I like a good deal as much as the next person, so when I stumbled across an Amazon Lightning Deal for the Nokia Lumia 635 to be sold for $29.99 last Friday I just had to go for it. I’ve had this phone for a couple of days now, and I have to say I’m more than impressed with what I got for the amount of money that I paid.

Now, I also realize that as a “lightning deal” the phone was only available at that price for a short period of time, but even if I had to go back and purchase this phone for the price that it normally goes for (anywhere from $50-$130, depending on the model you want – my AT&T version goes for about $50) I would still consider this a good deal.

Everybody has heard the old adage “you get what you pay for”, and while this is more of a cautious guideline rather than a hard truth, often you’ll find that the adage is often correct in the smartphone industry. Generally speaking, when you pay less money you’re faced with a phone that sacrifices on specs and features, which can yield less than desirable results. The Nokia Lumia 635 is really no exception on the front that Nokia skimped on certain specs, but fortunately Windows Phone doesn’t need a whole lot for it to run well.

The Lumia 635 features a 4.5-inch 854 x 480 resolution (221 ppi) display. It has a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal memory (microSD card slot included), and a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera with no flash. There is no front-facing camera.

Not a whole lot to look at there, but when you factor in the fact that this phone also features 4G LTE and the microSD card slot can support up to 128GB of additional memory, the $50 price tag starts to look more inviting. This is also one of the few Windows Phone devices that supports the Windows 10 Technical Preview, so if you’ve been interested in checking that out for yourself this is one of the cheapest ways to go.

I purchased this phone with the intention of using is as my new backup device, but I’ve found that I’m already using it for more than that. I’ve moved all of my music onto the device (I had a spare 32GB SD card laying around), and I’ve downloaded Nokia HERE Maps for offline navigation. Instead of just having the device sit in a closet somewhere, waiting to be used only if something goes wrong with my current daily driver, I’ve decided to make it my new designated car gadget.

As a phone itself, the Lumia 635 gets the job done. I’m still not entirely thrilled with Windows Phone 8.1 in general as I do find the lack of apps (you knew it was coming) underwhelming, not to mention the fact that I find Internet Explorer to be atrocious and I haven’t been able to find a suitable alternative yet. I do hope that these issues will be addressed post Windows 10, but until those issues are addressed those are my biggest hang ups that keep me from really taking Windows Phone seriously.

But this phone costs $50, so the upside is that I don’t have to take this phone seriously. Even without apps or a fantastic browser, I do find that this phone really does end up being worth the price. It gets the job done, and it gets it done for a more than reasonable price. For just $50 you get a 4G LTE capable smartphone, an mp3 player, a camera, a GPS, and a cheap Netflix machine.

The Nokia Lumia 635 might be a year old, but it still gets the job done. If you can find this phone for cheaper than $50 then I would snag it up in a flash, but even if you can’t find it for less than $50, it’s still one of the better options on the market today for an affordable smartphone.