April 05, 2015: If we look at the world domain, there is fierce competition among handset makers to launch new, affordable and quality phones to have bigger market share. Giants like Samsung and Apple keep the race tight by launching high end and expensive flagship at some specific time in a year. Whereas Chinese and Indian phones makers releases some new phones time and again to allure people for the different range of specs and quality. Only handful of phone makers launch their phones officially here and almost none to make it available on the same time of launch internationally. Though Micromax, Karbonn, Lava, Huawei release their phone officially, their latest phones takes time to reach in Nepal, unlike some which do not land here. Here are some latest affordable phones with good quality/features, that are not available here in Nepal.
Asus Zenphone 2: Asus, the Taiwanese electronic company is growing its market share in smartphones and with the popularity of two latest phones, it is expected to join the top ten list of phones worldwide. Zenphone 2 was released in Consumer Electronic show (CES) 2014 with two variants of 2 GB and 4 GB RAM, which is also the first one in the world to have the 4GB RAM. Major specs include Quad core Intel processor, 5 inch 403 PPI, 13 MP dual tone LED flash/ 5MP shooter, micro SD support.
One plus one: One plus, the Chinese phone maker stormed the world with the one plus one phone which was more popular in other parts of the world than in China. The quad core phone has all of the features (Quad core 801, 3 GB RAM, 13/5 MP snapper, Gorilla Glass 3) that is found in the flagship with price tag of 300 dollar for 16 GB phone. With the tussle between one plus and CyanogenMod, one plus one has now launched a new android skin called OxygenOS which is yet to reviewed from the mass.
Xiaomi Mi Note: Xiaomi: the Chinese start up and biggest grower in the smartphone business today (Third in the world) has launched two flagships Mi Note and Mi note Pro in early 2015. The Mi Note: the lower version of the duo with 801 SOC, OIS camera and 3 GB RAM has most of the greatest features required to be called a high end phone. Xiaomi's growth and the current line up of phones is even troubling Samsung and Apple for the affordability and high quality specs.
Micromax Yu Yureka: Micromax, the Indian phone maker has launched a new series called Yu, whose first version Yureka is getting very popular in India. The 150 dollar phone has 5.5 inch HD IPS display, 64 bit Quad core 615 SOC, 2 GB RAM, and runs on CyanogenMod UI. Is not it dirt cheap to have such specs on paper??
Meizu M1 Note: Meizu, another growing Chinese phone maker has sold 2 million smartphones in the month of March only. The huge number of sales was possible due to the high end MX4/MX4 Pro and mid-range Meizu M1 note/M1. Meizu M1 note is a 5.5 inch phablet with 64 bit MT6752 processor, 2 GB RAM, 13/5 MP Snapper and whopping 3140 mAh battery. The phone runs on Flyme OS over Android Kitkat and known to be releasing new Flyme over Lollipop. Meizu is even rumored to collaborate with Nokia to launch a new device within this year, as Nokia is indirectly involved in handset business after selling our it to Microsoft.
Click here for my review on Meizu M1 note.
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| File photo: Meizu store in Shenzhen, China |
ZTE Nubia Z9: Though the OEM giant ZTE is not able to have enormous sales like Huawei, it is not giving up for its handset business and has been launching flagships in the Nubia series. Recently ZTE has launched two flagships Nubia Z9 mini and max, with 64 bit processors 810 and 615 respectively. The mini version is about 5 inch, and comes with 2 GB RAM, 16/8 MP snapper, 2900 mAh. and priced at $240.
Lenovo K3 Note: After acquisition of Motorola, Lenovo has been releasing some nice affordable phones to up the market share, now fourth in the world (most of them in China). This 5.5 inch phablet has got most of the specs similar to Meizu M1 note ( 64 bit MT6752 octacore processor, 2 GB RAM, 13 MP/ 5MP shooter and 3000 mAh battery) but at lower price tag of 900 yuan (147 dollar) and expandable up to 32 GB through micro SD slot.
Huawei Honor 6 plus/Honor 4X: The largest telecom manufacturer in the world, Huawei has also remarkable business in the phone market (fifth in the world in terms of shipment last year). It has wide range of phones from the high end flagships to low end feature phones. Huawei has given more focus on its phone business with Honor and Ascend series phones. Honor 6 plus is a 5.5 inch flagship with its own processor Kirin 925 octa core, 3 GB RAM, Dual 8 MP rear and 8MP front camera, 3600 mAh, 425 dollar price tag and runs on Emotion UI over Kitkat. whereas Honor 4X is a mid ranger with 5.2 inch 720 p screen, quad core snapdragon 410 processor, 2 GB RAM, 3000 mAh and $168 price tag. Huawei Honor 6 plus has the greatest camera application/features and hardware known so far in Android phones.
Motorola Moto X, 2nd Gen: Motorola has revamped the 2013 flagship Moto X in screen size, pixel density, processor for Moto X second generation. The 5.2 inch phone runs on quad core Snapdragon 801 with 2 GB RAM, 13/2 MP snapper, 2300 mAh battery and 485 dollar price tag. There are also second generation version of Moto G and Moto E priced at $180 and $115 price, that do not raise the eyebrows due to specs and features if you compare those with other phones in the race. But the best thing about Motorola phone is that you could get the latest android update as early as possible in its pure form. Now after being swallowed by Lenovo, lets see how the brand value of Motorola will be utilized.
From the above phones, it seems like the mid rangers are approaching very near to the flagships in specs with bigger screen size, quad core to Octa core processor, higher resolution camera with manual controls and at price of around 200 dollar. As such nice affordable phones are not available in our market, we are missing a big business here in Nepal but some people even manage to get the phone here from their friends and relatives, like the way I did for two of my mobiles in recent years.
