Android smartphones are as popular as ever, the use of Google's Android platform continues to surge, and increasingly powerful smartphones are available to suit all tastes and needs - but usually not all budgets. A high-end smartphone is quite costly, and it generally comes with a two-year contract during which you continue paying substantial sums for service. Many consumers are now opting for no-contract phone from carriers with lower monthly rates.

Virgin Mobile, for instance, now offers the powerful HTC EVO V 4G Android smartphone for just $239.99 shipped. The HTC EVO V 4G is not the most powerful Android smartphone on the market. It has a 1.2GHz processor, a 4.3-inch screen, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich topped with HTC's Sense 4 user interface, mobile hotspot support, and a 5-megapixel camera that can capture 3-D photos. The smartphone also has 4G support, as the name itself suggests, but not all areas are covered yet.

The smartphone normally comes with a $299.99 price tag. Virgin Mobile's service plans start at $35 per month for 300 voice minutes and unlimited messaging and data. However, "unlimited" means that users actually get 2.5GB of full-speed data per month; exceeding that cap gets data tuned down to 2G-ish speeds.