Hello all.

I find myself in the situation where I'm being asked to do more and more mobile design and I think that it is time to pick up an Android phone for testing.

I already have an iPhone which is my everyday personal phone and I'm not looking for another phone to lug around, just something I can test with in the studio.

This may be a dumb question but...can I get an unlocked Android phone and run it via wifi for testing? Or do I need to have it tethered to a provider with a monthly service? (which I'd like to avoid that if possible).

Ideally I'd like to be able to download apps, check the browser, run through the UI/UX - but I don't need to use it as a phone. Any thoughts? My problem with Android is that there seems to be a lot of variations out there in terms of UI. Any advice on a cheap device that will best serve me - best bang for the buck in terms of standard Android user experience? I'm thinking maybe an older Nexus might do the trick, seems like I can pick one up used online.

Any thoughts are always appreciated.