Top 5 smartphones under Rs 10,000

Leaving the feature phone trend behind, the smartphone fad is slowly catching up. Although not everyone can afford a smartphone, owing to their hefty price tags. If it’s the price that is keeping you away from owning a smartphone, then you can rely on some feature-loaded phones priced under Rs 10,000 with a nifty spec sheet. We have listed five such phones which are apt for those on a tight budget under Rs 10,000.

Sony Xperia tipo dual – Rs 8,500
Sony’s Xperia tipo dual can be called as one of the best dual SIM phones available for a price under Rs 10,000. It comes across similar to the popular HTC Explorer, but is a tad better, rather much better, in terms of specs. Fuelled by an 800 MHz Cortex-A5, it runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich. As mentioned in our review, the phone is a good catch with its current price of Rs 8,500.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Dual SIM Sony Xperia tipo

Here’s a quick look at the specifications of the Xperia tipo dual:

• 3.2-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels
• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS with A-GPS
• Bluetooth version 2.1 with A2DP
• 3.15 megapixel camera
• 2.9GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD

Celkon A200 - Rs 8,500

Celkon may not be a known name, but that didn’t stop us from including its A200, which is selling for Rs 8,500, in our list. This budget smartphone is really neat and delivers an efficient performance in every department, namely, a good battery life, decent camera and fluid UIX. This sturdy phone with glossy finish is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. If you are looking for a budget smartphone, then the Celkon A200 is worth the money.

A worthy contender

A quick look at the specs of the Celkon A200:

• 4.3-inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 800
• 3G, EDGE, GPRS, Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi hotspot), DLNA
• GPS
• Bluetooth v3.0
• 5MP rear camera, VGA front facing camera
• 2GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD

XOLO A800 – Rs 9,999
The XOLO A800 takes a strong position with its excellent display, snappy dual-core CPU, dual-SIM, very good build and aesthetics, bundled memory card, 8MP BSI sensor camera and the option for future updates. The price drop which now places it under Rs 10,000 only makes it better. The only hiccup is its weak loudspeaker, but if you can let that go, then the A800 is worth your crisp green. The functioning is smooth and fluid with the 1GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6577 SoC and it runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

XOLO A800

A quick look at the specs of the A800:

• 4.5-inch IPS capacitive display with qHD resolution (540 x 960)
• 3G, EDGE, GPRS, Wi-Fi
• GPS with AGPS
• Bluetooth v3.0
• 8MP rear camera, VGA front camera
• 4GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB via microSD card

Micromax A110 – Rs 9,990
Micromax priced the Superfone Canvas 2 at Rs 9,990, which is the same price as the first Canvas. By doing so, we think the company had compromised a bit on the performance of the device. However, overall it came across as a decent phone. It is powered by a 1GHz Cortex-A9 CPU coupled with PowerVR GPU and runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The latest news of it receiving the Jelly Bean update in the coming week makes it a worthy contender at its price point and places it on our list.

The Micromax A110 comes with a 5-inch display

Let’s take a look at some of the specifications of the Micromax A110:

• 5-inch FWVGA capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 854pixels
• 3G, Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• 8 megapixel CMOS camera with dual LED flash, 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera
• 4GB of internal storage, expandable up to 32 GB via microSD card

XOLO X500 – Rs 8,999
Yet another dual-SIM phone makes it to our list – the XOLO X500. The Xolo X500 runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by Intel’s 1.2GHz Atom Lexington Z2420 processor with Hyper Threading technology, which allows multiple processes to run simultaneously. It is a pretty nifty device considering its price. Watch this space for a complete review of this device soon.

The Xolo X500 is the first Intel-based smartphone to also be dual-SIM

Here are some of the highlights of the Xolo X500:

• 3.5-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels
• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• 5 megapixel camera with burst mode
• 4GB internal memory expandable up to 32GB via microSD

Besides these under-Rs 10,000 smartphones, you could also check out the Karbonn A21, which sells for Rs 8,999. Do let us know what you think about these phones. You can also add your recommendations in the comments section below.

Cover image: Harshad Gujare