The top three...
01
02
03
The complete guide to...
48 T3 FEBRUARY 2022smartphone with a still astonishing
specification for half the price of a high-end
model. It won’t have identical specifications
and performance to the very latest and most
expensive phones, but we think you’ll be
surprised by just how good the current crop
of affordable smartphones are.THE CORNERS USUALLY CUT
Clearly a £500 phone won’t have the same
components as an £800 one, let alone a
£1,000 one: some corners will have to be cut
in order to keep the price down. The specific
corners will differ from phone to phone, but
there are some differences you’ll keep seeing.
The first is the processor. With very few
exceptions, such as the OnePlus Nord 2, you
won’t get the fastest processor from that
manufacturer’s range – so for example the
iPhone SE has the same processor as the
iPhone 11, not the iPhone 13; the Samsung
A52 5G has the Snapdragon 750 while the
Samsung Galaxy S21 has the faster
Snapdragon 888 or equivalent Exynos,
which is Samsung’s own in-house processor.
Build quality is usually lesser too.
Affordable phones aren’t badly built, but
they tend not to have the latest generation of
toughened glass and they’re likely to come in
plastic rather than the glass and metal cases
of more premium models. You’ll typically
find the display isn’t as good as the current
flagship, too: the iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch
IPS LCD, compared to the iPhone 13 mini’s
far superior 5.4-inch HDR OLED.
If the phone isn’t being marketed
specifically for its camera, you’ll often find
previous-gen optics or image processing.
And if you can’t see any corners that have
been cut, it’s worth looking at the battery
life: affordable models tend to ship with
batteries that have less capacity, and with
processors that aren’t as energy efficient.It’s also important to consider the
following: how long will you be able to hold
onto your phone before it becomes obsolete
or unsafe? Firstly, there’s the operating
system. Apple leads the pack when it comes
to operating system support: while it doesn’t
deliver all the features you’d get on an iPhone
13, the latest version of iOS is available for
every iPhone from 2015’s iPhone 6S onwards.
Things are very different on Android,
largely because manufacturers often make
many more models than Apple does.
Continuing to update older Androids is a
gargantuan and expensive task, so as a rule
of thumb you can expect your smartphone
manufacturer to support your device for no
more than three years, sometimes even less.
When the manufacturer stops supporting
your phone it will continue to work, but you
won’t be getting the patches and updates
that protect you from newly discovered
security vulnerabilities and you may find
that apps start to require a later version of
Android than the one you have.
That means it’s actually a better idea to
buy a brand new Android phone than a
similarly priced second-hand one: with used
Androids the clock has been ticking since
the day they were bought. And the clock has
been ticking on their battery too.
When you’re looking at phone spec sheets
it’s important to think about what you’rePHONE
ACCESSORIES
A trio of additions to your
phone whose price won’t
burn a hole in your pocketBELKIN BOOST UP
WIRELESS CHARGER
The Belkin happily charges iPhones, and
it also charges Androids with wireless
capability. Plus you can also use it as a stand
to watch a movie while the battery recharges.
£19.95, belkin.comCAMBRIDGE AUDIO
MELOMANIA TOUCH
These affordable earbuds deliver better
sound than many more expensive rivals, and
they’re compatible with both Apple’s Siri and
Google Assistant for controls and calling.
£79.95 , cambridgeaudio.comSPIGEN RUGGED ARMOR CASE
Spigen’s tough phone case is available for a
wide range of Apple and Android devices,
and while it’s hardly the prettiest it has
extra corner protection and raised edges to
protect the screen if it’s dropped.
£12, spigen.comSome corners will
have to be cut in
order to keep the
price down