SMARTPHONE SPECIAL..... AGED LIKE FINE WINE

SMARTPHONE ... AGED LIKE FINE WINE





Need a flagship smartphone on a budget? Consider these phones: they're last year's flagships but still available at reduced prices. Besides the savings, you'll get amazing design, performance and screen quality

Honor 8 (Rs 18,500)

The Honor 8 has one of the best dual camera systems in this price range. It has dual 12MP cameras (one RGB sensor and one monochrome sensor) with f2.2 aper ture, 1.25 micron large pixel size, laser autofocus and full HD video recording support. It has a beautiful, allglass unibody design and a 5.2-inch display with a res olution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Inside is the HiSilicon Kirin 950 processor, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage and a 3,000mAh battery. You also get an 8MP front camera, expandable storage (up to 256GB card supported), WiFi, NFC, IR port, 4G with VoLTE, fingerprint scanner and DTS audio. In addition, we think Honor's Emotion UI is one of the best user Android versions around: fast & feature-rich.

Samsung Galaxy S7 (Rs 39,000)

The S7 is one of the few compact flag ship smartphones that offer top-notch specs and features. It has a 5.1-inch su per amoled quad HD display and is IP68 certified for dust and water resistance. It is powered by octa core Exynos 8890 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 3,000mAh battery. The S7 also has one of the best cameras around (12MP rear with f1.7 aperture and OIS) which has been carried over to the current Galaxy S8 with minor tweaks. Other features include dual SIM slots, expandable storage, 5MP front camera, fingerprint scanner, dual band WiFi ac, 4G with VoLTE and wireless charging support.

Apple iPhone 6s (Rs 39,999)

The iPhone 6 is selling at a low price of `27,000 but we strongly suggest avoiding it because it will soon be three generations old. The iPhone 6s on the other hand still has capable hardware that will easily last another 2 years with updates.The 6s has a bright 4.7-inch display (1334 x 750 pixels) with 3D touch in a sleek, allmetal unibody design and a fantastic 12MP rear camera capable of recording 4k video. Inside is an Apple A9 processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage and a 1,715mAh battery. Other features include 5MP front camera, TouchID fingerprint scanner, dual band WiFi and 4G with VoLTE. And in case you're interested, this iPhone flagship still has the 3.5mm audio jack.

OnePlus 3T (Rs 27,999)

OnePlus 5 is currently the fastest Android smartphone available globally. It is the successor to the OnePlus 3T, which, in our opinion, is slower than OnePlus 5 by only a very small margin. The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, 6GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 3,400mAh battery.It has a 5.5-inch full HD amoled display and runs the company's Oxygen OS based on Android 7.0. It has one of the best 16MP rear cameras (with OIS) we have seen on a phone along with a 16MP front facing camera. You also get Dash Charging which gives you 60% charge in just 30 minutes.

Lenovo Z2 Plus (Rs 11,000)

The successor to the Z2 Plus has been launched in China called the Zuk Edge, but it has not been launched in India. After a big price drop, this is one of the cheapest smartphones you can get with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. Other specifications include 5-inch full HD display, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage and 3,500mAh battery. It has a 13MP rear camera with hybrid autofocus (phase detection + continuous autofocus) capable of recording 4k videos, 8MP front camera, dual SIM slots and 4G with VoLTE. The home button has a fingerprint scanner and a capacitive touch sensor that can be used for various gesture-based shortcuts.

Nubia Z11 (Rs 24,999)

The highlight of the Z11 is its 5.5-inch (full HD) bezel free display, a feature no other smartphone offers in India. This is true edge-to-edge: the screen really does extend all the way to the sides. It comes with a great, optically stabilised 16MP primary camera and 8MP front camera. Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 6GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 3,000mAh battery. You also get a hybrid dual SIM slot, fingerprint scanner, 4G with VoLTE, Dolby Atmos surround sound and Quick charge 3.0 suppport.

LG V20 (Rs 30,499)

While the LG V30 announcement is still a few weeks away and the LG G6 is the current flagship, the LG V20 competes neck and neck with flagships today.The phone has a number of unique features including dual screens, dual cameras, shock resistant metal body and quad DAC which any audiophile would appreciate. You get a 5.7-inch 2k screen and a secondary 2.1-inch display on top, Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 3,200mAh battery. Other features include Android 7.0, fingerprint scanner, 4G with VoLTE, NFC, IR, expandable storage and 5MP front camera. A big bonus are the sweet B&O earphones, included in the box.

*Prices mentioned are from various online stores at the time of writing and are subject to change

Karan Bajaj ET11AUG17