or not).

So I think I over-compensated with the Pixel 8 by getting the first flagship phone I've ever had.

...I do use Mint Mobile on the cheapest yearly plan, lol, so I have that going for me.