As the summer starts to wane in August, that means that it’s back to school and very, very early thoughts about holiday smartphone deals are upon us, and with a bunch of recently released smartphones in July ¹ that means older models or soon to be discontinued models are on sale now and can be had for no money at all²

Just because some of these phones are not the latest and greatest smartphones for Verizon doesn’t mean that they aren’t still very capable smartphones that in some cases are better than the new smartphones that these have replaced these models.

Samsung Galaxy S4

The Samsung Galaxy S4 in Black for Verizon is on sale for just one cent, and even though it’s been replaced by the Samsung Galaxy S5, the S4 is still a great phone for the price.

When it comes to differences between the Samsung Galaxy S4 vs the S5 there really are very little differences: The S5 has a faster processor, a slightly bigger screen and overall size and some features not on the four like a fingerprint scanner and health monitor. The touchwiz user interface has also been toned down a bit on the S5 compared to the S4 but most users will see very little difference when it comes down to performance with the S4.

With just 16GB of storage on this model, this might be a concern for some as 32GB of storage is becoming more and more common on smartphones in 2014 but when you consider the fact that the S4 from Samsung offers a removalble micro SD card slot for additional storage this is not really a big consideration as you can install an additional 64GB of storage which will be plenty for most users.

If you find that the upgrade from the Samsung Galaxy S4 to the S5 is worth it, it will only cost you under $100 for a Samsung Galaxy S5 from Verizon so to some even thoug the S5 is not free the extra hundred dollars spent might be worth it to some to get those additional features the S4 does not have.

LG G2

The LG G2 is now a discontinued model thanks to the release of the the newer LG G3, but if the bigger display and quad HD display of the LG are something you can do without the LG G2 is still a very capable contender.

There’s the big 5.2 inch display that still offers a full HD display and the battery life on the LG G2 vs the LG G3 can even be longer thanks to the fact that there’s less pixels to push around on the LG G2. You still get the unique buttons on the back of the phone that are feature only found on LG models, a 13 megapixel camera and a big 3000Mah battery for all day battery life.

Of course, if you would prefer the bigger and better display of the best phone so far from Verizon in 2014 then the LG G3 might be a better deal for you if you have the extra hundred dollar price difference between the LG G2.

HTC One (M7)

The HTC One is considered by some to be the better option when compared to the newer HTC One M8 that has replace this model. You still get the all in one unibody aluminum design with boomsound speakers, a 4 ultrapixel digital camera and 4.7 inch display. The older HTC model, asides from being free on contract is also a bit smaller in size and some have reported that it is less slipperier too than the newer HTC model.

The HTC One M8 brings a few features that the M7 does not offer like a bigger 5 inch HD display, faster processor and room for a micro SD slot for additional storage – something the M7 lacks.

Summary

These are three free, or nearly free phones from Verizon that were considered the flagship and current models until just a few months ago. If you’re on a budget and need a new phone these are the cheapest smartphones you can get today on the Verizon network.

The post Best Free Smartphones for Verizon Wireless in August 2014 appeared first on Smarterphone.