Budget Android Smartphones

[LeoRex]

The Moto line kind of took the stink of the term "budget smartphone". There most likely where some inexpensive phones before the Motos that were decent, but the Moto G and E quickly became the gold standard in their respective classes. They established a precedent where you don't have to spend $500+ to get a good phone. And due to their presense, other OEMs can really no longer afford to release a steaming pile of poo with a tiny price tag and expect it to sell.

I do wonder, though, how they will fare out from under the Google umbrella. We are already starting to see a few cracks.... updates are not coming as quickly as they had been... I hope that Lenovo doesn't try to screw up a good thing.

 

[Javier P]

I agree with that. Moto G and E became the gold standards for that market. I'm still happy with my G 2013 after using it for a year and a half. The latest news are not so good though. I really thought that Lenovo would include 2gb for the 2015 model. That could kill the market again, even being a bit more expensive.

 

[syspry]

I too feel buying budget phones is the best because of how hardware keeps getting better and it's easier to switch to a newer model if you own a budget phone. I have friends that bought really expensive phones in the early days and still have them around because they paid so much for them.

Not really. I can easily find a deal online for one of last year's flagships that's better made than this year's budgets for only around an extra $100 or so. Even further back, most of the 2013 flagships are only a tiny bit behind 2015 budgets in specs but don't look and feel so cheap. I'm still using an Xperia Z1 and wouldn't even dream of trading that in for a 2015 plasticky budget phone with capacitive buttons that don't even light up and sketchy support that'll likely vanish in about 6 months. You're better off with a mainstream flagship every couple of years than a continuous stream of compromises. Especially if you consider you probably spend $1000/year on Starbucks anyway. Budget phones are just that - meant for customers on a really tight budget. I won't consider one unless I'm in a situation where I'm not also eating out or buying coffee or driving my own car.

 

[Sergiusz Jasper]

So got the Sony M4 aqua. .must say nice phone for the money , fast and over all experience great but it can run bit warm when pushed.
Just little hard to give up the use of my Note 4 and funny how once u get used to a larger phone a 5 inch is just not enough lol ( it's what she said )
Back to note till the cases show up for M4 than will give it a full run just don't like to run anything with out protection.

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

So got the Sony M4 aqua. .must say nice phone for the money , fast and over all experience great but it can run bit warm when pushed.
Just little hard to give up the use of my Note 4 and funny how once u get used to a larger phone a 5 inch is just not enough lol ( it's what she said )
Back to note till the cases show up for M4 than will give it a full run just don't like to run anything with out protection.

I used to think the same. But I have recently gone back to a Nexus 5 and the smaller form factor is starting to really appeal to me.

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

[Sergiusz Jasper]

I used to think the same. But I have recently gone back to a Nexus 5 and the smaller form factor is starting to really appeal to me.

Sent from my Nexus 5

I do agree with you on that smaller way easier to handle as a DD and the M4 is very close in performance in its own way so one still gets the flagship feel to a point.
Will wait, cases should be here soon and tempered glass and at least the screen is flat so no halo effect lol

 

[phonejunky]

I'm staying with budget phones. I like not being in a contract either. I purchased the LG G Stylo. It's a huge screen 5.7 and I can do everything I want on this device as a flagship, and it looks like a flagship device as well. 8 megapixel camera, and 5 megapixel front facing.

 

[Sergiusz Jasper]

I'm staying with budget phones. I like not being in a contract either. I purchased the LG G Stylo. It's a huge screen 5.7 and I can do everything I want on this device as a flagship, and it looks like a flagship device as well. 8 megapixel camera, and 5 megapixel front facing.

Till you try a flagship not saying u have not budget phones are good but can't come close.... I'm on the M4 now it's great works fine but after using a Note 4 it is what it is a good phone for average use does what I want and need... Just little short on the wow aspects.

Sent from my E2306 using Tapatalk

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

Till you try a flagship not saying u have not budget phones are good but can't come close.... I'm on the M4 now it's great works fine but after using a Note 4 it is what it is a good phone for average use does what I want and need... Just little short on the wow aspects.

Sent from my E2306 using Tapatalk

I will agree about using the budget smartphone compared to a flagship device. But it also depends on how a person uses their phone. My father has a Galaxy S5 and it is too much smartphone for him. He loves it, but he doesn't use but a fraction of the phone's capabilities. He would have been better off with a Moto E. He wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Sergiusz Jasper]

I will agree about using the budget smartphone compared to a flagship device. But it also depends on how a person uses their phone. My father has a Galaxy S5 and it is too much smartphone for him. He loves it, but he doesn't use but a fraction of the phone's capabilities. He would have been better off with a Moto E. He wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Just like my 65 yr old mom with a Sony Z1 she love it but really has not much of an idea how all works as long as Netflix works, camera and text to bug me lol

Sent from my E2306 using Tapatalk

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

To be perfectly honest, I probably don't need the power of my Nexus 6.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Sergiusz Jasper]

This is on my budget Sony M4 aqua also did the water test in my pool and it's definitely waterproof lol
Over all works quite well and the heating issues as they say don't really exist in real life think one really has to push the phone.

Sent from my Sony M4 aqua

 

[arinium]

A great posting, thank you. Three years ago I was fed up with my Samsung Galaxy S and was reluctant to spend $900/700 € on a new phone that probably would be slow, old and shattered after a year so I began searching for an alternative. Knowing nothing about the Chinese brands, I reasoned that there must be some high quality manufacturers that use good components but sell their products without the premium Samsung and HTC were charging. It required a lot of research from me but following the Chinese smartphone market became a hobby as well. After careful consideration, I ended up buying a Xiaomi Mi2 right as it was released. And it was one of the best decisions I have made. It served me for almost three years, has 2 GB of RAM and a great camera. Couple of weeks ago I bought a new flagship to replace it because the 4.3" screen had become too small. I had kept an eye on a device that would have 5.5" 1080p screen (I don't want 2K), 3 GB RAM, optical image stabilization (O.I.S.) in the camera and a large battery (3,000+ mAh). Such a device is LeTV S1. I received it two weeks ago and during this short period I have been very satisfied. I got it for 265 € and I still cannot believe the price .

 

[LeoRex]

I'm sure the big OEMs are sweating those Chinese outfits... Asus, Xiaomi, Huawei, LeTV, OnePlus, Oppo, etc...

It isn't so much a matter of them putting out a better phone than the top of the line flagships. It is a matter of them putting out a good phone that gives most people everything they need in a phone at a DRASTICALLY reduced price. It might not necessarily be as fast, or have as good and stunning a screen or crazy good camera, but those budge brands have passed the 'good enough' milestone.

I give them props. It wasn't that long ago that the cheap phones were utter dogpoo. Now, their best might not be on par with the G4 or S6, but they aren't that far back anymore.

 

[Sergiusz Jasper]

One more to add to this list is the Asus zenfone 2... On one now and the 4g ram is just awesome plus at 300$ bucks u can't go wrong

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

One more to add to this list is the Asus zenfone 2... On one now and the 4g ram is just awesome plus at 300$ bucks u can't go wrong

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

The ZenFone 2 is an awesome phone. I had the pleasure of reviewing one and the phone is lightning fast. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that it had capacitive buttons and they didn't illuminate. But it's a very solid device.


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

 

[veritas_vincit]

I also decided to try a budget device ZTE Maven with Android 5.1 and use it as my daily driver and I was surprised to see how well it responded. I'm not a gamer or a media (pictures / videos) user, but I do use email a lot (Gmail), manage cloud data (Google Drive), so I knew that my specs for a device didn't had to be like a flagship spec, but a Snapdragon 400 or more was OK. I was using an iPhone 6 Plus which I sold and decided to go with Android (notifications are not that good within the iOS environment), and because I was using 100% Google apps within iOS, which made jumping the ship easier after trying Android. The last time I had an Android device was a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 running on Jelly Bean. Now I have a ZTE ZMAX 2 running Android 5.1 and it runs and behaves great, with a Snapdragon of 400 and 2Gb or RAM, it can handle anything I throw to it. The ZTE ZMAX 2 reminds me of my Note 2 in terms of speed and reaction time after switching from app to app within the device. This proves that today's flagship specs will be tomorrow's budget specs and this is one of the beauty of Android.

 

[cckgz4]

I love my Alcatel one touch device. I was thinking about doing what someone suggested by getting an old flagship, but I really was tired of buying used phones instead of something brand new out of the box. I'm enjoying the lightness of the phone and the screen surprised me cause it didn't look good in the reviews