Top 5 Entry Level Android Smartphones For Those With A Tight Budget
Android phones are taking over the market. Many phone users are crossing over to android based phones these days. For those who are in a tight range and looking out for their first android experience can consider these phones.
Let's Start The Count Down!!
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| Number 5 |
# 5: Samsung Galaxy Y S5360
Samsung is one of the top sellers of android phones in the market with the brand name 'Galaxy'. From the tiny little 'Pocket' To formidable 'S3' ,Samsung possess some incredible range of android phones. Coming to the underdogs, there are galaxy y and galaxy pocket. Galaxy Y occupies 'The Number 5' position in the best android phones under $200.
Samsung Galaxy Y has a small 3.0 inch screen,equipped with Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Samsung's very own TouchWiz UI. Powered by 830 MHz ARMv6 processor, 240x320 resolution with 133ppi. Resolution isn't sharp enough for good quality video experience. It doesn't have an inbuilt GPU for gaming,but can smoothly play angry birds. Gaming performance is really weak.It supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA speed, has WiFi connectivity and tethering. What you will enjoy is a pretty small android phone with a easier user interface.It has an internal memory of 180MB and 290MB RAM which can work 3 or 4 apps simultaneously.
Pros;
- Compact and easy to handle
- Has WiFi tethering, Bluetooth 3.0 (latest)
- High Speed 3G-7.2Mbps
- Multi Touch Capacitive Touchscreen, Fairly Responsive
- Sleeky Headset comes along with the box
- Great Standby Battery Life
- Doesn't have Flash Support for android Browser
- Poor Gaming Perfomance- lack of a GPU, great amount of lags during gaming and gets hotter if played for long time.
- Due to QVGA TFT display, resolution of the picture becomes less clear. Especially when playing games, it looks bland and less interesting.
- Design is not impressive.Comes in only one color.
- The 2MP camera is worthless,doesn't have a flash and images look blurry
- Cannot Hot Swap memory card. You have to remove the battery
- Battery drains rapidly when playing games or watching YouTube videos.
- Due to small screen size its a tedious job to send SMS or type details without getting frequent misspells.
- No Front Facing Camera
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| Number 4 |
# 4: Samsung Galaxy Pocket S5300
Samsung's Galaxy pocket is their entry level android phone. Equipped with a 2.8inch TFT screen with 240x320 screen resolution. Houses Android v2.3.6 Gingerbread OS. It is powered by a 832MHz ARM 11 processor. Possesses TouchWiz UX UI from Samsung. Its a scaled down Galaxy Y- keep in mind that scaling only in screen resolution. Don't get me wrong, This cute little 2.8incher packs some really heavy ammunition. It has an inbuilt 3GB storage, Galaxy Y had about 180MB only. A 2MP camera packed with smile detection. Geo-tagging and panorama. Camera lacks a Flash. The Android Browser has Flash support. Pocket had to satisfy with the 4th position.
Pros;
- Great compactability, easier to use
- 3GB internal memory- Think of how many apps you can install without the annoying " Low memory" warning.
- WiFi tethering, Bluetooth 3.0
- Greater pixel density than Galaxy Y- 143ppi vs 133ppi
- Lower priced than Galaxy Y
- Flash support for Browser
- It has video output- Display pictures and video on TVs or other devices
- Battery Standby time of 20.8 days
- Multi-touch good response touch screen
- Better processor than Y
- Due to small screen size its a tedious job to send SMS or type details without getting frequent misspells.
- Smaller screen size 2.8inch
- Slow 3G speed -3.6Mbps than Y(7.2Mbps)
- Poor gaming perfomance- No GPU, angry birds runs smoothly, fruit ninja faces lags.
- No front facing Camera
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| Number 3 |
# 3: LG Optimus L3 E400
Number 3 has to be better than Y and Pocket. See for yourself whetherL3 has got what it takes to be in this position. LG has entered the Android market with their Optimus range of phones. Optimus is available at lower prices in the market. L3 is the android entry level phone from LG. Unlike Y and Pocket it has a larger 3.2inch screen. But the downside is that it has only a meager 240x320 resolution which makes the pixel density lower ( 125ppi) compared to 133ppi of Y and 143ppi of Pocket. Hence images appear less sharper and bigger. That's not much a thrill killer comparing to the phones in its range.You can be satisfied with that.L3 comes with Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread.However the UI isn't as impressive as TouchWiz, but looks almost similar to it. The huge plus is that it has an inbuilt 1GB internal memory and a 3.2MP camera.
Its not over yet! There are lots of other things this candy-bar posses. Unlike Y ,it posses Adoble flash player support for android browser .Enjoy watching videos and playing games. Guess whats next - it has inbuilt Adreno 200 Graphics Processor for gaming enhancement. It easily tackles Games like Temple Run, fruit Ninja, Angry Birds, Carnivores HD. Raging thunder 2 works awesomely. Not even a single lag occurred.
Pros;
- Adobe Flash Player Support
- Adreno 200 GPU for Good gaming experience
- 1GB internal memory, also 8GB SD card comes with the box
- 3MP camera with autofocus
- Bigger screen 3.2inch
- Good Responsive Touch Screen with Multi-Touch
- 480p video recording
- 800MHz Cortex A5 processor
- 384MB RAM for great multitasking
- Longer Battery Talk Time- Nearly Double that of Galaxy Y
- Sleek design
Cons;
- Lower Screen resolution of 240x320 for the 3.2 inch screen resulting in lower pixel density(125ppi). Hence images appear larger and less sharper.
- Cannot Move apps to External SD card, as it has a 150MB system and 1GB internal Memory. Phone thinks this 1GB as the SD card. Rooting is required for installing/moving apps to External SD.
- No flash with camera
- Less HSDPA (3G) Speed- 3.6Mbps
- Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
- UI isn't as impressive as Other UIs available.
- No front camera
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| Runner Up |
#2 : Sony Xperia Tipo
Sony has moved into the Android range with their Xperia range of Smartphones. Xperia Tipo is very recently released smartphone, the first sub 10000 ($200) android phone from Sony. Packed With lots of amazing features which helped this cute phone to overthrow Y, Pocket and LG L3 by a long Margin. Lets get into the details of our Runner Up.
Tipo comes with Android 4.0.4 ICS out of the box. Which is a noteworthy feature as most of the other phones are limited to Gingerbread. ICS increases the efficiency of the phone and battery life. Build Quality is Good, with a great water fall body design. It comes With a 3.2 inch screen equivalent to LG L3. But it offers 320x480 resolution with a 180ppi density, hence it produces crispier and sharper images than its all other competitors. Hosts a capacitive multi-touch TFT screen with 262K colors and a scratch resistant glass.
It is powered by a powerful Snapdragon S1 Qualcomm MSM7225A 800MHz processor.For gaming performance Tipo is equipped with Adreno 200 enhanced GPU.
Pros;
- 3.2 inch larger screen with a HVGA resolution (320x480)
- Greater pixel density 180ppi
- Adreno 200 enhanced GPU for better gaming performance
- 512MB RAM is more than necessary for running any app in this phone
- A Built in 2.5GB internal memory
- 3.2MP camera resolution
- 480p video recording
- Great Headset
- HSDPA Speed of 7.2Mbps
- 20 Days standby battery time
- Android 4.0.4 ICS
- Has Sony xLoud speakers
Cons;
- Touch Screen sensitivity problems, might be a software problem.
- Android ICS functionality is limited in Tipo. Many of the ICS features are absent
- The camera lacks autofocus
- Lacks an ambient light sensor for automatic screen brightness adjustment
- No front-facing camera
- No DivX/XviD support
- Non-hot-swappable microSD slot
- UI is good but not impressive
Here He Comes!!!
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| Number 1 |
# 1: HTC Explorer a310e (Pico)
HTC-A brand with known for its finest build quality and excellent range of Phones. We all know HTC is a brand which is very shy to enter the sub $200 range unlike Samsung and LG. They always go for high end devices. That was changed only once when HTC released their Explorer a310e codenamed 'PICO'. The First Sub $200 phone from HTC. It stands out from all other phones in its range when it comes to the exceptional Sense 3.5 UI. HTC has the best UI available in the market. If you like Samsung Touch Wiz, they you will go crazy for the impressive Sense 3.5UI.It is powered by a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7225A Snapdragon processor.
Well right now you will think-" how can this occupy nmber one position with a choppy 600MHz processor while all others possess CPU having 0.8GHz or greater processing power?". To be obvious this HTC explorer 600MHz processsor outperfomed Samsung's 800MHz CPU. It handled many HD games without even a lag whereas Samsung could'nt even handle it. I dont know how, but hats off to HTC for their technical excellence. Explorer has android 2.3.6 Gingerbread. A 3.2 Inch HVGA Resolution (320x480) with 180ppi density. It has blinding fast 3G Speed 14.4Mbps and HSUPA 5.76 Mbps which very high than any other in its range.A moderate Quality 3.2MP camera. Amazing Build Quality-matched for HTCs fame. The rubberised back surely looks like it can take on a fall or two. If you like browsing net then,HTC explorer is the best in the market for Internet experience.
Pros;
- Adreno 200 Enhanced GPU for great gaming performance.
- 512MB RAM with lots of space for multitasking
- Amazingly fast 3G Speed 14.4Mbps and upload of 5.76Mbps in a league of its own
- 512MB ROM
- 320x480 pixels resolution with 180ppi density makes images looks sharper and more crispier
- It manages incredibly well with a 600MHz processor
- Enjoy gaming with HVGA quality and less lags
- 3.2MP camera with smile detection, geo tagging
- Great build Quality
- Excellent Responsiveness by the touch screen
- The Best UI- Sense 3.5
- Haptic feedback -which makes you feel that you have selected or pressed a button
- 720p video recording- HD recording
- Bluetooth v3.0 EDR
- HTC has an inbuilt data manager which keeps track of your internet data usage without relying on third party apps.
- Impressive internet experience. There’s full web browsing with Flash support, social network integration and many other popular features that HTC consistently improve on.
- Too small internal memory of 90MB, be ready to face "low memory " warning
- Priced little high- thats normal its HTC after all
- No front facing camera
- No folder option for your messages
- Battery backup is not as impressive
- only 262K color display
