Buying the best budget smartphone doesn’t mean compromising on what you want. Those days are gone and most people think you should buy the Motorola Moto G Power. It costs well under $ 300 and has great battery life, a great screen, and lots of power.
We have many options in our presentation to help you find what you are looking for. If you commit yourself to the iPhone world, you should, because there is nothing in Apple’s range that falls below $ 300.
The best package: Motorola Moto G Power
There was a time (not long ago, actually) when a $ 300 smartphone wasn’t up to the task. You know, it was ugly and after you bought it you felt bad. Those days are over.
The Motorola Moto G Power costs a lot less than $ 300, but you wouldn’t know that. How come? Long battery life, good screen, and enough power. Now it is true that some things have been left out: no real waterproofing and no wireless charging. If you ask us, these are great trade-in deals for a good phone at a very reasonable price. Oh, it works with almost all carriers too.
The front and center is a 6.4-inch screen with a hole for the camera in the upper left corner. The phone is also not loose under the hood. The camera features are also impressive for the price, but the real selling point here is the battery. According to Motorola, the usage time should be enough for three days without charging.
Best design: Nokia 7.2 phone
The Nokia 7.2 is the successor to the mid-range Nokia 7.1. It retains some of the design but has updated specs and some new features. The design is attractive, black glass in various smooth and attractive colors. On the side the edges are minimized and on the back there is a fingerprint sensor. The display is a 6.3-inch 1080p panel with a resolution of 403 pixels per inch, so the display is crisp. It is HDR10 compliant, so you can support compatible content for better colors and saturation.
Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor. 4 GB of RAM is also sufficient for decent multitasking and can handle games like “Asphalt 9”.
Camera quality is solid too, with a triple-camera setup on the back with a 48-megapixel main sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5-megapixel sensor for depth of shape and bokeh images. All in all, a great phone in a great package.
Best value for money: Samsung Galaxy A50
The Samsung Galaxy A50 is a sleek and attractive mid-range phone that manages to keep many of Samsung’s designs and features from its high-end flagships. It has a large screen and minimal bezels despite being made from plastic. The display is a bright and colorful 6.4-inch Super AMOLED panel that looks crisp and bright almost as much as Samsung’s flagship panels.
Under the hood, you’re looking at an Exons 9610 chipset with 4GB of RAM. It’s not the most powerful processor, but its fine for browsing and opening apps. It even handled the games quite well. The triple camera sensor on the back also turned out to be surprisingly good, albeit not as detailed as on the high-end phones.
Best with a stylus: Motorola Moto G Stylus
We reviewed the 2020 model of this phone and liked it so much we’re keeping it on this list.
If you’ve ever wanted to jot down your ideas with a pen (in this case, a digital pen called a stylus), the Motorola Moto G Stylus is what you are looking for.
It has all the cool features of the Moto G (OK, the battery isn’t as big as the more popular Moto G Power), a really good camera, a big screen, and according to reviewer Jeremy, the phone automatically launches the Motorola note making app. if you remove the stylus while the screen is off, you can easily jot down things at any time. Jeremy also noted that the speakers are really good too.
Best OnePlus: OnePlus Nord N100
How much of OnePlus’ unique flavor remains intact in a sub-$200 phone? Enough, it turns out. The OnePlus Nord N100 is the company’s cheapest phone so far, but it retains the company’s sleek Android look and offers some advantages over its more expensive rivals. Here you get a smooth 90Hz display and 18W fast charging, which ensures a stable battery that lasts for two days. Nor does the Nord N100 seem like a clumsy and inexpensive device.
However, only so much software and a few hardware perks can improve a $180 phone, and the Nord N100 suffers from slow performance and mediocre cameras. It still feels very much like a budget phone, but it’s serviceable, and these premium perks give it a bit more appeal than your average budget phone. The much-improved Nord N10 5G is highly recommended if your budget can stretch to $300, but if not, this is still a pretty solid laptop for the price.
Ideal for handwriting: LG Style 6
The LG Style 6 is an affordable phone with a flagship feel. The massive 6.8-inch IPS screen and mirrored glass back has a premium look and feel despite its modest price. It also has a built-in stylus with some cool features. However, the Mediate Helio P35 processor fails to impress, resulting in a phone that looks good but stumbles in performance.
Two reasons to love this phone are the clean look and the excellent functionality of the stylus. This is one of the best looking phones under $300 and so is the beautiful FHD display. It’s a bit dim in full sun, but looks good elsewhere.
The stylus is spring-loaded, and removing it automatically gives you a handful of clipboard and note-taking options. It’s responsive and accurate enough with no real lag unless you move it particularly fast. Don’t forget to put it back in the holder and the phone will sound a little alarm when you try to turn it off.
You can find phones with better performance than the Stylo 6 for the same money, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one as good at this price. If you don’t demand much from your phone and just want something that looks good for basic tasks, then the Stylo 6 fits that description perfectly.
Best budget: LG K51
The LG K51 is a budget smartphone with a huge 6.5-inch screen, a large battery and some of the best sounds you’re likely to hear from a phone in this price range. It has a slightly anemic processor, but it works well enough for everyday use if you don’t ask too much.
The best thing about this phone is undoubtedly the price. With a suggested retail price for the unlocked version and an even more attractive price when locked to the rack, the K51 far exceeds its weight class in terms of premium looks, sound quality and battery life.
Although the K51 lacks in performance, the inferior processor still makes this phone a great option at such an affordable price. If your budget doesn’t allow you to upgrade to a more powerful phone, or if you find one at a price that really appeals to you, it won’t let you down in terms of premium looks, sound quality or battery life. .
Final judgment
The best budget smartphone under $300 is the Moto G Power. It’s a fast and responsive phone with smooth software, several improvements from Motorola to improve functionality, and some of the most impressive battery life we’ve seen. We also like the Nokia 7.2. It has a large and bright 1080p display, a capable Snapdragon 660 processor, and a triple camera setup that allows for bokeh and wide-angle shots. It’s not the latest phone, but the combination of price and performance is hard to beat.
What should you pay attention to with a budget smartphone?
Display
Budget smartphones don’t usually come with high-refresh screens, although that’s not the case everywhere, as OnePlus is increasingly marketing it at a lower price. The most common resolution for budget phones is 1080p, which is not as sharp as flagship 2K panels. However, you can get sharp screens and even OLED panels with thick, dense blacks and rich, saturated colors.
Processor
Mid-range chipsets consist of Snapdragon and MediaTek processors. Although they don’t match flagship processors when it comes to benchmark testing, many budget phones are optimized for day-to-day performance.