Best budget smartphone: Our top guide to which cut-priced phone you should buy
WE TEST five of the best sub £200 smartphones and you might be surprised by how good these budget gadgets are.
Poor screens, awful design and dire camera quality left many smartphone fans having to spend big to get something decent.
Luckily, times have changed and budget smartphones have upped their game are now in a new league.
Shoppers with a budget of under £200 can land a solid smartphone – capable of handling the latest games and apps, with a good 1080p display and a capable camera.
To see just how good these bargain call makers are, Daily Star Online grabbed five of the best to put them to the test.
All of these budget handsets impressed – and would be a great buy, but there was a clear winner.
Here's which phones we tested • Honor 5X • OnePlus X • HTC Desire 626 • Moto G • Bq Aquaris x5
STYLE: All of these budget look good enough to have in your hand
TEST 1 • DESIGN
All of the budget devices we tested are well built and will look fine in your hand.
However, our winner is the stunning OnePlus X.
With its metal and glass build this phone looks as good as most flagships.
Weighing in at just 138g, the OnePlus X is comfortably lightweight, without feeling cheap. It's also easy to use and hold in one hand, thanks to its compact design.
The Bq Aquaris x5 is a close second, thanks to its choice of colours, and double-anodised aluminium.
Sadly, the once great Moto G is now looking dated and in desperate need of premium refresh.
TOP FIVE FOR DESIGN
1st. OnePlus X
2nd. Bq Aquaris x5
3rd. Honor 5X
4th. HTC Desire 626
5th. Moto G (2015)
ON DISPLAY: Budget phones are now almost as good as their flagship competition
TEST 2 • DISPLAY
A few years ago going budget mean't you'd get a display that wasn't worth looking at – but times have changed.
Chinese smartphone firm Honor has dubbed its latest smartphone, the "most affordable premium smartphone of 2016” – and honestly, it’s difficult to disagree with this marketing tagline.
This smartphone has a stunning 5.5inch 1080p IPS LCD, with an impressive 401-pixels-per-inch.
The display is bright, crisp and clear and you'll love every minute of watching netflix on this phone.
Bq Aquaris x5 also has a very decent display, with solid viewing angles and the OnePlus X also performs well, although its colours are slightly over-saturated.
The Moto G is easily the worst with its screen looking muggy and dull when placed next to its sub-£200 rivals.
TOP FIVE FOR DISPLAY
1st. Honor 5X
2nd. Bq Aquaris x5
3rd. OnePlus X
4th. HTC Desire 626
5th. Moto G (2015)
TOP OF THE PILE: The OnePlus comes out on top for speed
TEST 3 • SPEED
This was a simple test that revealed a very clear winner.
We loaded the same six apps on each phone and switched off the devices, it was then a straight race to see how long it took to open the apps twice from boot-up.
The OnePlus X smashed the competition beating its closest rival by over 10 seconds.
Here's the full speed test results.
1st. OnePlus X • 31:83 seconds to turn on and a total time of 1:31.39 to open all the apps twice
2nd. Honor 5X • 29:73 seconds to turn on and a total time of 1:44.54 to open all the apps twice
3rd. Moto G • 32.92 seconds to turn on and a total time of 1:47.50 to open all the apps twice
4th. Bq Aquaris x5 • 55:00 seconds to turn on and a total time of 2:03.83 to open all the apps twice
5th. HTC Desire 626 • 43:99 seconds to turn on and a total time of 2:12.73 to open all the apps twice
BATTERY: The OnePlus X won our Star Wars battery test
TEST 4 • BATTERY“We tested each phone by playing Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,”
Nobody wants to have a flat smartphone and all of these devices we tested should easily last out a day.
We tested each phone by playing Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, to see how well they all coped.
So which smartphone has the most force?
Here's what was left in the tank after the epic space movie had ended.
TOP FIVE FOR BATTERY
1st. OnePlus X • 78%
Joint 1st. Moto G • 78%
3rd. Bq Aquaris x5 • 73%
4th. HTC Desire 626 • 72%
5th. Honor 5X • 71%
The Honor 5X deftly handled the bright sunlight – capturing our typical tourist snap without completely blowing out the sky, or completely shrouding the subject in shadow.
Daily Star Online has directly compared the results of the best performing rear shooter, the Honor 5X, and the worst, the HTC 626.
Both smartphones boast a 13MP sensor – but the results are dramatically different.
The Honor 5X was not the crispest image, that accolade went to the OnePlus X, but it did produce the most accurate colours. Bq Aquaris x5 was a close second, but the final image was noticeably duller.
But whereas rear camera on the Moto G struggled, it's front-facing 5MP camera comfortably produced the best selfie. Colours were bright and accurate, unlike the muggy results from the HTC Desire 626.
TOP FIVE FOR CAMERA
Rear Camera
1. Honor 5X
2. Bq Aquaris x5
3. OnePlus X
4. Moto G (2015)
5. HTC Desire 626
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: HONOR 5X LEFT – HTC 626 RIGHT
Front Facing Selfie Camera
1st. Moto G (2015)
2nd. Honor 5X
3rd. OnePlus X
4th. HTC Desire 626
5th. Bq Aquaris x5
All of the smartphones in our test will cost you less than £200, but there is still a major disparity between the prices.
We ranked the handsets based on their price and the specs and features included which presents the best value for money.
The Honor 5X is currently discounted to £169.99, which is phenomenal value for a smartphone with a lightning-fast fingerprint sensor, 5.5 inch Full HD display, all-metal unibody design and 13MP rear camera.
Motorola's Moto G is a close second place, thanks to its water resistant design and jaw-droppingly low £149 price tag.
TOP FIVE FOR VALUE
1st. Honor 5X • £169.99
2nd. Moto G • £149
3rd. OnePlus X • £199
4th. Bq Aquaris x5 • £179
5th. HTC Desire 626 • 169.95
CAMERA: We put our phones through an extensive camera test
The Moto G has a staggering number of unique features – especially for a smartphone with a price tag of just £149.
This budget handset is fully customisable via Motorola's excellent MotoMaker service, which lets customers pick the colour of the case, the front plate, upgrade the internal memory, add an engraving – and even set the screensaver.
And it's even waterproof with the device coping with 30 minutes in the drink.
The other phones also have some nice extras including the Honor 5X – the only smartphone in the line-up with biometric security to protect your data.
The OnePlus X is one of only two Android smartphones to have an iPhone-style notifications switch, that lets users quickly shuffle between silent modes.
Both the OnePlus X and Bq Aquaris x5 have support for dual SIM cards – something which is sure to appeal to frequent travellers.
TOP FIVE FOR EXTRAS
1st. Moto G • Moto Maker Customisation, Waterproof
2nd. Honor 5X • Fingerprint Sensor, All-Metal Design
3rd. One Plus X • Notifications Switch, Almost Pure Android OS
4th. HTC Desire 626 • 5 MegaPixel Selfie Camera
5th. Bq Aquaris x5 • Choice of either Android or Cyanogen OS, Dual SIM support
ONEPLUS
THE WINNER OF THE BEST SMARTPHONE FOR UNDER £200
1st. OnePlus X
2nd. Honor 5X
Joint 3rd. Bq Aquaris x5 and Moto G (2015)
4th. HTC Desire 626
It's a close-call, but for our money the OnePlus X is the best smartphone on the market for under £200.
This budget smartphone has a flagship design, a brilliant and bright five-inch 1080p display and useful physical notification switch.
It also has the best version of Google's Android operating system making it look as good on the inside as the outside.
The cameras are decent, as is the battery life and you can even increase the 16GB of internal memory with a microSD card, plus there's a dual SIM support for frequent flyers.
HONOR
RUNNER-UP: The Honor 5X comes in second place
Sadly, this smartphone's stellar hardware is let down by the horrid and clunky Huawei operating system.
Huawei has dropped the App Drawer and completely redesigned the Notifications shade in an effort to make its budget Android smartphone appear more like Apple's iOS.
But the smartphone ends up being a little confusing to use, and no where near as pretty as Google's brilliant Material Design aesthetic.
If the Honor 5X was running stock Google Android, it might have nixed the OnePlus X's reign.
Bq Aquaris x5 and Moto G are both solid smartphones – and at a great price. Unfortunately, there have a few frustrating niggles that stop them becoming must-haves.
So, if the Galaxy S7 or iPhone is too much to handle we recommend treating yourself to a OnePlus X
Review was culled from: Daily Star Online and shared by www.techcrux.net
Post a Comment