Event Coverage

HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2012: Editor's Choice - Part 1

By Team HardwareZone - 29 Feb 2012

Best Value Smartphone

Best Value Smartphone

Finding the right balance between price and performance on a smartphone is no easy task. At times, manufacturers have to cut back on certain hardware features, all in the name of reducing the cost of its smartphones for consumers. Being the cheapest smartphone out there doesn't automatically make it the Best Value Smartphone. To be considered for the award, the nominee has to prove that it is priced under a sufficiently affordable price bracket, and has adequate performance that is expected of smartphones. In short, we are looking at the price to performance ratio. In no order of merit, this year's nominees includes:

Nominees

  • HTC Wildfire S 
  • Huawei Ideos X3
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini
     

And the Winner Is...

Performance, design and most importantly, reasonable pricing makes the HTC Wildfire S the perfect choice for the Best Value Smartphone.

As always, HTC covers its bases well with a wide variety of Android smartphones. From the high performing powerhouse devices, to the basic, yet adequately equipped entry-level smartphones, the Taiwanese company managed to score a hit with the HTC Wildfire S.

The Android 2.3 smartphone and its full-fledged HTC Sense user interface packs quite a punch on the software front. With its 3.2-inch display running a HVGA resolution, plus a single-core 600Mhz processor that gave us a lag-free experience, the Wildfire S combines performance with affordability (at S$388), thus earning the Best Value Smartphone award for this round.

Scoring Breakdown
Criteria/Model HTC Wildfire S Huawei Ideos X3 Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini
Design 8.5 8.0 8.0
Features 8.0 7.0 7.5
User-Friendliness 8.0 7.5 7.5
Performance 7.5 7.0 7.5
Value 8.0 8.5 7.5
Overall 8.0 7.5 7.5
Price S$388 S$288 S$398

*Note: Prices listed in this article are accurate at the time of product evaluation.

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed at the References section at the end.

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