2015-04-19, 14:10
For those of you following smartphone technology, you know it wasn't much more than a year ago that you needed to pay $170 for a phone with 1GB of RAM, and that was considered cheap at the time. Warp speed to May 2015 and we now have phones with 2GB of RAM for significantly less than $170, with far more powerful SoCs, better displays and sharper cameras than the previous generation. Technology moves fast, but the rate at which budget mobiles have transformed is astounding. Ever pushing the edge further, now comes a wave of 3GB and even 4GB RAM phones. Here are five phones already on the market, or to be released shortly, for budget power users to keep a keen eye on. Ulefone Be Touch (AKA Dare N1)About a month back we released a story regarding the upcoming Ulefone model - Ulefone Dare N1. According to official Ulefone sources this model has been renamed to Ulefone Be Touch. The Ulefone Be Touch (Dare N1) details:
Regardless of whether or not you call this phone a clone, it looks very good. Generally speaking I shy away from them, but if specs, software and hardware are good, the Ulefone Be Touch could be a winner. Elephone P7000The powerful Elephone P7000 ($198 w/code EP7000) has been rumored and speculated about for a couple of months now. We haven't had the best of luck with Elephone, but they are a relatively new company, so hopefully they've had some time to mature and the P7000 will be up to solid standards.
I want to note here that originally the information I had regarding P7000 was that it would be coming with 900/1900/2100, but according to the more recently released official information, the P7000 appears to be coming with 850/900/1900/2100 WCDMA, which gives it worldwide 3G and makes a lot more sense, as not including 850 would cut a lot of Asia and the Americas out of the mix. The Elephone P7000 has a huge amount of RAM, a super powerful SoC, 1080P display and large battery. Unlike some manufacturers, it appears that Elephone is correctly representing their battery sizes. The official Elephone shop is currently pre-selling P7000 for $230. I've liked much of what Elephone has done in terms of style and they've been very smart regarding marketing, but it remains to be seen if they'll be able to pick up the pace a bit in terms of releasing phones without critical issues. Asus Zenfone 2Always innovating, Asus came on the scene with the Zenfone about a year back. It wasn't overly popular with the China phone crowd, but they have something that many China brands do not -- a global retail presence. Not content with 3GB, Asus has upped the ante and will be releasing a 4GB RAM version of the Asus Zenfone 2. This is an astounding amount of RAM and is equal to what most decent consumer notebooks come equipped with. A 2GB version will also be available. Not only the RAM is premium specced, the phone is premium all around. The Asus Zenfone 2 details:
Jiayu S3 2015Jiayu is one of a handful of brands that started the game and are still in it. While many have died off, Jiayu has clung on and remained very popular both in China and with outside nations. The Jiayu S3 3GB 2015 ($200 no code needed) style has been around for awhile and unlike brands that continually make new model names and new designs, Jiayu seems to mostly stick with tried and true. Not getting too fancy, just putting out good phones with solid builds, both in terms of software and hardware. Jiayu S3 details:
Elephone P3000SThe MT6582 Elephone P3000 is one of the better phones I've reviewed. It has a great screen and camera, a big battery, and very strong GPS. The P3000 is a thick phone due to it's big 3000mAh battery, but this doesn't keep it from being good looking. One of the things I like about the P3000 is that it has a 5.0" display which keeps it narrower and shorter than many of the flagship offerings coming with 5.5" displays. Now Elephone is putting out a revision to the MT6592 Elephone P3000S with a MT6752 SoC ($187 w/code EP3GB) Elephone P3000S MT6752 details:
I've been disappointed with several Elephones I've reviewed, but if the P3000S manages as well as the last generation P3000, it will be a big winner.
For those of you who've been following China phones, you know things have progressed extremely rapidly over the last year, with a plethora of new brands coming out making things very competitive spec and price wise. While the MT6582 and MT6592 are still very capable SoCs, the new generation MT6732 and MT6752 have really brought things to the next level. Regardless of whether you're new to China brands, or you've been hanging out for a bit, this is indeed a very exciting time to be shopping for a new phone. We welcome you to drop by the forum and post a thread in the "Which China phone should I buy" forum, or comment below if you have a question or would like to shout out another phone you think should be on this list. |