We keep talking about stagnation in the world of gadgets – almost nothing new, they say, is happening, technologies are marking time. In some ways, this picture of the world is correct - the smartphone form factor itself has more or less settled down, grandiose breakthroughs in either performance or interaction formats have not occurred for a long time. Everything can change with the massive introduction of 5G, but so far we are talking about small steps at most.
What steps have ultra-budget smartphones taken over the past year? Even in this category, Full HD displays have finally become mainstream, as have dual-camera systems (one camera is already amazing), “edgeless” design, the gradual spread of the USB Type-C port, and mass NFC. Well, the fingerprint scanner will no longer be mentioned in the list of characteristics. It is still difficult to choose, now not so much because of the need to frantically seek a compromise, but because of the abundance of options close in characteristics and capabilities. And yes, the era of ordering smartphones in China is gradually fading away - most of what used to be transported from the Middle Kingdom is now available with us completely officially.
What hasn't exactly changed is the reign of Xiaomi in this category, including due to the number of budget models. But we will try not to saturate the selection with smartphones of the “people's” brand – there should be variety in life. Although, of course, you can’t do without Xiaomi at all.
- Operating system: Android 8.1.
- Display: 5,99 inches, IPS, 2160×1080.
- Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (Eight Kryo 260 cores clocked at 1,95 to 2,2 GHz)
- RAM: 4/6 GB.
- Flash memory: 32/64/128 GB.
- Camera: 12 + 20 MP.
- Dual SIM, no memory card slot.
- Battery capacity: 3010 mAh.
- Price: from 9 rubles for the 200 GB version (gray). from 32 rubles (official).
Why buy: large Full HD display, great camera, clean Android, a powerful hardware platform.
What can stop: no memory card slot, no NFC, no mini-jack, not the most capacious battery, unofficial sales (at a price of up to 10 thousand rubles).
The fact that a smartphone with such characteristics can generally be found cheaper than 10 thousand rubles may not be a miracle, but the moment that definitely brings Mi A2 to the first place in this list. As a rule, the distribution of models in our top ten is arbitrary, there is no ranking as such, but in this case there is a clear candidate for the title of the main smartphone in this category.
However, Xiaomi Mi A2 has both the brightest advantages (it is the most powerful smartphone on the list, and the smartphone with the best camera, and this, finally, Xiaomi with Android One), and severe disadvantages. Only the version with a 32 GB drive fits into the declared price range, while the gadget lacks a microSD slot - that is, you will very quickly have to face the problem of lack of memory, which, in fact, cannot be solved. Also, despite the obviously higher status than the vast majority of smartphones presented here, it still lacks NFC – you can’t pay for purchases with it. But these are the compromises that can really be made.
Alternative: . We had to start this collection with the “titular” Redmi – it would seem that these are the rules of the game. But the cheaper Mi A2 messed up all the plans. The GXNUMX has almost no arguments against it - except perhaps a more fashionable design with an iridescent back and a waterdrop notch, a memory card slot and a much more capacious battery. The choice of those for whom the power and quality of shooting is less valuable than practicality (and, suddenly, design, yes).
- Operating system: Android 9.0 Pie (ColorOS proprietary shell).
- Display: 6,22 inches, IPS, 1520×720.
- Platform: MediaTek Helio P60 (four ARM Cortex-A73 @ 2,0 GHz, four ARM Cortex-A53 @ 2 GHz).
- RAM: 3/4 GB.
- Flash memory: 32/64 GB.
- Camera: 13 + 2 MP.
- Two SIM-cards, a separate slot for a memory card.
- Battery capacity: 4230 mAh.
- Price: from 8 rubles.
Why you should buy: nice design, decent hardware platform, separate memory expansion slot, large display.
What can stop: no NFC, throttling issues, mediocre front camera, low display resolution.
BBK's response to Redmi is a former sub-brand of OPPO, which was recently launched into a separate company and managed to become very popular in India, has now come to Russia. And on the move makes very interesting proposals. At the start, realme 3 with very nice features cost 8 or 10 thousand rubles for a 32- or 64-gigabyte version, now the price has risen, but, firstly, we don’t think that for a long time, and secondly, find an option that fits into frames of this collection, it is still possible.
In fact, realme 3 is a direct and quite successful competitor for Redmi 7, which has, in fact, the same pros and cons, with some superiority in the formal power of the platform, but inferior in stability - Helio P60 is prone to throttling. It has a bigger battery, a slightly better main camera, but a slightly worse front camera, ColorOS instead of MIUI ... In principle, it's simply "Redmi for nonconformists."
Alternative: . A smartphone similar in appearance and HD-display diagonal from the same concern, but with a less powerful processor, less memory, a simpler camera. But also cheaper by 500 rubles. And if you look at the average, and not the minimum price, then for all two thousand.
- Operating system: Android 8.0 Oreo (EMUI proprietary shell).
- Display: 5,65 inches, IPS, 2160×1080.
- Platform: Hisilicon Kirin 659 (eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores up to 2,36 GHz)
- RAM: 3/4 GB.
- Flash memory: 32/64 GB.
- Camera: 13 + 2 MP.
- Two SIM-cards, the second slot is combined with a slot for a memory card.
- Battery capacity: 3000 mAh.
- Price: 9 990 rubles.
Why you should buy: dual and rear and front cameras, yes NFC, good performance, modest dimensions.
What can stop: not the most capacious battery, suspended brand status.
Another device that recently collapsed in price, which last year was confidently included in the “middle class”, and now has joined the cohort of “state employees”, without having really become outdated. Dual cameras front and rear - both, however, double rather for show, the additional module just helps with software blurring of the background. Compactness combined with a 5,65-inch Full HD display - you will not see such a clear picture from any of the competitors, the pixel density is higher here. And the main trump card of Honor 9 Lite is the NFC module.
Two main but - a relatively small battery (this is a problem with Xiaomi Mi A2, but it is even aggravated by a larger screen) and the status of Huawei / Honor: no one can guarantee that Android support will last on smartphones of these brands for any long time . But at the moment the forecast is rather positive, the storm has temporarily ceased.
Alternative: . The current “main state employee” Honor: the screen is larger, but the resolution is smaller, the cameras are single and simpler, the hardware stuffing is weaker, but the design is fresher, and NFC is in place. Well, the price is one and a half thousand rubles lower.
- Operating system: Android 8.0 (upgradable to Android 9).
- Display: 5,8 inches, IPS, 1520×720.
- Platform: MediaTek Helio P60 (four ARM Cortex-A73 @ 2,0 GHz, four ARM Cortex-A53 @ 2 GHz).
- RAM: 3 GB.
- Flash memory: 32 GB.
- Camera: 13 + 5 MP.
- Two SIM-cards, the second slot is combined with a slot for a memory card.
- Battery capacity: 3060 mAh.
- Price: 8 500 rubles.
Why buy: cute design, android brand, good performance, USB Kind-C.
What can stop: low display resolution, no NFC.
The returned Nokia plays, as a rule, a very neat game, not entering into a direct clash with Xiaomi and Honor over offering maximum performance for minimum money, but taking its own with a stylish design and Android One program with a clean "robot", which also receives updates in first turn. But the Nokia 5.1 Plus deviates a bit from this strategy.
No, Android One is here, and the design is noble, but at the same time, the smartphone surpasses Honor 8A in its characteristics and successfully competes with the same Redmi 7. You don’t need to suffer a lack of performance for the sake of the thought “well, this is Nokia”, besides, the smartphone is really good removes. There is, however, an unexpected problem: due to the fact that 5.1 Plus is a version of the Nokia X5, the original exclusive for the Chinese market, there is no NFC in it, although Nokia usually does well with this.
Alternative: . The most inexpensive Xperia also stands out for its pleasant design and may please with the presence of an NFC module, but otherwise the loss of Nokia 5.1 Plus is very noticeable - a lot is cut here. This is the first choice for fans of the brand.
- Operating system: Android 8.0.
- Display: 6 inches, IPS, 1440 × 720.
- Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 (four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, clocked at 1,4 GHz).
- RAM: 2/3 GB.
- Flash memory: 16/32 GB.
- Camera: 12 MP.
- Two SIM-cards, the second slot is combined with a memory card slot.
- Battery capacity: 5000 mAh.
- Price: 9 990 rubles.
Why you should buy: interesting design, very capacious battery (with relatively fast charging).
What can stop: poor performance, no NFC.
As you can see, all the smartphones in this collection are similar to one another - progress has stepped forward hand in hand with unification. No one is particularly distinguished by either a capacious battery, or design, or unusual functions. Nobody but the Moto E5 Plus. This is probably the longest-lived smartphone among all presented here - with a battery of five thousand milliamp-hours, "pure" Android is combined. The display is quite large (six inches), but not so big as to prevent the device from holding a charge for up to two days.
In addition to this, you will receive a gadget of original design, unlike anything that competitors do. It costs a lot. In this case, it costs a frankly weak hardware platform, which, nevertheless, works with the support of a sufficient amount of RAM (9 rubles are being asked today for the 990/3 GB version). Despite the fact that the Moto E32 Plus was introduced last spring, it is still quite relevant - unless, of course, you are going to play serious games on it.
Alternative: . If the Moto E5 Plus is a nice smartphone, then the Highscreen Power Five Max 2 is nice in every way: the same capacity battery, but a larger screen, a dual rear camera and a more powerful platform. However, firstly, the increased resolution and the productive platform increase power consumption, and secondly, Highscreen is not famous for the quality of its smartphones. But you can take a risk.
- Operating system: Android 8.1 (MiFavor proprietary shell).
- Display: 5,7 inches, IPS, 2160×1080.
- Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores up to 1,8GHz)
- RAM: 3/4 GB.
- Flash memory: 32/64 GB.
- Camera: 16 + 5 MP.
- Two SIM-cards, the second slot is combined with a memory card slot.
- Battery capacity: 3100 mAh.
- Price: 9 490 rubles.
Why it is worth buying: nice design, a lot of operational (and non-volatile) memory, good shooting quality, there are NFC.
What can stop: mediocre performance, very slippery and easily soiled case.
At the start of sales, the ZTE Blade V9 was supposed to cost 20 thousand rubles - which seemed excessive for a smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450. But just before the launch of this model, the Chinese company was covered by a wave of another round of the trade war, and the main Blade of 2018 was somehow forgotten on the sly. However, it still exists, for sale - and with a price of less than 10 thousand, it already seems like a very reasonable purchase.
Of course, it hasn’t become more productive in a year, but it has a really decent camera for this segment, a lot of memory, NFC and a design in the style of the nearest competitors from Honor – with a very branded, slippery, but beautifully iridescent back. And most importantly, there is no fashionable, but hateful neckline.
Alternative: . Another smartphone of the crisis brand. Only if the crisis has passed for ZTE, then for Meizu it is in full swing and, it seems, will not recede, the company is living out its term. But her gadgets are getting cheaper - and this is a chance to get a smartphone with very pleasant characteristics at a very low price.
- Operating system: Android 9.0 (proprietary shell).
- Display: 6,2" LCD, 1520×720.
- Platform: Samsung Exynos 7884 (two ARM Cortex-A73 cores @ 1,6GHz, six ARM Cortex-A53 cores @ 1,35GHz)
- RAM: 2 GB.
- Flash memory: 32 GB.
- Camera: 13 MP.
- Two SIM-cards, a separate slot for a memory card.
- Battery capacity: 3400 mAh.
- Price: 8 500 rubles.
Why buy: famous brand, decent performance.
What can stop: no fingerprint scanner and NFC, plastic case.
The Koreans completely shook up their line of smartphones this year, gradually taking the J series off the ship of modernity - it seemed that this could lead to the emergence of truly adequate offers in the budget segment, where Samsung has always been popular, but primarily because of the big name, not because of interesting features.
Alas, the Galaxy A10 does not claim to be the first favorite when choosing an inexpensive smartphone. Its advantages are the current design and a good amount of internal memory with a microSD slot, as well as a platform that is quite acceptable in terms of performance. But there is no Samsung's brightest trump card - the AMOLED display. The A10 has the most common LCD with HD resolution, about the same as on the Redmi 7 or Honor 8A. Add to this the lack of NFC, a plastic case and a suddenly thrown out fingerprint scanner. Yes, this is the only smartphone without a fingerprint sensor in the selection.
Alternative: It would seem by all key characteristics have seen tangible progress over the past year (but one-dimensional - all smartphones have become even more similar to each other), although there has been a rollback one by one. The current smartphone with an OLED display cheaper than 10 thousand rubles is now not to be found. Another good Samsung for the money is also equipped with an LCD screen - albeit a smaller diagonal. Yes, and the design is more boring, but there is more RAM, a dual rear camera is NFC. And a fingerprint scanner. Another big question is who is the alternative here.
- Operating system: Android 8.0 (ZenUI proprietary shell).
- Display: 6,3 inches, IPS, 1520×720.
- Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 (Eight Kryo 250 cores up to 1,8 GHz)
- RAM: 3/4 GB.
- Flash memory: 32/64 GB.
- Camera: 16 + 2 MP.
- Two SIM-cards and a separate slot for a memory card.
- Battery capacity: 4000 mAh.
- Price: 9 900 rubles.
Why you should buy: excellent autonomy, normal camera, metal case, the largest display in this collection.
What can stop: no NFC, thick body.
At the start of sales, the Zenfone Max (M2) did not look particularly attractive - at the same price, the Max Pro (M1) was offered at the time, released in early 2018, while having a Full HD display and devoid of a notch. But M2 managed to fall in price, and M1 is gradually disappearing from sale. Time itself sets the accents.
The advantages of Zenfone Max (M2) are good autonomy, a large screen, good quality of shooting on the rear camera and a solid metal (not glass or plastic) case. Disadvantages - the lack of NFC, a huge cutout on the front panel and a thick case. This is the choice for the most practical, who are not going to pay for purchases with a smartphone.
Alternative: . A smartphone with very similar characteristics and an even more capacious battery, which is only prevented from changing with the Zenfon by a weaker hardware platform - here Snapdragon 450, not Snapdragon 632.
- Operating system: Android 9.0.
- Display: 6,2 inches, 1520×720.
- Platform: Mediatek Helio A22 (four ARM Cortex-A53 cores @ 2,0 GHz)
- RAM: 3 GB.
- Flash memory: 32 GB.
- Camera: 13+8+2 MP.
- Two SIM-cards, the second slot is combined with a memory card slot.
- Battery capacity: 3500 mAh.
- Price: 7 rubles (unofficial), 700 rubles (official).
Why buy: triple camera, large display, fashion design, fresh Android.
What can stop: ordinary performance, no NFC.
A mandatory smartphone for such a selection from a noname brand ... however, Tecno is no longer quite noname - smartphones from this company are supplied to our market, including through official channels, albeit noticeably more expensive than "gray".
This model is notable primarily for its triple rear camera. There are, in fact, no alternatives among the officially presented smartphones in Russia. Another thing is that it will not give you real advantages: the image quality is average, and the third module is proposed here formally - this is a depth sensor. But in general, in terms of its characteristics, this is a fairly good option and, importantly, the latest - with the latest version of Android on board.
Alternative: . And here is the "gray" alternative, which looks like the future iPhone, flaunts three (8 + 2 + 2 MP, amen) cameras, but otherwise - the seams. A screen with a resolution of 1280 × 800, one (!) gigabyte of RAM, a hopelessly outdated hardware platform, big questions about quality. For unassuming risk-takers.
- Operating system: Android 8.1 Oreo with a proprietary shell.
- Display: 5,65 inches, IPS, 2160×1080.
- Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 (eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores up to 2,2 GHz).
- RAM: 4 GB.
- Flash memory: 64 GB.
- Camera: 16 + 5 MP.
- Two SIM-cards, the second slot is combined with a slot for a memory card.
- Battery capacity: 3050 mAh.
- Price: 7 990 rubles.
Why it is worth buying: if you are patriotic, love Alice and experiments.
What can stop: poor quality of shooting.
Yandex.Telephone was included in our recent selection of smartphones priced up to 20 thousand rubles, but the expected happened - without receiving the slightest hint of popularity, it fell not even twice, but even more. Today it can be found for 8 thousand rubles - and for this money, to be honest, you can already buy it!
In the ultra-budget category, even with the second camera still disabled (oh yes, an update that activated it has not been released for half a year), the smartphone looks very appropriate: the performance is normal compared to current competitors, and the shell remains original and patriotic. If you like to communicate with "Alice" - you should definitely take it.
Alternative: . We could not resist transferring the alternative from the same rating - the BQ flagship (yes, these are the flagships of this company) also drastically lost in price and fit into this selection. In general, this smartphone deserves a place in the main part of this collection, but it does not have any outstanding qualities relative to the general mass - only a good combination of them.
Source: 3dnews.ru