WebUser – 21 August 2019

22 21 Aug - 3 Sept 2019

T

he budget end of the

smartphone market is

particularly cut-throat,

with manufacturers and

networks alike tryingto

get their phones intoyour

pockets. All phones in this

price bracketcome with

compromises, butyou ha ve

to delve deepto find them

on these two new budget

models.The first, the Smart

V10, is anown-brand model

from Vodafone andcosts jus t

£105. On the opposite

Vodafone

Smart V10

page is theRealme 3 Pro,

the first Android phone from

this up-and-coming Chinese

manufacturerto arrive here

in the UK.The Realme 3

Pro is pricierat £178 but

makes an impressive leap

in features and performance

for the comparatively small

jump in price.

Design and screen

Vodafone has pulled out all

the stops to make its phone

as eye-catching as models

that cost far mor e. It hasa

glossy plastic chassis and

silver-tinted edges, andfeels

solid in the hand.Realme has

also managedto make its

phone look moreexpensive

than it is.The patternedrear

panel might not be made of

glass,for instance, but itstill

looks great, with subtle lines

sweeping fromtop to bottom

that give it astylish two-tone

colour finish.Perhaps more

important is the display,

which iscovered with a layer

of Gorilla Glass 5. Not only

does this ensure a modicum

of 562cd/m², which is good

enoughto see instrong

sunlight. It also produces 86%

of sRGBcolours.The 3 Pro,

meanwhile, managed aneven

more impressive 98% of sRGB

colours, although it’s not as

bright,reaching 465cd/m². Its

contrast is better, though,

with aratio of 1,686:1. Both

phones have great screens

but you get a better, more

detailed option ifyou paya

little morefor the 3 Pro.

Manufacturers of budget

phones often make their

savings on the internal

components, because they’re

less obvious than a sub-

standard screen. However,

Vodafone has squeezed in a

relatively speedy 2GHz

Qualcomm Snapdragon 429

processor with an embedded

Adreno 504 GPUfor graphics

processing.This is backed

up by 3GB of RAMfor

multitasking and 32GB of

expandablestorage.

Realme goes astep further,

with a 2.2GHz Qualcomm

Snapdragon710 processor

last seen powering the

mid-range Google Pixel 3a

and 3a XL. In this phone it’s

of scuff and shatter

resistance, but it also means

the displayfeels smooth and

slipperyto the touch and is

easy to keep clean.

The V10’s 5.9in screen

dominates around 80% of its

front, leaving a chunky area of

bezel below the screen anda

notchat the top that houses

the selfie camera. It’s an IPS

unit with aresolution of 1,560

x 720 pixels, giving it a pixel

density of 291 pixels per inch

(ppi). However, asyou’d

expect from a pricier phone,

the Realme 3 Pro’s screen is

larger (6.3in) and has a better

resolution (2,340 x 1,080

pixels), giving it a pixel

density of 409ppi.

Performance

Tests with ourcolorimeter

showed that the V10 hasa

goodcontrastratio of 1,409:1

and reaches a peak brightness

Product Test

We test and compare the latest products

PRODUCT INFO

Vodafone Smart

V10

Price: £105

Buy fromVodafone:

bit.ly/voda482

SPECIFICATIONS

■32GB of memory, upgradeto 128GB

via microSD slot

■13 megapixels camera

■Android 9.0

■151 x70 x 8.22mm; 5.9in screen

■145g

FEATURES HHHHH

PERFORMANCE HHHHH

EASE OF USE HHHHH

VALUE FOR MONEY HHHHH

H

VS

Vodafone has pulled out all the stops to

make the Smart V10 aseye-catching as

models thatcost far more

Andy Shaw tests two new budget

smartphones that are impressively

powerful for their price