Smartphones are the most sought after devices in today’s market. They have a lot of features and are very popular among consumers, but they also come with an expensive or affordable price tag. Some smartphones meet all your requirements without compromising on quality or performance, while sacrifices are made when it comes to really cheap phones. Here is a list of the top 5 best smartphones with value for money:
- Google Pixel 4a
- Moto G power 2021
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
- Samsung Galaxy A21s
- TracFone Samsung Galaxy A11 4G
- Conclusion
- FAQ – Frequently Asked Question
- Q 1 : What should I look out while buying a smartphone?
- Q 2 : Which smartphone would be good for me?
- Q 3: How can I know which smartphone has better quality?
- Q 4 : Is there any difference between RAM and ROM?
- Q 5 : Why do I see two versions of each model?
- Q 6 : Does Android OS really work faster than iOS?
Google Pixel 4a
The Google Pixel 4a is a 2020 android phone shipped with an Android 10 operating system upgradable to Android 11 with 3 years guarantee on security software. It is an excellent phone with a stunning screen that offers 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage sold at a reasonable price.
Google Pixel 4a Design
The Google Pixel 4a has a glass front and plastic back with a textured polycarbonate finish that does a great job hiding smudges and fingerprints. It has a trimmed down bezel with the front camera located in the top of the display and a squared single rear camera module with a fingerprint sensor. The Pixel 4a has the power button on the right side just above the volume button.
Display
Google Pixel 4a offers a 5.81-inch OLED display, Full HD+ 2340 x 1080pixels resolution with a sharp 443ppi density and 60Hz refresh rate.
Performance and Battery life
The Google Pixel 4a ships with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 processor, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of Storage. It comes with an upgradable Android 10 Operating System.
The Google recorder App comes as a plus because it does not only record, it also handles transcriptions and automatically adds punctuations to recordings.
It features a single 12.2MP rear camera with f/1.7 aperture with autofocus and an 8MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture which is great for video calls. Both cameras take excellent pictures in bright places as well as in low light situations with the help of the Night sight feature. It brings into existence great photos with a high dynamic range.
The Google Pixel 4a offers a 3140mAh built-in battery tested to last up to 8 hours 58 minutes. It comes with an 18W charging adapter and It does not support wireless charging like the iPhone SE.
Key Features
- Single rear camera.
- Snapdragon 730G chipset.
- 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.
- 81inch display.
- 60Hz refresh rate.
- 3140mAh built-in battery.
Specifications
OS Android 10
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G
Build Glass front (Gorilla glass 3), plastic back
Dimensions 5.7 x 2.7 x 0.3 inches
Display 5.81 inches OLED, HDR
Resolution 2340 x 1080 pixels
Camera (Rear) 12.2MP; 8MP (Front-Facing)
Battery 3140mAh
Memory 6GB RAM, 128GB
Weight 143g
Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, barometer, proximity, compass
COMMS dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC
Colours Black, Dark blue
Price $349.99
Pro
- Large storage size.
- Excellent performance
Cons
- No water resistance.
Moto G power 2021
The new Moto G power is a nice budget phone released on the 14th of January, 2021. It offers an excellent battery life at an affordable price.
Moto G power design
The Motor G power has an attractive design for a budget phone. It has minimal bezels around the screen that makes its design feel a little bit better. It has the rear camera module centred at the back of the phone with the front camera on the top left corner.
The power button is on the right and this does the double function of powering your phone and also serving as a fingerprint scanner because it has a built-in fingerprint sensor. It comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top and the left side takes the SIM card slot.
Display
Moto G power offers a 6.6 inch IPS LCD display, 720x 1600pixel resolution with a 20:9 aspect ratio at 266PPI density.
Performance and Battery life
The Moto G power is an android phone that ships with Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 and Android 10 OS with 64GB storage space for apps, music and videos. It comes with a fully customized Moto display and actions that makes your phone more intuitive for everyday interactions.
It has a versatile triple rear camera (48MP main camera, 2MP macro lens and 2MP depth sensor) and a single 8MP front-facing camera that takes sharp portraits and detailed close-up shots. it has a dual stereo speaker tuned by Dolby audio.
Battery life is excellent with 5000mAh non-removable battery that can last well over 2 days with light use.
Key features
- Android 10 OS
- Three rear cameras and a single front camera.
- 6.6 inch IPS LCD display.
- 5000mAh built-in battery.
- Snapdragon 665 chipset.
- Side fingerprint scanner.
Specifications
OS Android 10
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 665
Build Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame
Dimensions 6.51 x 2.99 x 0.37 inches
Display 6.6 inches IPS LCD
Resolution 720 x 1600 pixels
Camera (Rear) 48MP, 2MP,2MP; 8MP (Front-Facing)
Battery 5000mAh
RAM 3GB, 4GB
Storage 32GB 64GB
Weight 206.5g
Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, barometer, proximity, compass
COMMS dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB-C
Colours Flash Gray, Polar Silver
Price range $179.99, $194.98
Pros
- Excellent battery.
- It is affordable.
Cons
- It offers only one software update
- Unimpressive performance
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
This Android smartphone is packed with features for game lovers and people who like to take pictures. It is the latest member of the Galaxy S20 series. This Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G is equipped with the Snapdragon 865 chipset regardless of your location unlike some FEs that have a 5G version a 4G version based on regional differentiation with some parts of the world getting the Exynos 990 while the other FEs are equipped with Snapdragon 865.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G design
The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE like every other Galaxy device including flagship phones has a nice design. It has a curved screen made with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and plastic back. It shows a triple camera arrangement on the back with a flash beside it. The front camera hole is punched right in the middle of the display. It has thicker bezels compared to other S20 series, a satin finish and is available in six colours.
Display
The Galaxy S20 FE offers a 6.5-inches Full HD, Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1080x2400pixels and a 20:9 aspect ratio. It has an infinity-O display, 120Hz refresh rate and an Always-on display.
Performance and Battery life
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G runs on Android 10 OS with One UI 2.5 on top and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor with 6GB/8GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB internal storage.
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G packs a triple rear camera; a 12MP ultra-wide camera, a 12MP wide camera, and an 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. It has a 32MP front camera. It is rated IP68 water and dust resistance and can stand in up to 1.5meters of water for up to 30minutes.
The smartphone is powered by a non-removable Li-Po 4500 mAh battery with Fast charging 25W, wireless charging 15W and Reverse wireless charging up to 4.5W.
Key features
- 6.5 inches screen size.
- Up to 30x super resolution zoom.
- 3x optical zoom.
- Night mode feature.
- 5G compatibility.
- IP68 dust and water resistant.
- Large storage
- 4500mAh non-removable battery.
Specifications
OS Android 10 + One UI 2.5
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
Build Glass front, plastic back
Dimensions 6.7 x 3.4 x 2.44 inches
Display 6.5 inches AMOLED
Resolution 2400 x 1080 pixels
Camera (Rear) 12MP, 8MP, 12 MP; 32MP (Front-Facing)
Battery 4500mAh
Storage 128GB, 256GB
RAM 6GB, 8GB
Weight 190g
Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, barometer, proximity, compass
COMMS dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
SIM Single SIM (Nano-SIM and/or eSIM) or Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
Memory Card Slot microSD
Colours Cloud Navy, Cloud Lavender, Cloud Orange, Cloud Red, Cloud White
Price $549.99
Pros
- Nice color options.
- Vibrant display.
- IP rating and wireless charging
- Nice camera.
Cons
- Slow 15W charger.
- Portrait mode on the front camera is unreliable.
Samsung Galaxy A21s
Samsung Galaxy A21s is an upgraded version of the Galaxy A21 and offers a little more in terms of camera, battery life, RAM, and overall performance. This android smartphone comes with a 6.5inches touchscreen display with 720×1600 pixels resolution.
Samsung Galaxy A21s design
The Galaxy A21s has a subtle overall design with rounded edges, a quad camera setup in a squared shape and a fingerprint scanner on the rear. It measures 6.44 x 2.96 x 0.35 inches and weighs 192g. It has the power and volume buttons on the right and a 3.5mm headphone jack port.
Display
Samsung Galaxy A21s offers a 6.5-inch Infinity-O display, Full HD+ 720 x 1600 resolution with a sharp 270ppi density. It offers an edge-to-edge screen display that provides an immersive view when gaming or streaming videos on your mobile phone.
Performance and Battery life
The Samsung Galaxy A21s is powered by the Exynos 850 Octa-core processor. It runs Android 10 and offers 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage expandable up to 512GB.
The rear camera has a quad setup which consists of a 48MP main camera with f/2.0 aperture, 8MP ultrawide camera with f/2.0 aperture, 2MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture and a 2MP camera for depth with f/2.4 aperture, on the front there is a 13MP selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture. The smartphone is available in various colour options such as Black, White, Blue, and Red.
Galaxy A21s comes with a non-removable Li-Po 5000 mAh battery and a fast-charging 15W adapter.
Key features
- 6.5inches infinity-O display.
- Up to 512 expandable memory.
- Quad rear camera and single front camera.
- Comes in black, white, red and blue colors.
- 5000mAh battery capacity.
- 15W charging adapter.
- Fingerprint sensor.
Specifications
OS Android 10
CPU Exynos 850 (8nm)
Build Glass front, plastic back, plastic frame
Dimensions 6.44 x 2.96 x 0.35 inches
Display 6.5 inches PLS IPS HDR
Resolution 720 x 1600 pixels
Camera (Rear) 48MP, 8MP, 2MP, 2MP; 13MP (Front-Facing)
Card slot microSD
Battery 5000mAh
SIM Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
RAM 4GB
Storage 64GB
Weight 192g
Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
COMMS dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC
Colours Black, Blue, Red, White
Price $203
Pros
- Nice camera performance.
- Excellent battery capacity.
- Expandable internal memory.
- Supports the use of headphone jack.
Cons
- Low resolution display.
- It is not water resistant.
- It does not support wireless charging.
TracFone Samsung Galaxy A11 4G
Samsung Galaxy A11 is an Android smartphone and one of the Galaxy A series that ships with Android 10 OS and Octa-core 1.8GHz processor. It is a cheap phone that takes clear photos with 6.4 inches screen size.
Remember that this phone is locked to Tracfone, which means it can only be used on Tracfone wireless network.
TracFone Samsung Galaxy A11 4G design
The Samsung Galaxy A11 comes with a slim and rounded corner of everything plastic except the front display which is made of glass and an obvious bezel at the bottom. On the back are the triple rear camera module and a fingerprint reader.
It has a 13MP front camera hole punched at the top left corner side of the display with the power button and volume buttons on the right side and the SIM tray that also houses the SD card on the right. It measures 6.35 x 3.00 x 0.31 inches dimension and weighs 177g.
Display
Samsung Galaxy A11 offers a 6.4 inches PLS IPS Infinity-O display with 720 x 1560 pixel resolution and provides 268 PPI density.
Performance and Battery life
The Galaxy A11 4G ships with Android 10 Operating system and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor which is about 3years old now. it comes with all the usual Android 10 features like; system-wide dark theme, improved notification, full-screen navigation etc. Although it can get slow sometimes, the performance is not so bad for a cheap phone.
The three rear cameras on the Galaxy A11 (13MP f/1.8 aperture main camera, 5MP f/2.2 aperture wide-angle, and 2MP f/2.4 aperture depth camera) takes decent pictures with proper lighting.
It offers a 4000mAh non-removable lithium-ion battery that is tested to last for 2 days with light use and a 15W fast charging adapter.
Key features
- Android 10 Operating system.
- Expandable memory.
- Triple rear camera
- 6.4 inches display.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor.
- 4000mAh built-in battery.
- 15W fast charging adapter.
Specifications
OS Android 10
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
Build Glass front, plastic back, plastic front
Dimensions 6.35 x 3.00 x 0.31 inches
Display 6.4 inches PLS IPS
Resolution 720 x 1560 pixels
Camera (Rear) 13MP, 5MP, 2MP; 8MP (Front-Facing)
Battery 4000mAh
RAM 3GB, 4GB
Storage 32GB, 64GB
Weight 177g
Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, proximity
COMMS Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS
Colours Black, Red, White, Blue
Price $98.07
Pros
- Strong battery.
- Headphone jack support.
- Triple rear camera works well.
- It is affordable.
- Expandable memory option.
- Decent performance.
Cons
- No water resistance.
- It does not support wireless charging.
- No NFC connection.
- It easily attracts smudges and dirts.
Conclusion
The above-listed smartphones are budget phones with decent performance and take decent photos. Some are expensive and the others are cheaper phones. They have different battery sizes, processors and overall performance but what they all have in common at the end of the day is the fact that they are all worth every penny they cost.
If you are looking for an affordable phone that gives you value for your money, this review gives you insight into the best.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Question
Q 1 : What should I look out while buying a smartphone?
A: The most important thing when choosing a new smartphone is its price tag. You need to consider how much do you want to spend on a smartphone. If you don’t mind spending more than $100 then go ahead and buy one. But if you are tight on cash, then stick to the ones below $100.
Q 2 : Which smartphone would be good for me?
A: It depends on your needs. Do you like playing games? Then get a gaming-oriented smartphone. Are you into photography? Get a smartphone with great cameras. Or maybe you just want something simple yet powerful enough to handle everything you throw at it. Whatever your requirements may be, there will always be a suitable smartphone available for you. So choose wisely!
Q 3: How can I know which smartphone has better quality?
A: Quality doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy with it. However, some people prefer having high-quality devices because they feel that their device looks nicer and feels premium compared to other low-end models. This is subjective though so we won’t judge anyone’s choice here. All we care about is whether you’ll enjoy using the product or not.
Q 4 : Is there any difference between RAM and ROM?
A: Yes, RAM stands for Random Access Memory whereas ROM stands for Read-Only Memory. Both these terms refer to the storage space where data is stored. In short, RAM stores temporary information such as programs and apps whereas ROM stores permanent files such as documents, music etc.
Q 5 : Why do I see two versions of each model?
A: There might be multiple variants of a particular smartphone depending upon the region/country it was manufactured in.
Q 6 : Does Android OS really work faster than iOS?
A: Not necessarily.
