GADGET GIZMO SPECIAL Smartphones to suit your wallet
and needs
VALUE
FOR MONEY Cut-rate joy or right price? Android cool or accessory range? Four models to choose from
With hundreds of millions of people
coming on to the mobile world to buy smartphones that make them smarter, there
are handsets to suit every pocket. And more often than not, there are striking
similarities in the basic things that most phones can do, especially after the
rise of the Android platform that enables various price points for the same
core software.
A budget smartphone (for us, this
means something that costs less than the highend ones that cost more than
30,000) may no longer necessarily mean big sacrifices.
We sample a few here to match price
points within that still large range.
Remember, there are brands like
MicroMax, Karbonn and others who have hit the Indian market with an amazing
range of features and prices. Also, keep your eyes wide open for data plans
from telecom operators.
Datawind Pocket Surfer 3G5 @`6,499
Datawind is the company behind the
much-loved and much-lambasted cut-price tablet Akash, and has been in the
business since 2001 and recently launched smartphones. Its Pocket Surfer 3G5
runs Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and from what we know t he company has no plans
to court the next KitKat (4.4). It features a 5” WVGA Screen (800x480 pixels)
and runs on a 1.2 Ghz Dual Core Cortex A7 Processor.
The phone comes only in black, and with
a side button that reminds us of the Sony Xperia Z. It features a 5 megapixel
rear camera that works nicely on a bright sunny day, and a front facing VGA
camera, that really requires a bright room in case you want to make a Skype
call. The build quality is fine and battery lasts about 3.5 to 4 hours in talk
time. The logo is a put-off.
The phone also features an FM Radio,
dual SIM support and a microSD card slot to increase storage – all
India-friendly features. The Datawind phone is among the cheapest i n the
smartphone category and if the Akash experience is anything to go by, it would
not be fair to compare it with the bigger, more expensive brands. This is a
cut-price product and should be seen in that light. You can’t be looking for
too much at such a price.
Nokia 525 @`11,499
One of the top performing phones in
our budget line-up, the Nokia 525 is designed to make gaming affordable.
With the Windows Mobile OS inside,
the 525 comes with a 4” IPS LCD display that is crisp and bright — among the best
we have seen in this class. A 5 MP rear camera works wonderfully both outdoors
and inside. The Nokia Camera app gets some great results.
The 525 has 8 GB of storage on
board, and a microSD card helps you add much more. The battery gives a decent 7
hours of talk-time. And there are free games worth R 2025. The handset comes in
black, white and yellow and red. Sadly, there is no front camera to help video
calls - and this is a surprise. As we write this, there is a range of Nokia X
phones that have hit the market. Perhaps they also should be given
consideration
iPhone 4 @`22,900
Well, one is not sure if this can be
called a budget phone, but it is worth having this here — though three
generations outdated in the Apple scheme of upgrades. Look at the sheer number
of apps, an amazing set of accessories and one of the fastest cameras in the
business. The docking chargers, the cases to fit in the device and the fitness
gizmos that work with it – all put this in a league apart. No, you cannot run
the latest iOS7 on this machine but there is a reliability that is worth the
price.
To summarise, all the handsets
reviewed here has plus points as well as drawbacks, depending on your needs and
price priorities. The Datawind phone clearly scores on price but the Nokia
model is great for gamers. The Moto G has Android power, while the iPhone, as
they say, is an iPhone. Make your pick based on what works for you — or what
matters most!
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