A phone under Rs. 30,000? Let’s find the right one for you.
2020 has been a great year for smartphones! All the major players in the industry have tried something new and found fruition. Even with a pandemic largely troubling the economy, smartphones still found themselves to be at an all-time expensive. The growing price point of each manufactures’ flagship devices and the diminishing gap between the value offered by mid-rangers to the high-end flagships have made the cheaper devices available in the market more popular. Let us look at the general classification of the smartphone market based on price to better understand what constitutes a mid-range smartphone in 2020:
Premium Flagships: Phones which costs more than $900 ( INR. 70,000)
Upper Mid-range: Phones which cost anywhere between $500-$800 ( INR. 35,000–60,000)
Mid range: Phones which costs between $300 - $400 (INR 23,000 - 30,000)
Budget: Phones which costs less than $200 (INR 15,000)
Over the years, mid-rangers have set a trend of providing one or two flagship features for a set of different aspects of a phone. Although they only have 1 or 2 flagship features at best, mid-rangers of 2020 have generally improved their general quality in comparison to the mid-rangers of 2019 in departments like optics, display, charging speed, and hardware. Being a competitive price range with loads of options, I have shortlisted four phones that might cater to the need of four different end consumers who are primarily looking at different things from a smartphone.
- iPhone SE 2020 — The perfect Mommy’s phone!
An SoC with processing capabilities second in the market only to it’s newest members of the family, the iPhone 12 series, The iPhone SE 2020 is snappy and tipped to live a long life. With its compact screen of 4.7 inches, the iPhone SE will fit right into your palm. It will easily slide into your pockets or purse without occupying much space. The 12MP rear-facing camera paired with Apple’s computational photography ensures you get a flagship-level picture and video every time you try to capture human subjects, pets, and events. Apple has also ensured that this new budget addition will also include wireless charging and IP 68 water and dust resistance. IOS 13 out of the box with guaranteed updates of up to 5 years will ensure you get an AD free, bloatware-free software experience rich in aesthetics.
But the iPhone SE is not everyone's cup of tea. With a huge forehead and chin, it has a design ergonomics from 2015. It has a meager 1821 mAh battery that will make you run for the charger after 3-4 hours of intense usage. It also won't be your best option in this segment if you do a handful of media consumption. Youtube and Netflix would just look underappreciated in that 4.7 inch IPS LCD screen which does not support HD video. Thanks to the A13 Bionic chip and IOS, games will effortlessly fly on the iPhone SE 2020, but the small screen and low battery capacity come as major caveats for the gaming experience.
Verdict: If you need an iPhone and don't have the money to pay for a high-end one, this is the one to get. The iPhone SE 2020 will make for a great mommy’s phone or for someone who needs a phone that perfectly nails all the basics of a smartphone with the added bonus of a good camera and compact size. But yes, this is definitely not the phone for an enthusiast who likes to play his high-end games, tweak his refresh rate, and consume high-quality multimedia.
2. Pixel 4a — Minimalist’s dream, Camera champ!
You own the device which clicks the best pictures of any phone available in the market if you own a Pixel 4a. Yes, you heard it right — With Google’s computational photography and HDR, Pixel 4a, a mid-range device, lets you capture the best day-to-day pictures of any phone in the market. Although it only houses a single 12 MP rear camera, Google’s AI-powered dedicated GCAM software makes sure you get the best contrast, true to life colour reproduction, and white balance. My favorite feature of the pixel 4a, however, is the software - Android in all its glory. Nothing can beat the smooth, ad-free, bloatware-free optimized stock android experience by Google that always receives software updates first. At 5.8 inches, Pixel 4a is reasonably compact and handy. An edge to edge display, 1080p OLED configuration, stereo speakers with good sound separation, and a headphone jack makes media consumption fairly good on the Pixel 4a.
Pixel 4a is not a performance beast. It runs a Snapdragon 730G that almost only has half the processing capabilities of flagship chips like the A13 Bionic in the iPhone SE 2020. Looks are subjective, but a plastic unibody with only a single colour option in black may not be attractive to some. With more and more Android phones perfecting an on-screen fingerprint unlock method, Pixel 4a is still sticking with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and this is underwhelming for some.
Verdict: Pixel 4a is a great all-around phone in the price segment. Google has made sure that you get a great camera and media consumption experience. The slightly inferior processor and an absence of a high refresh rate screen make it a little less favorable for gaming.
3. OnePlus Nord — Big Screen, High refresh rate!
The OnePlus Nord is perhaps the most feature-rich phone in this price category. It arguably has the best software and user experience of any phone in this price segment. It packs an impressive 6.5 inch large AMOLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate that is of flagship quality. It also comes with a 4115 mAh battery that can last you through the day. Along with this, OnePlus’ signature warp charge 30T fast charging will top you up in less than an hour. On paper, the OnePlus Nord is a great all-round package in its segment and for the same reason, it is currently the most selling mid-range smartphone in the Indian market.
The Nord was one of the most hyped-up phones of the year. But it came out as a disappointment to many enthusiasts and reviewers. The biggest issue with the Nord is the way they decided to distribute their resources. The camera, for example, is not on par with its competition. It only has a decent wide-angle camera and a passable ultra-wide camera. To make matters worse, it has an almost useless macro camera and depth sensor in the back and an ultra-wide-angle selfie camera in the front which has little to no use. These features are partly gimmicky addition to make the phone look more premium. The phone also lacks a strong built due to its plastic rails and lacks a stereo speaker. If the money spent for these gimmicky features were diverted into a stereo speaker or a better primary camera unit, the phone would’ve been a better package.
Verdict: If you can live with not having a stereo speaker setup and the best camera you can get for the price you pay, OnePlus Nord is an amazing buy. With a capable mid-range chipset, a great display, and top of the line software experience paired with the fact that it supports 5G, the OnePlus Nord is the most future proof phone in this segment and should be your pick if you intend to keep your new phone for a long time.
Realme X7 Pro — Gamers, look no more!
Yes, the brand new Realme X7 Pro is my gaming pick in the mid-range category. With the flagship Mediatek Dimensity 1000+ chip, 6.55 inch large AMOLED display with 120 Hz high refresh rate, Stereo speakers, and 65 W fast charging that will fill up your battery from 0 to 100% in less than half an hour, the Realme X7 Pro is the absolute spec master in this category. The capable chipset that this device hosts will let you play high-end games like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty at its maximum settings and FPS. The loud and clear stereo speakers and the USB C to 3.5mm headphone jack dongle that you receive with the box help you to always consume the best gaming audio without latency. The large 4500 mAh battery and 65 W dash charger make sure you always have enough battery to go for another round. On top of this, the 120 Hz refresh rate and 240 Hz touch sampling that comes with this device makes gameplay buttery smooth and also future proof to further upgrades.
The sad part about many Chinese manufacturers, including Realme, is that although we get great hardware for the price we pay, the software and user experience often disappoint us. Realme X7 Pro is no different. Aesthetics which are profoundly second to stock android and IOS, baked in bloatware, and Adwares and spammy notifications make the experience a little buggy and lagging. Although feature-rich, Realme X7 Pro’s plastic rails and huge taglines on the backside of the phone make it look less premium and borderline comical.
Verdict: You don't get a good looking smartphone with an amazing camera or user experience if you purchase the Realme X7 Pro. If you just need a device that gives you the best gaming experience or a phone with a large screen that will give you rich multimedia consumption, this is the device to go for in the segment. Provided you’ll have to live with the less attractive software and built quality.
