Budget Android phones - what's the catch?

StewartR

StewartR

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There are some incredibly priced Android phones around these days, from Chinese manufacturers you've never heard of. For example this one has an excellent specification for only £85, and this one is rugged and waterproof and it's still only £100.

What's the catch?
 
Three things that I can think of are -

1. Use of a chipset that is circa 2 years old so quad core processors where modern chipsets are now octacore.

2. low resolution screens

3. Potential for lack of security updates which the main android phone providers supply as regular software updates.

The first one isn't a deal breaker if you not hungry for performance.
The second and third ones would bother me though.

Notwithstanding the above you are getting great bang for buck.
 
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I've got my Xiaomi MI6, which at the time of purchase represented flagship specifications, it still feels perfectly snappy and lag-free and is running Android 9.

I'm all for cost saving, but look at what you can get from the Chinese brands if you spend a 'little' more, it's astonishing!
 
Xiaomi is positioning itself as a major brand now - they have an Apple-style boutique in the London Westfield Centre.

I'd be cautious about some of the no-name phones for the reasons mentioned above, and the increased risk of pre-installed malware:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/android-phones-preinstalled-malware/
https://gizmodo.com/a-new-reason-to-not-buy-these-cheap-android-devices-co-1826289219

Always check the bad reviews, too - some Brand X products on Amazon get a lot of fake 5 star reviews.
 
StewartR said:
There are some incredibly priced Android phones around these days, from Chinese manufacturers you've never heard of. For example this one has an excellent specification for only £85, and this one is rugged and waterproof and it's still only £100.

What's the catch?
Click to expand...
They are not too much cheaper than known brand mid-range phones.

I know a guy who swears by these unknown brands. Like Cubot, Umidigi or Doogee etc. And says he has had good experience with them, but be sure to check the specs are what you want. As some don't have NFC or other feature that you might miss if you are not careful.
Frankly I really want a phone called a Doogee. I'd strut around showing off. Look at my Doogee. Priceless!
ALI Express has a wide range of lesser known phones:
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...033717&SearchText=smartphone&switch_new_app=y
 
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StewartR said:
There are some incredibly priced Android phones around these days, from Chinese manufacturers you've never heard of. For example this one has an excellent specification for only £85, and this one is rugged and waterproof and it's still only £100.

What's the catch?
Click to expand...

It's made by Doogee..... :)

I've had a Blackview for the last couple of years. I bought it when I needed a phone in a rush and it was cheap, available next day and I figured when it broke I could buy a proper phone :) It's been pretty good to me.

Plus points: yes, it really is waterproof - I've held it underwater in the sea trying to get pictures. It got salt on it so I washed it under a tap. It runs Android {something recent} - can't remember what but it's recent enough. Fingerprint scanner works really well. Dual SIM (though at the expense of the SD card). Solid, reliable, battery lasts about 2 days.

Minus: I've never really liked it. It's like a Ford Escort - sits there, does the job, refuses to break down but it's not a lot of fun. It's VERY thick - actually it's no thicker than my S8 in a decent case. Screen is a bit scuffed - I suspect they aren't using Gorilla Glass but in all the times I've dropped it, it isn't broken at all. Camera is dreadful, WiFi is worse. Bluetooth sort of decays - I have to reboot the phone every day to get it to remember that it can talk to my watch. You can't get accessories for it - it even needs a special USB-C to charge it.

But yeah - they are pretty good value. But I just bought a second hand S8 for twice the price of a new Blackview and it's a whole lot more fun.
 
StewartR said:
There are some incredibly priced Android phones around these days, from Chinese manufacturers you've never heard of. For example this one has an excellent specification for only £85, and this one is rugged and waterproof and it's still only £100.

What's the catch?
Click to expand...

Screen quality, camera quality (which I imagine will be fairly awful on this), performance and software support are all things you're missing out on by buying a cheap phone like this. Software support is potentially a moot point as for under £90 you could just buy a new model of this every year and get a fairly recently build of Android.

Android phones are basically like PCs now though, no matter what brand name is on the outside of the phone they all have generally similar parts inside. This will probably give you 50 or 60% of the flagship phone experience for a tenth of the price.
 
You could probably buy something like an unlocked (any network) refurbished Samsung Galaxy S7 (not the Edge type versions, or the one that reputedly caught fire) from a reputable high-street used phone shop for around £120 or so, and that's got a good camera, you know the radio wave levels and shielding should be up to US/EU spec, etc. and you'll get all the regular software and app updates. Also, if you do break the screen or the battery packs up, then spares and service for it should be available in the UK. Plus if there have been any glitches or issues with it, by that time they'll have most likely been fixed or will be well known. These days that's what I do; I buy a 'top of the range' type phone one or two versions older the current top model and save a fortune on a SIM only contract.
 
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They used to talk about 'landfill Android', and although things aren't as bad as they were, it pays to select budget phones very carefully to make sure you're happy with the corners that have been cut. I really hate a laggy phone, for example, so I wouldn't get either of the phones you linked because of the Mediatek processors. I can live with a slightly lower res screen despite reading on the phone quite a bit, but have come to appreciate an OK camera, good GPS and a decent wifi connection (latest xaiomi update has made wifi a bit crap on the current Note 6 TBH). Some of the cheaper phones have also definitely come with malware loaded.

To me, there's a sweetspot that's a bit more expensive than these, but if minimum spend is essential then these will probably be fine.
 
They used to be more an issue a few years back but these days, budget Android phones are surprisingly decent.
 
Mostly simply great value, just be sure they are allowed to use google play, odd ones for Chinese market still aren't.
There are ways to download and sideload most things of course.
Typically the cameras are a bit Meh.
But here we have serious cameras anyway :snaphappy:
 
Xiomi phones are excellent, bought my missus a Redmi Note 6 I think it is. £160 and apart from not having a NFC (For Android/google pay) it is spot on.
very fast, crisp screen, personally I would not go much cheaper tho as people have said,
 
I just got a Samsung S10e 2 days ago. It is 5 times more expensive than my old Samsung (A3). And, although the specs are way better, there is very little benefit to me over the old phone. It still does all the same things, with the same battery life, but with the addition of a fingerprint reader. And a few new gimmicks I don't need. The photos look the same too. I only got it as it was smaller (142mm) than the lower end phones.
 
Xiaomi is decent. I've got one (note 7) and it's perfectly fine for now half a year later.

I wouldn't say so about cheaper lesser known brands. My dad bought an absolute brick, I think umidigi or something. It's still stuck with android 8, no proper updates, and the ones that come seem to do far more damage making the phone now barely usable. We are talking things like unresponsive screen during phone call and so on. I wouldn't call it great ownership experience considering it cost over 200 or something around there.

I think to be on the safe side I will want to sell mine before it's too old and get a new model before lack of updates or other issues hit it.
 
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