There are many reasons to want a budget smartphone. Maybe you want a back-up phone, because you don’t trust yourself with a top of the range blower when you’re skanking hard in the club.
Perhaps you lost your previous phone and need something to tie you over until your next upgrade. Or maybe you’re just so edgy that you eschew mainstream technology, but don’t want to sacrifice uploading foggy pictures of your food to Instagram.
Whatever your motivation, panic not, the Vision Tech crew is here to point you in the right direction.
There are a number of manufacturers trying to corner the lower end of the smartphone market. Although the majority of them are cheap pieces of hardware running old versions of android, there are a few proverbial diamonds in the rough. Here are the top three.
3. In third place is the best of the low-end, big-brand androids. Whilst HTC are hell-bent on stealing the top spot of the market with their gorgeous new HTC One, they’re also in with a good shout at the bottom end.
The HTC Desire X is a sizeable piece of kit that has the specs of a mid-range phone. Packing a 1GB dual-core processor, it’s perfect for letting you check your e-mails whilst blasting some tunes through the Beats-enhanced audio output. The camera is not bad either. You don’t get HD video, but the five megapixel camera is plenty enough for producing a collage of various selfies.
A final plus is the wonderful HTC Sense user interface. It’s the same interpretation of the android OS that runs at the top of the company’s range, and it runs smoothly on the four-inch screen, despite the diminished firepower. The only hitch is that it’s in the upper echelons of our price range, coming in at around £170.
2. If you’re looking for something even cheaper, take a look at the upcoming Asian phone manufacturer, Huawei. Their entry level mobile is set to be very competitive thanks to its incredible price tag and none too shabby features.
The Ascend G300 runs the same version of Android as many of the top phones, and with sleek looks and a metallic chassis to match, you’ll struggle to tell that it’s not one of them. Much like HTC’s offering, the four-inch screen is decent, and the five megapixel camera will do the job, however the G300 will set you back £70 less as you can pick one up for £100. Handy.
1. Despite putting in a great piece of hardware at an even better price, the Ascend still doesn’t take the top spot. This accolade easily goes to Nokia’s latest low-end Lumia. Running the classy Windows Phone 8 operating system, the 520 brings the quirkiness of the rest of the Lumia range to the low-end market.
With interchangeable covers of various colours and even shapes, you can make this bad boy look as controversial as you want.And that’s not the only thing that makes it stand out from the rest of the ‘landfill androids’. The snapper really is very impressive for a phone in this price range. It’s got the same five megapixel specs as the other two options, but thanks to Nokia’s determination to develop quality cameras, the images are of a much better quality.
Finally, you get the funky live tiles of Windows Phone 8, and the people centred approach that androids really lack. With a two digit price tag, this is undoubtedly the champion of the budget blowers.