TOP 5 smartphones on "pure" Android

After returning from non-existence, Nokia was thrown from side to side for a while, until they finally found their niche. The company has now focused on producing affordable and often stylish pure Android smartphones that are among the first to receive system updates on the market. The new 2020 Nokia 2.3 perfectly illustrates this vector: it costs around $100, is one of the first to be updated and skillfully stands out against the background of monotonous Chinese handsets with iridescent back covers.

Instead of the traditional shiny plastic that mimics glass in flagship models, the body of the Nokia 2.3 is made of metal-like plastic with a ribbed polymer coating. And the discreet dark green and sand colors give its calm appearance a sense of completeness. It is unlikely that he will receive his figurine at the beauty contest among smartphones, but there will definitely be fans. We are among them. Almost the entire central panel is occupied by a 6.2-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1520 by 720 pixels. Yes, this is not a FullHD + display, as we are used to, but only HD +. On the other hand, the pixels are not so noticeable, from a distance of a half-stretched arm, the graininess is hardly noticeable.

The smartphone's CPU is the entry-level MediaTek Helio A22 chipset, complemented by 2GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in storage with memory card support. In general, the filling is not the most powerful, but thanks to pure Android, the system works quite smoothly and responsively. Another question is that after six months or a year of use, this will probably not be enough. Given the price and design, we can only regret that Nokia did not release a variant with 3 GB of RAM and, say, 64 GB of internal memory. It wouldn't have been much more expensive.

Among other things, Nokia 2.3 offers potential buyers a simple set of an audio jack, FM radio, face recognition features and a separate Google Assistant call key. The fingerprint scanner, USB-C port and other "excesses" were cut for the sake of a low price. But not too heaped up screen economically consumes battery resources. The manufacturer promises up to two days of operation from a single charge if you turn on the proprietary feature "Adaptive Battery", in our tests it lived for almost three days.

In recent years, Meizu has been going through hard times and has chosen to focus on the domestic market. And when things went uphill, the once popular brand returned to our area with a couple of new smartphones. Among them is the hero of today's review, the low-cost device Meizu M10, which stands out from the competition due to the pure Android OS.

The heart of the Meizu M10 is the MediaTek P25 processor, the permanent memory is only 32 GB, so it is desirable to expand it by installing a memory card (maximum 128 GB). 3 GB of RAM is just enough for the system to work moderately smoothly and be able to keep several applications in the background. The interface does not lag and demonstrates stability as befits a "pure android", the animations are smooth, without artifacts. The smartphone has a fairly large 6.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1600x720 pixels. The aspect ratio is now fashionable 20:9. In fact, the screen is “frameless” and occupies most of the facade of the smartphone, but the frames at the top and bottom are quite noticeable.

Meizu M10 13 MP main camera module with f/2.2 aperture and PDAF phase detection autofocus. The remaining two modules are 2 MP each with f / 2.0 aperture. The first one helps to take portrait shots, while the second one is not clear. Apparently, the marketing triple camera allows the smartphone to sell better. The quality of the photos fully corresponds to the price, but surprises with the results. In the daytime, with good lighting, pretty good photos are obtained, but detail is often lost. But at night, when you don’t expect anything good from this camera, it manages to surprise with a moderately low noise level, high detail and natural color reproduction.

Meizu M10 has a dual-band Wi-Fi module, GPS, and Bluetooth 4.2. The smartphone catches the network without problems. Unfortunately, there is no contactless payment here, but with an eye on the price, let's close our eyes to this. Summing up, we can say that Meizu turned out to be a strong, but unremarkable entry-level smartphone. Everything is in moderation in it: a good screen, sufficient performance for everyday tasks, a completely standard camera. It stands out from the competition due to its clean system, but it is important to consider that Meizu is not a member of the Android One programme, so it is far from certain that the smartphone will receive important system updates at lightning speed.

It is not so easy to understand the Xiaomi model range due to the fact that many models with different names essentially duplicate each other or are slightly modified counterparts for another market. The situation is the same with Mi A3, which is essentially a twin of the Xiaomi Mi CC9e smartphone that did not reach us. What distinguishes them, as you might guess, is the presence of pristine pure Android without third-party launchers, a bunch of installed applications and calculators with embedded ads.

The smartphone has a quite standard filling for mid-2020: 4 GB of RAM, 128 GB of internal storage, an Adreno 610 video accelerator and a new eight-core Snapdragon 665 processor, in which Qualcomm engineers focused on artificial intelligence and photographic capabilities. Taking pictures of the Mi A3 is really great, given its class: there are no blurs, reduced detail, overexposure and other sores of low-cost cameras. Even at night, the triple camera shoots pretty well.

Among the other features of the model, we highlight support for fast charging, a high-quality 48 MP front camera, dual-band Wi-Fi, Dual-GPS for more accurate positioning, support for memory cards, a case made of glass and metal, and a fingerprint scanner built right into the screen. True, it is not the fastest here (it takes 1-2 seconds to unlock) and occasionally does not work, so after the usual smart sensors you will have to get used to it. NFC would be here for complete happiness, but it would be quite a fairy tale.

Interestingly, instead of an IPS-matrix, AMOLED is used, which gives a slightly more juicy and colorful picture and at the same time saves a lot of battery. It's just a pity that the resolution is only 1560x720, one could close one's eyes to this in a $100 handset, but we are talking about a sturdy device twice as expensive. We also did not really like the design of the device, the pearl back cover glares like gasoline poured into a puddle, and the blue is too saturated and poisonous. Maybe we're just nitpicking, and it's time to relax and have a bite.

Simultaneously with its first 5G smartphone, HMD Global released two similar simpler models, one of which came to our review. Nokia 5.3 is curious for several reasons. The smartphone runs on pure Android 10 without any proprietary shells. In addition, a separate button is allocated to call the Google Assistant: the assistant learns quickly, remembering the desires and habits of users, which makes its use really convenient.

Nokia 5.3 is equipped with a 6.55-inch IPS display with a resolution of HD + 1600x720 pixels. Regarding the size of the pixels, the issue is debatable, most people do not see much difference between HD + and Full HD on such a diagonal. After all, most of us have much larger monitor and laptop displays still Full HD and nothing. But if you look in the box for a check with the price, it becomes clear that you can demand more for these $200 with Nokia. Otherwise, the display is quite high-quality, with a good supply of brightness, natural color reproduction and decent contrast.

The device works on the basis of the same Snapdragon 665, which is now used in literally every device for $200. Given that there is 4 GB of RAM (plus 64 GB of storage with support for memory cards), the smartphone works quickly and smoothly. And this is not surprising, because the main calculation in Nokia 5.3 is on “clean” Android 10 and certification in the Android One programme. This is what guarantees that the smartphone is well optimized, and updates will arrive regularly for three years.

The back cover enlivens the appearance of the smartphone with a matte finish that is pleasant to the touch, unusually calm colors (nothing glitters or shimmers!) and a stylish round camera block in the spirit of Huawei Mate 30. The camera consists of four modules: a 13-megapixel main module with an f/1.8 lens, a 5-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens, a 2-megapixel macro lens, and a 2-megapixel sensor for analyzing the depth of the scene being shot. The usefulness of the latter is doubtful, but the number "4" looks solid. By the way, the smartphone can't record video in 4K, and 1080p can't shoot at 60 fps. The teardrop notch houses an 8-megapixel self-portrait camera with f/2.0 aperture.

In terms of autonomy, Nokia 5.3 works as you would expect from a smartphone with a 4000 mAh battery: one and a half to two days in active use, up to three days if you need to make a clean call, answer a telegram and listen to music on the way home. Of the other goodies, we note the USB-C port, a well-functioning fingerprint scanner and ... that's it. And you know, it's a little frustrating. It's one thing when a company offered the same set in a tube for $100 (we are talking about the excellent Nokia 5.1 Plus, which you can go find now), another thing is devices for $200, which are usually not bought by mom or grandmother, and for which we have different requirements. And here the screen seems to be not bad, but why not Full HD? NFC was simply ignored, they forgot about fast charging. If these factors are not as important to you as design, cleanliness of the system and timeliness of updates, then you can safely take it. Otherwise, we would look towards Huawei or Xiaomi.

Google for its vision of “perfect smartphones” was not kicked only by the lazy, and the owners of the Pixel series handsets could be listed in the red book. But then a miracle happened and the fourth generation of Pixel came out almost a reference. Especially the older model XL, which got a bigger screen and a more powerful battery.

Outwardly, the fourth Pixel resembles the new iPhone 11 Pro, only instead of a notch cutout, an unusually thick frame remains on top, and the camera unit on the back cover looks a little neater. Interestingly, this is the first smartphone of the series, which has not a single, but a dual camera with optical and electronic image stabilization, phase detection autofocus and advanced software algorithms and the Pixel Neural Core neural processor. All in all, the Pixel 4 is a top camera phone that is particularly good at video and night photography.

The Pixel 4 XL has a high-quality 6.3-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 3040x1440 and a refresh rate of 90Hz. Such screens are gradually becoming fashionable, and it is more pleasant to play on them, and it is trite to flip through the icons in the menu. The matrix supports HDR, Always On and Ambient EQ modes, which automatically adjusts brightness and color reproduction, depending on the ambient light. The hardware part is top-end, but with reservations. On the one hand, the most powerful Snapdragon 855 is used as a processor, on the other hand, only 6 GB of RAM. While many competitors have 8 or even 12 GB for this money. It is also bad that the maximum amount of memory even in the older model is only 128 GB, and there is no support for memory cards.

And this is the only reason for regret. Otherwise, the smartphone is good: the case is reliably protected from moisture (IP68 class), there is a choice of fast and wireless charging, and an NFC chip has finally settled inside the case. The Pixel 4 XL also features a faster new Google voice assistant, an advanced Motion Sense gesture control system, and smart new apps like an updated Voice Recorder that can transcribe voice to text in real time. And then there are the fancy Face ID sensors for face unlock, which are used instead of the standard fingerprint sensor. It would be more convenient to have both options up your sleeve.