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I'm looking to buy a smartphone in the U.S. that has NFC and clean Android (i.e., no bloatware). I'm also looking for a phone that is reasonably priced and that has a decent processor. I know these specs are rather vague, but I was thinking something along the lines of the moto G5. (Hopefully that will make it a bit clearer.)

Unsurprisingly, my first impulse was to buy the moto G5, until I found out that for some reason it doesn't come with NFC only in the US. So now I'm trying to find similar phones with similar prices and specs, which is hard because the Moto G really does a very nice job of making good affordable phones.

So far the only thing that came close were the new Nokia phones that were announced, but I still don't know the price and the specs don't seem to be as good as the Moto G specs. Also, although it should be released in the second trimester of 2017, no news as to a US release date.

Cheers.

P.S.: Another alternative is to somehow buy a Moto G5 with NFC in the U.S. via some non-shady path, but I'm unaware of how to do that.

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  • As @Jeff said in his answer, the only phones without bloat ware are the Motorola ones, and the Google Pixel. Your best bet is importing the international Motorola, as the Pixel is prohibitively expensive.
    – Edward Nunn
    Jun 25 '17 at 17:58
  • @E.Nunn I was hoping there was another phone that I wasn't aware of. And also I didn't know I could buy the international version from amazon easily.
    – TomCho
    Jun 26 '17 at 3:44
  • The OnePlus range might interest you, i have also added an answer for a phone I own, and more than recommend.
    – Edward Nunn
    Jun 26 '17 at 16:57
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+100

Well you really answered your own question. You want the Moto G5, so really the option is to use the international version. This will work fine for you as long as you are going to be operating on a GSM Network. IE ATT, T-Mobile, MetroPCS ETC. It will not work on Verizon or Sprint based carriers.

The warranty will be different as well and you should contact the seller about it. Buying the product from Amazon will give you good options for returning if it does not work.

Please see the link below to the product on Amazon.

Amazon Moto G5

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  • I'm considering un-accepting this answer actually because that phone you listed, although international, doesn't come with NFC. There is no model available in any store that I found here that comes with NFC.
    – TomCho
    Jul 8 '17 at 1:44
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Alongside the option that @Jeff mentioned, There is the Blackberry Priv for only $219 new off eBay US.

This phone's bloatware is about as existent as Motorola phones. Also, defining bloatware for blackberry devices is somewhat complex. These devices do not show bloat in any form such as Samsung, instead the bloat is really slight overlay tweaks, which can be customised to a certain extent.

Performance wise, the Priv is one of the best phones I have had the pleasure to use, It just feels so slick and interruption free. It sports NFC too.

One benefit is the lovely screen, and QWERTY keyboard that sits behind the screen, sliding up and down, and doesn't really add to the psychological feeling of bulkiness. The phone is only 9.4mm thick, actually .1 mm slimmer than the Moto G5.

I would definitly recommend the phone, and even more recommend trying one out if you can.

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  • This phone looks pretty good! And I love the fact that it has a physical keyboard. The bad thing is that as far as android updates go, apparently it didn't get the Android 7 update. But now I'm looking at the Blackberry Dtek50, that is somewhat close to the moto G5. I just don't know about the updates policies.
    – TomCho
    Jun 26 '17 at 18:46
  • Nougat is due on the Priv in September this year if all goes to plan. The Samsung S7 still had Marshmallow at the start of this year. IIRC BlackBerry only release updates when they are satisfied that the tested release is sufficiently secure and stable which can take months in certain cases (this is BlackBerry after all!). Also, some updates can vary from carrier to carrier, with Verizon, Android N stands for Never.
    – Edward Nunn
    Jun 26 '17 at 19:34

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