Phones as DAPs: refurb HTC One M8 for $90

From the “Phones as DAPs” department, if you are looking for a double figures Android DAP without breaking the bank, the refurbished HTC One M8 is offered as a “Scratch & Dent” for $90 at part of the longer running Woot deals, this one is good until March 1st (or earlier if sold out). Limit up to ten per customer.

This is a Verizon + GSM unlocked phone, with 2GB RAM, 32GB on-board and microSD card (of particular music interest obviously), Snapdragon 801, 5 inch screen, etc. It comes with a 90-day Woot warranty.

Shipping is free for Prime members (must login to Woot with our Amazon Prime account), otherwise it’s the usual $5 flat for everything you buy during the central time zone calendar day.

February 20, 2018 Filed Under: digital audio players Tagged With: , , ,

Phones as DAPs: refurb HTC M8 for $75

If you are looking for a Phone as a DAP, the good old HTC M8, a Verizon unlocked phone, in the red color scheme (which makes it loom more DAP-ish than phone-ish) is on sale for $75 with free shipping in seller refurbished condition by eBay seller “Guarantee Cellular” with a 60-day seller warranty. The other colors are sold out.

Android phones, even older ones, are typically better suited at dealing with music and streaming apps than Android DAPs since the DAP manufacturer have nowhere near the same level of Android experience as a phone manufacturer (other things equal).

The M8 has a microSD slot, it marks the re-embrace of the microSD card by HTC after the M7. HTC was also among the first to abandon the headphone jack, so they may be among the first to do the mea culpa 🙂

The M8, M9 and M10 all have a headphone jack. The HTC U11 abandoned it.

December 28, 2017 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , , , ,

Phones as DAPs: refurbished HTC One M9 for $100

As part of their Under $100 TechRabbit sale, you can get a $100 (okay, $99.99) “Phone as DAP”, the refurbished HTC One M9 in gray or silver color scheme, with 32GB storage and microSD slot AND a headphone jack. The M9 was the second to last HTC flagship with a headphone jack. It is the Sprint version with its GSM unlocked. It comes with free shipping and a 90-day warranty.

December 6, 2017 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , ,

PADs: refurbished HTC One M9 for $100

If you like to use phones as DAPs (PADs), for example, you listen to a lot of streaming services and like to use some of the Google Play music apps for your own music, we have a $100 offer for you.

One of the early pre Black Friday sales at NewEgg Flash is the refurbisehd HTC One M9 for $100 with free shipping. It is available in three different color options. The seller is “AllBuyHome”. This has both a headphone jack and a microSD slot (HTC brought it back with the M8)

The HTC M10 was the last HTC flagship to have a headphone jack. The U11 line after that removed the headphone jack. The list of smartphones without is growing but they are all cursed 🙂 The HTC U11 is not getting traction with consumers despite great reviews, the Motorola Z series is mostly ignored even though everyone’s in love with their Moto G series, Le Eco is having major financial troubles, the Pixel 2s are plagued with hardware problems 🙂

November 21, 2017 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , ,

FREE JBL Aware C USB-C earphones with HTC U11 purchase for $599

During the Black Friday and Cyber Monday festivities, the HTC website has dropped the price of their U11 smartphone (no headphone jack) to $599 factory unlocked with USA warranty BUT they are also including for free the JBL Aware C USB-C earphones. The product page there just mentions “FREE JBL earphones”, it’s when you add the U11 phone to the shopping cart that you see more details about the free JBL USB-C earphones.

Here’s a screenshot of the shopping cart with more details on the earphone:

November 21, 2017 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: , , , , ,

Used HTC RC E242 for $8

If you like HTC earbuds, or like to collect them (?), the HTC RC E242 earphones are available in “Used – Very Good” condition (damaged original packaging; cosmetic imperfections) for $8.24 with free shipping for Prime members by Amazon Warehouse Deals. They average 3.4 out of 5 based on 10 customer reviews.

August 19, 2017 Filed Under: earbuds Tagged With: ,

Phones as DAPs: Used HTC 10 for $160 after coupon

The HTC 10 got good marks for its audio performance, so if you are interested in using it as a DAP, and you are comfortable buying higher risk used smartphones, it is offered in B-stock USED condition for $200 by eBay seller BidAllies (98.2%, New Jersey).

Coupon PSCHOOL20 drops the price by 20% off, making it $160. The coupon expires 8/17/17 at 3am ET.

This has a microSD slot, and 4GB of RAM, and powered by the Snapdragon 820. The HTC 10 is the last major phone from HTC to have a 3.5mm headphone jack. The newer HTC flagships are without a headphone jack.

August 16, 2017 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: , , , ,

Phones as DAPs: HTC 10 for $240 [Sprint]

One of the recent flagship smartphone that has been flying under the radar but it is doing quite well audio-wise is the HTC 10. If you are interested in getting this as a phone or as a phone-DAP, it is currently on sale with a special promotion at Sprint: you can either buy it outright for $240, or sign up for a 24-month $10 per month installment plan.

It has 4GB RAM, 32GB on-board, and a microSD slot that supports up to a theoretical 2TB microSD card, so plenty of space for music. The battery is embedded, so you have to use external battery packs for uninterrupted playback. It is running Android 7.

There are quite a few reviews of this with some focus on the audio performance including Android Ad Central and GSM Arena (bottom half of this page).

June 14, 2017 Filed Under: accessories Tagged With: ,

FREE HTC Studio In-Ears (or Jabra Move) with HTC M10 purchase

As part of their Father’s Day sales, good until 6/19/16 at 11:59pm pacific, if you purchase the HTC M10 flagship smartphone (technically it’s the HTC 10 but I just can’t type that) from the official website, you can select FREE item, either the HTC Studio In-Ears (black or white) or the Jabra Move On-Ears for FREE. To see the freebies, first add the M10 to your shopping cart (select the Unlocked if you want to quickly check the offer). Then go to the shopping cart. Below the phone you will see the freebies. You have to manually select which one you want. It should look something like this:

htc_free_with_m10

PS: I don’t know why they call them “Studio”. Granted it’s a marketing term but they typically use that for over-ears. Might as well call it “Studio DJ Audiophile Monitor” 🙂

June 14, 2016 Filed Under: in-ears Tagged With: , ,

Former Flagship Phones as DAPs: Certified Used HTC One M8 for $110

The number of dedicated digital audio players continues to increase, but most of them are not able to play music from streaming services. If you want to off-load your main smartphone from some of its music playback duty, one thrifty way is to get a former flagship smartphone and use it as a music streamer. Which brings us to the HTC One M8 (two flagships ago), available in certified pre-owned condition (aka used) for $110 from T-Mobile directly (no contract). If you are not an existing T-Mobile customer, the shopping cart may force upon you a $20 SIM set. I don’t know if you can waive the charge if you call or live-chat with them.

April 15, 2016 Filed Under: digital audio players Tagged With: , ,