Perfect balance: TOP 5 smartphones under $200
In this top, we have selected five workhorses from Huawei, Xiaomi, Samsung, Sony and Meizu, who will not just be a caller, but will be able to snap a good selfie, launch a modern game or use social networks and a browser with many tabs without braking.
In a separate table, you can compare all the smartphones from the review. And follow the link to find a complete list of current smartphones.
Sony Xperia L2 is an entry—level smartphone, with a familiar design from Sony and an unusually low price tag for the company.
And although Sony has promised to rethink the look of its smartphones, all the new products of 2018 received the usual design with strict straight lines, sharp corners, noticeable side frames and the Sony logo on top. In the era of universal "framelessness" and roundness, such a design will seem archaic to someone, but many people love Sony smartphones precisely because of their branded appearance.
The Sony Xperia L2 phone is equipped with a frankly mediocre 5.5-inch IPS screen. This mediocrity manifests itself in a low resolution of 1280x720 pixels by current standards and a modest margin of brightness. In addition, right out of the box, the smartphone screen is oddly calibrated with a clear preponderance in cold blue shades. However, the latter problem is easily solved by manually calibrating RGB in the screen settings.
A MediaTek MT6737T quad-core chip with a clock frequency of 1.45 GHz is used as the central processor of the smartphone. The Mali T720 is responsible for the graphics here, and 3 GB of RAM completes the picture. In general, this bundle looks outdated, but its performance does not manifest itself in any way in everyday work — surfing the web, working with social network applications or not too demanding toys.
The smartphone has basic equipment: USB-C, 2 SIM card slots (one of them is hybrid), a standard audio output and a fingerprint scanner. But in some ways he goes further than many of his fellow students. For example, there is an NFC chip and codec support for transmitting high-quality aptX audio. The front camera is equipped with a wide-angle 120-degree object, which allows you to capture more objects in the background. And instead of the standard 3000 mAh battery, the Sony Xperia L2 has a 3300 mAh battery with an effective Ultra Stamina battery saving mode.
These little things are hardly decisive, but they leave a pleasant impression and change the perception of a smartphone after getting acquainted with its modest hardware and screen. Together with the low price, these factors allow us to recommend Sony Xperia L2 for purchase. Especially if you are a fan of the Japanese brand.
P Smart Dual Sim is an inexpensive and relatively simple device from Huawei with a utilitarian appearance that does not offer anything unusual. There are thin frames. The widescreen proportions of the screen are there. There is a metal case. To demand more from a smartphone for $200 would be superfluous.
The smartphone received an excellent 5.65 inch IPS screen with a resolution of Full HD+ (2160 x 1080). The matrix is covered by a protective glass with an oleophobic coating. The colour rendering is at the usual high level for IPS screens, the colour gamut is well calibrated and it can be adjusted to suit yourself, making the colours more juicy or vice versa cold. There is enough brightness with a margin even when used outdoors on a sunny day.
As the basis for the P Smart Dual Sim, an eight-core mid-level Kirin 659 chip was chosen, which is an analogue of the Snapdragon 625. Only the Kirin 659 has slightly better performance, while the Snapdragon has a slightly more powerful video processor. Complete the picture with 3 GB of RAM. If we transfer these figures to real life, then Huawei P Smart Dual Sim shows decent performance, which is enough for comfortable work with the browser, demanding applications and modern games like Fortnite and Injustice.
Huawei P Smart received a dual main camera running the same "smart" software as the older Huawei models. The camera's software algorithm helps to adjust the white balance, shutter speed and colour reproduction, and also uses information about the depth of field from the second camera module to achieve a qualitative blur effect during the shooting of portraits and objects. During the day, in good light, the camera snaps great shots, but the less light there is, the more the quality of the photos drops. However, this problem concerns almost all devices in this price category, a real camera phone for $200 is still a dream.
The smartphone uses a non-removable lithium polymer (Li-Pol) battery with a capacity of 3000 mAh. Fast charging is not supported. From a single charge in a relatively active mode of use, P Smart works for a little more than a day, when watching HD videos, the battery holds about 7 hours, and when loaded with demanding toys, it will last for 3.5 hours. In general, these are completely standard indicators.
As expected, the smartphone supports dual SIM cards. One of the slots is hybrid and can be occupied by a memory card. In general, the communication set is familiar for this class, and the presence of an NFC chip for contactless payments with Android Pay or applications from the banks themselves can be included in the unambiguous advantages.
By its 15th anniversary, Meizu broke the serial number of its models and released three smartphones with the index 15 in the name. One of them is the "semi—low-cost" Meizu 15 Lite, which has an excellent price-quality ratio.
It's unusual to see this in 2018, but the proportions of the Meizu 15 Lite display are classic 16:9. Which, combined with thin frames and a compact display, creates the feeling that the smartphone is smaller than it actually is. And it sits comfortably in your hand.
Externally, the Meizu 15 Lite subtly resembles any other device of the company. But thanks to the combination of almost imperceptible side frames with a wide bottom and a round control button, it is subtly different from them. He looks like an illegitimate child Apple iPhone 8 Plus 64 GB and Samsung Galaxy S8 64 GB / 2 SIM , whose water has worn off the side faces.
The Meizu 15 Lite is equipped with an IPS display with a diagonal of 5.46" (resolution 1920x1080), which is covered with a Gorilla Glass protective glass of the fifth revision. It is difficult to say something unambiguous about the quality of the screen, it is not bad, but there are not enough stars from the sky. Among the disadvantages, it is worth noting an excessively cold range with a deviation in green and blue, as well as white with a grey tint.
The smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon 625 processor. On the one hand, it is 8 cores of 2.2 GHz, on the other hand, it is never a new chipset, which will soon turn 3 years old. By modern standards, it does not shine in synthetic tests, but in fact it shows good performance and easily pulls quite demanding toys like Asphalt 8 or Marvel Battle of Champions. Confidently straining this iron is only a very voracious PUBG.
The smartphone has a completely standard 3000 mAh battery for this class, which, thanks to a not too large screen and an optimal filling, can withstand one and a half to two days of operation in standard mode or 3 to 4 days in gentle mode. This is a pretty good result. Otherwise, in terms of Meizu 15 Lite, it does not surprise or disappoint in any way — the camera is not bad, there is a fingerprint scanner, Meizu mCharge c USB-C is fast charging, NFC, unfortunately, is not.
Recently, one of the leaders of the Chinese market, Xiaomi has taken an unprecedented step and started producing smartphones with a clean version of Android. It is unprecedented because Xiaomi's path began not with smartphones, but with an Android shell called MIUI, which largely copied Apple's operating system.
The new Xiaomi Mi A2 is a strict, stylish and ultra—thin smartphone with excellent build quality. If he seems familiar to you, then it's not for nothing. In fact, it is the twin brother of the recent hit Xiaomi Mi 6x 64 GB / 4 GB with its thin frames, wide-format display and missing bangs, which over the past year has managed to get pretty bored. And thanks to the rounded edges and the weight of 168 g adequate for such a diagonal, it fits comfortably in your hand.
As you probably already guessed, the main difference from the Mi6x is the "clean" Android on board. In fact, this means that you will receive updates in a timely manner, and the smartphone itself will work more smoothly, since the system will not have dozens of unnecessary applications that the manufacturer has sewn in. The flip side of the coin is the absence of some really useful MIUI functions like convenient gesture control or flexible display calibration.
The Mi A2 has a 6-inch IPS display with a Full HD resolution (2160 x 1080 pixels). Aspect ratio — fashionable now 18:9. In fact, the screen is "frameless" and occupies most of the facade of the smartphone, however, the smartphone does not feel super-thin or "limitless". Apparently, over the last year, models like Samsung Galaxy S9 64 GB / 4 GB managed to spoil us a little.
The smartphone is controlled by a bundle of hardware from an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (clock speed 2.2 GHz), 4 GB of RAM and an Adreno 512 graphics accelerator. As for the amount of memory, there are three options on the market: 32, 64 and 128 GB. The 128 GB version of the latter will also have 6 GB of RAM instead of 4. It is worth choosing the right stock carefully since there is no slot for a memory card. In terms of speed and smoothness, Mi A2 leaves a purely positive impression, in order to make it slow down, you will have to try.
The main camera in the smartphone is dual, with the main module having a resolution of 20 MP, and the auxiliary one — 12 MP. The smartphone needs an additional camera, first of all, for portrait shooting. Usually, a camera is not something that is usually praised in a smartphone for $ 200, but in Mi A2 it can surprise both with the quality of photos and the ability to shoot videos. Although, sometimes she lacks speed and she can build an exposition strangely.
The smartphone has a battery with a capacity of 3010 mAh, which is enough for about a day and a half of "standard" use (calls, mail, social networks, music in moderation). Not to say that this is a lot, but the situation is brightened up by the fast charging that comes with the kit. Another important point that you definitely need to pay attention to is that Xiaomi Mi A2 does not have the usual 3.5 headphone jack, so it remains to use either Bluetooth or audio adapters for USB-C.
With the A series of smartphones, Samsung has found that thin line between high-quality assembly, performance, necessary functionality and an adequate price without extra charge for the brand. This combination has made smartphones with the A-index a popular hit and can boast sales no worse than flagship Galaxy smartphones.
Externally, the Samsung Galaxy A6 repeats the older model Samsung Galaxy A6 Plus 2018 32 GB / 3 GB with its elongated shape, moderate side frames, strict appearance and a conscientiously assembled aluminium body. Although the smartphone looks inconspicuous in photos, due to the metal case, the screen of adequate size and proportions of 18:9, it sits comfortably in the hand, creating a solid feeling.
The smartphone is equipped with a Super AMOLED matrix as in more expensive Samsung models. Thanks to this, the display boasts strong contrast and a very deep black colour. Among the disadvantages, it is worth noting the cold colour gamut and the low resolution of 1440x720 pixels with a display diagonal of 5.6".
In general, the display is good in quality, except for the resolution, it is difficult to find fault with it. Moreover, in the menu you can customize the screen for yourself by changing the colour rendering mode (there are three of them), change the RGB settings manually and adjust the blue filter. In fact, it is able to display both the most juicy picture with bright summer colours, and make the image more neutral in the spirit of the usual IPS matrices.
As for the filling, the Samsung Galaxy A6 is built on the basis of the new 8-core Exynos 7870 processor and is equipped with 3 GB of RAM. Instagram Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, or surfing with a bunch of open tabs and large articles with a pile of illustrations and multimedia content, are more than enough for comfortable operation of everyday applications. As for games, the ARM Mali-T830 MP1 video accelerator makes it possible to play without brakes on medium graphics settings in not the easiest games like PUBG or WOW.
The Samsung Galaxy A6 has a battery with a standard volume of 3000 mAh for this class. It shows the corresponding results of battery life — a day of work with very active use or up to 2 days with minimal. But the unambiguous advantages can include an advanced energy saving system with a huge number of settings.
Another plus is the main camera with a 16 MP sensor and an intelligent Bixby mode, which analyzes everything that comes into the field of view of the object, displays hints, finds products in online stores, recognizes and translates text from labels. As for the quality of the photos, it leaves a very pleasant impression for a smartphone for $200. This is especially true for daytime filming.
It is also worth praising the good sound quality when playing music in headphones and the presence of an NFC chip, which, unfortunately, has not yet become a must for inexpensive smartphones.
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