Best smartphones for all budgets to brighten up Diwali

We don’t really need an excuse to shop, but it’s nice to have one anyways. Festivals are one of those excuses we use to buy ourselves shiny new gadgets, and Diwali is one of the big ones. Smartphones are high on everybody’s shopping list this time of the year, along with clothes and gold. In order to make your life easier, we at Tech2 have racked our brains to come up with some of the best bang-for-buck smartphones you can buy in the martket.

To simplify this, we’ve broken it down into three major price segments so that it’s easy for you to pick and choose. Remember, these are our personal recommendations and since we only picked two in each category, we’ve had to let some of the good ones go in some segments. We start off with the most popular category and that’s the one under Rs.10,000.
Samsung Galaxy Pocket – Rs. 6,800

If you are on a shoestring budget, then the Samsung Galaxy Pocket is your best bet. A better performer than the Galaxy Y, the Pocket features a faster CPU, so the UI is a lot quicker. The handset is built well and the plastic construction feels sturdy to hold. You also get Wi-Fi and expandable memory support, which gives it really good value.

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For those on a budget

• 2.8-inch TFT display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 2MP camera with QVGA video recording
• 3GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

Sony Xperia tipo – Rs. 9,500
The Xperia tipo brushes past the former champion, the HTC Explorer, as the best value smartphone in this budget. The tipo is powered by a snappy 800MHz CPU and runs Android ICS. It also happens to be very well built, is small and compact and has a pretty decent battery life. This makes it a perfect choice if you’re shopping with a tight budget.

Great value under 10K

• 3.2-inch TFT display with a 320 x 480 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 3.2MP camera with VGA video recording
• 3GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

Smartphones under Rs. 20,000
HTC One V – Rs. 17,200

The One V brings back the iconic design of the HTC Legend, only with a fresh coat of paint and all new internals. The phone is exquisitely crafted from a single block of aluminium and simply oozes class. It’s powered by a snappy 1GHz CPU and runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Along with the sharp and vibrant screen, there’s also Beats Audio to give your music some punch.

Sleek and sophisticated

• 3.7-inch S-LCD2 touchscreen with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 5MP AF camera with 720p video recording and an LED flash
• 4GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

Sony Xperia go – Rs. 18,000

The Xperia go replaces the Xperia Active by offering a similar level of ruggedness but in a more pleasing chassis. The handset is also powered by a 1GHz dual-core and is capable of HD video recording. You also get a bigger screen this time around, which makes it better for watching videos or surfing the web, either on land or underwater.

Superb waterproof capabilities

• 3.5-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 320 x 480 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 5MP AF camera with 720p video recording and an LED flash
• 8GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

Smartphones under Rs. 30,000

Google Nexus 4 – Rs. 23,500
All of a sudden, LG seems to dominate the sub-30K price bracket after Google launched the new Nexus 4 handset, running the latest version of Android Jelly Bean. While LG hasn’t officially unveiled it in India or ever will (given the history of Nexus devices in our country), you can find this quad-core handset for as little as Rs. 23,500 for the base model on eBay; the 16GB model retails at 27K.

Google’s latest offering

• 4.7-inch True HD-IPS touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, dual-band Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support and GLONASS
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and an LED flash
• Secondary 1.3MP Camera
• 8GB internal memory

LG Optimus 4X HD – Rs. 27,500

It’s very easy to dismiss this phone as upper mid-range handset considering the price, but in fact, this is by far one of the more value for money smartphones you’ll find on shelves today. This is a quad-core smartphone with a massive 4.7-inch HD IPS display – all for under 30K! LG’s high-end phones have never really sold well above 30K, so it really had no choice but to slash the price drastically to make it attractive.

Amazing value after the price drop

• 4.7-inch True HD IPS touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, dual-band Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and an LED flash
• Secondary 1.3MP Camera
• 16GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

Smartphones over Rs. 30,000
Samsung Galaxy Note II – Rs. 37,000

If you’re looking for one of the best Android experiences, then there’s no better device than the Note II. It’s quite amazing how well TouchWiz and Jelly Bean gel, as the UI is as fluid as it gets. The new and improved S Pen now comes with 1024 points of sensitivity that allows for precise sketching thanks to Wacom’s inductive technology. This quad-core beast is also ideal for multimedia and has a really good battery life.

As big as they come

• 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, dual-band Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support and GLONASS
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and an LED flash
• Secondary 1.9MP Camera
• 16GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

HTC One X+ – Rs. 40,100
The One X+ takes a winning formula by HTC and beefs up the specs giving you one of the best Android experiences after the Note II. The most notable difference is the new Sense 4+ skin, which works a lot better with Jelly Bean along with a keyboard that is actually usable. The Nvidia SoC now runs at a faster 1.7GHz instead of 1.5GHz and a larger battery. You also have 64GB of internal memory, making it a very good package overall.

A true powerhouse

• 4.3-inch S-LCD2 touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, dual-band Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support and GLONASS
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and an LED flash
• Secondary 1.6MP Camera
• 64GB internal memory

Honourable Mentions

HTC One S – Rs. 25,000
The HTC One S is a highly underrated phone and didn’t get much of the limelight, especially due to its high launch price and the fact that it had the older S3 SoC from Qualcomm instead of the S4, in India. However, at 25K, all those little niggles can be forgiven as you’re looking at a phone that has around 80-90 percent of all the features of the One X, minus the high price tag. The phone is also a lot more manageable at 4.3-inches and has one of the best chassis in the market.

Samsung Galaxy S II – Rs. 26,000
Even after the launch of its successor, the S II continues to be a favourite and has garnered a huge fan base, just like the Galaxy S did. The S II’s gradual price drop makes it an incredibly tempting buy, especially when you consider the amount of support it has in the modding community. Even if a day comes where Samsung stops rolling out updates for it, rest assured that there will always be a custom ROM of whatever Google’s latest Android version is down the line for this handset.

Apple iPhone 5 – Rs. 45,500
No smartphone list is complete without a mention of the iPhone. Apple’s latest and (not so) greatest smartphone didn’t make it to our charts for two simple reasons. The first one is that it’s not all that different from the iPhone 4 and 4S. Other than it being slimmer and lighter (which is not always a good thing), it’s practically identical to the previous two generations. The second reason is that instead of making it more user-friendly, and by that we mean the ability to transfer media back and forth with ease, Apple continues to lock you down to their software. And to complicate things further, you now have a new proprietary connector. In any case, just to keep the Apple fans happy, here it is.

For more Diwali related articles, check out our link here; we’ve got some great deals and devices listed out for your festive shopping.