Within $200: TOP 5 low-cost smartphones at the end of 2019

After returning from oblivion, Nokia was tossed from side to side for a while, until they finally found their niche. Now the company has focused on the release of inexpensive smartphones based on pure Android, which are among the first on the market to receive system updates. This is one time. The second feature can be called a total disregard for fashion trends. And this is great, because many mid-range handsets from Xiaomi and Huawei can be distinguished only by the logo on the back cover.

In the case of Nokia 5.1 Plus, the reluctance to follow the trends is as follows: this is actually a rare model by the standards of 2019, which has a screen less than 6", and the height of the case does not exceed 15 cm. Thanks to this, it is quite possible to control the smartphone with one hand, as in the good old days. If they had made the upper and lower frame thinner, there would have been a fairy tale in general. Another unusual moment is a cute, albeit rather plump, glass and metal case. In a smartphone for $ 120, this is not often found. Rather, you will never meet.

And the rest of the Nokia 5.1 Plus can not be called a child of economy. There is not the most powerful, but quite performant hardware (Mediatek MT6771 + 3 GB of RAM + 32 GB of memory with microSD card support), a good IPS screen with a decent margin of brightness, a nimble fingerprint scanner, a fifth-generation Wi-Fi module, USB-C and excellent battery life. In some cases, the smartphone was discharged only by the end of the third day with fairly active use.

Yes, here the display is grainy (the resolution is only 1520x720), and the main and front camera convey greetings from the distant 2017, but for this money most smartphones will not offer this set either. Moreover, the cameras of models for $ 100 are always lousy. In general, if you are looking for an inexpensive smartphone for yourself, parents or someone from relatives, then be sure to try Nokia 5.1 Plus.

In our reviews, we have repeatedly praised the Galaxy A series of inexpensive smartphones from Samsung. The secret of its success was the unusual generosity for Koreans for additional NFC buns, adequate price tags and excellent Super AMOLED displays by the standards of this class. In fact, Samsung became the first company to bring such flagship matrices to the middle class. We say right away that we will also praise the Galaxy A20, but with some reservations.

Its Super AMOLED screen has a high brightness margin, rich colours and a very deep black colour. In general, a typical AMOLED. If someone does not like such a riot of colours, then in the settings you can switch to "screen mode — main", in this case the colour coverage narrows down to about sRGB space. So what is the disadvantage of the screen? In a resolution of 1560x720 pixels, which is now found only in very cheap smartphones that are bought for grandparents. Pixels can be viewed here without any problems at all, although you get used to it pretty quickly and after a while you stop paying attention.

The second nuance concerns the dual camera. She often misses with white balance, which is why pictures in bright weather get an excessively warm shade with a narrow dynamic range. At the same time, in cloudy weather, problems with overexposure disappear and photos are obtained as needed. In general, the camera is not the best. But this disadvantage is covered by a full-fledged gentleman's set of smartphones (NFC, fast charging, USB-C, memory card slot). And yet, despite the quite standard 4000 mAh battery, the smartphone demonstrates very good battery life, and at an average load, it "lives" for two days without any problems.

In terms of hardware and design, this is quite an ordinary modern tube that takes out any everyday tasks, but can choke on heavy games. The hardware basis here is as follows: Exynos 7884, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage. The back panel of the Galaxy A10 is made of solid glossy polycarbonate, which looks exactly like its money. That is, not very expensive. However, this refers rather to a completely unremarkable black model. But plain blue, and especially red coloring pages look interesting. This is probably because over the past year, the once fashionable gradient fill, shimmering with several shades, has managed to become familiar and Samsung has simply played on the contrast here. After all, everything new is well—forgotten old.

The Redmi line from Xiaomi is aimed primarily at young people who are not ready to pay a lot of money, but at the same time they want to get modern chips from a smartphone like a dual camera, a back panel with gradient coloring or fast charging. The new Redmi Note 8T is exactly such a smartphone. By the way, if you are confused in the intricacies of the Xiaomi model range, then here's a simple hint for you: The Note 8T is different from the usual Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 64 GB / 4 GB the presence of an NFC. The rest of the smartphones are identical.

The heart of the smartphone is the Snapdragon 665 chip with Adreno 610 graphics. Different versions of the model differ in memory sets, where the minimum is 3/32 GB, and the maximum is 4/128 GB. In this case, we have a golden mean with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, which is usually enough for most users. After all, this is not a camera phone with a 2K video recording, which needs a lot of built-in memory. There is also a slot for a memory card, which takes the place of the second SIM card. In general, the hardware is more than enough for any everyday smartphone operations — web surfing, streaming video and audio, GPS navigation, etc. Perhaps, in some of the most demanding games or applications, it will be weak.

The Redmi Note 8T has an IPS screen with a diagonal of 6.3", an aspect ratio of 19:9 and a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels (pixel density is at 409 PPI). By default, the screen shows an average colour gamut and a slight bias towards cold shades, which can be corrected in the settings. In general, the screen is pleasant, without any obvious pros and cons.

Of the other chips of the model, we will highlight the support for Quick Charge 4.0 fast charging, a high-quality front camera (and don't let the resolution of 13 MP confuse you), an infrared port that allows you to turn your smartphone into a universal remote control "for everything" in the house, a capacious 4000 mAh battery and a fashionable back cover with iridescent gradient fill. Moreover, the lid is glass, not plastic, like many competing models. And the main camera for 4 objects is head and shoulders above 90% of competitors in the niche up to $200.

The Meizu Note 9 is a strong middling, which was created with the idea of winning a piece of the pie in the segment up to $200 from Xiaomi, Huawei and Samsung. The smartphone turned out to be quite strong and performant, but without any frills and unusual chips: a dual camera, a large IPS screen, USB-C and wireless modules of the fifth generation. But there is plenty that wireless communication modules are the most relevant here, so the smartphone will not lose connection in places with dense coverage.

Meizu ignored the cutouts in the screen for a long time, but the Note 9 received a 6.2-inch Full View display with a resolution of 2244 x 1080 pixels and a teardrop-shaped cutout for the front camera. Moreover, the cutout turned out to be barely noticeable and practically does not occupy a useful place on the screen. A barely noticeable chin also turned out to match him — competitors like Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 64 GB / 4 GB the lower frame will be thicker.

The filling is here for your money: Snapdragon 675, 4 GB of RAM, Adreno 612 graphics and 128 GB of built-in storage. There are no memory card supports, but taking into account the available stock and the class of the smartphone, the language will not turn to call it a minus. In general, there are enough fillings for 20 tabs in the browser, and for social networks, and for PUBG-caliber toys. Not at maximum settings, but you can play at medium settings.

As for the camera, the Meizu Note 9 looks exactly like its money — it has a main 48-megapixel (d/1.7) camera supplemented with a 5-megapixel sensor for bokeh and that's it. There is no "TV camera", no ultra-wide-angle camera or macro here. As well as reasons for regret, because if you move away from the numbers, then the photo capabilities of the smartphone turned out to be a strong five. The pictures come out quite juicy during the day and do not merge into scrap, and when shooting at night, the quality drops, as with most smartphones of this level. The only thing I didn't like was that when artificial intelligence is turned on, it often overplays with HDR, highlighting the pictures. It turns out bright, but not natural.

Among other positive points, we note a surprisingly high-quality voice speaker and an accurate fingerprint scanner, which has never failed or hung up during the entire time of use.

The giant Honor 8X was presented in December 2018 and has since remained one of the most popular smartphones in the Honor line. The secret of success was a performant filling, good equipment and an unusual design, thanks to which the smartphone looks more expensive than it actually costs.

Mid-range smartphones rarely cause a "wow" effect, but the Honor 8X did it. A large and textured letter X is applied to the glass with gradient coloring. In combination with red, purple and light blue colours, this makes the Honor 8X stand out among other modern smartphones with a conventional back cover. A huge 6.5-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels reinforces the positive impression about the gadget. The only unusual thing is that instead of the traditional droplet-cutout in the Honor 8X screen, a rather large monobrow is used, where proximity and lighting sensors, a conversational speaker and a 16 MP selfie camera are built in.

In the "under-hood" space of Huawei Honor 8X, an 8—core Kirin 710 chip is installed — almost similar in computing power to the eponymous "dragon" from Qualcomm. Tasks in the manner of multimedia content consumption, gatherings on the Internet and communication in social networks, the smartphone "clicks" like seeds, and especially for games in the assets of the model, a proprietary GPU Turbo mode is provided (graphics acceleration is not at the expense of the battery charge). The standard drive in the arsenal of the device has a volume of 64 GB, after which the user is invited to resort to the services of a triple slot for a pair of "Sim cards" and a microSD card.

Otherwise, we have excellent equipment for a mid-level smartphone: a strong dual camera, USB-C, support for aptX HD, NFC and a metal and glass case. Although, at the time, metal and glass are not often found in smartphones for $ 200, and so far Huawei mainly indulges in such things. The weak point of the model turned out to be only a very average sound quality of the main speaker. Although, for NFC and a high-quality case, this is easily forgiven.