Shootouts

Shootout: Compact 4G LTE Smartphones under S$600 (mid-2014)

By Sidney Wong - 15 Jul 2014

Overview

4G Goes Mainstream

A year ago, we compared five 4G LTE smartphones below S$600 in an epic shootout which saw the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini emerged as the winner while the Nokia Lumia 820 clinching the Best Value Award. 

Today, the market is flooded with so many devices touting 4G connectivity with different specs and form factors at various price points. It's hard enough for tech enthusiasts like us to keep track of all the variants, what more for consumers? Bearing that in mind, we decided to take a look at notable mainstream phones in the market and how they fare. For this comparison article, we narrowed down mainstream 4G smartphones with two criteria: display sizes below 5-inches and priced below S$600. 

We ended up with six compelling smartphones - the HTC Desire 610, the Huawei Ascend G6 4G, the LG G2 Mini LTE, the Motorola Moto X, the Nokia Lumia 635 and the Sony Xperia M2. The premise of this shootout article is to provide consumers with options when they do not want to spend to splurge on flagship devices as mid-range models can address most needs reasonably well.

Now, let's check out how the phone specifications compare across the board before we discuss more about the notable aspects for each smartphone:-

Overview of the Smartphones
  HTC Desire 610 Huawei Ascend G6 4G LG G2 Mini LTE Motorola Moto X Nokia Lumia 635 Sony Xperia M2
  HTC Desire 610 Huawei Ascend G6 4G LG G2 Mini LTE Motorola Moto X Nokia Lumia 635 Sony Xperia M2
Launch SRP
  • From S$398
  • From S$399
  • From S$528
  • From S$568
  • From S$239
  • From S$398
Operating system
  • Android 4.4 KitKat with HTC Sense
  • Emotion UI 2.0 Lite based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
  • Android 4.4.2 KitKat
  • Android 4.4.2 KitKat
  • Windows Phone 8.1
  • Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
Processor
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz
  • X8 Mobile Computing System (Software optimized Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core 1.7GHz processor with a natural language processor and a contextual computing processor)
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core 1.2GHz
Built-in Memory
  • 1GB RAM
  • 1GB RAM
  • 1GB RAM
  • 2GB RAM
  • 512MB RAM
  • 1GB RAM
Display
  • 4.7-inch / 960 x 540 pixels / LCD
  • 4.5-inch / 960 x 540 pixels / IPS
  • 4.7-inch / 960 x 540 pixels / IPS
  • 4.7-inch / 1,280 x 720 pixels / AMOLED
  • 4.5-inch / 854 x 480 pixels / ClearBlack LCD
  • 4.8-inch / 960 x 540 pixels / TFT
Camera
  • Rear: 8-megapixel with BSI sensor, f/2.4
  • Front: 1.3-megapixel
  • Rear: 8-megapixel autofocus with F2.0 aperture and BSI sensor
  • Front: 5-megapixel
  • Rear: 8-megapixel
  • Front: 1.3-megapixel
  • Rear: 10-megapixel ClearPixel
  • Front: 2-megapixel
  • Rear: 5-megapixel autofocus
  • Rear: 8-megapixel with autofocus and Exmor RS for mobile
  • Front: 0.3-megapixel
Connectivity
  • Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX enabled, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, NFC
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g/b/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 LE + EDR
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, micro-USB, 4G LTE 100Mbps/50Mbps
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, A-GPS
Storage Type
  • 8GB internal storage
  • microSD support up to 128GB
  • 8GB internal storage
  • microSD support up to 32GB
  • 8GB internal storage
  • microSD support up to 32GB
  • 16GB internal storage
  • 8GB internal storage
  • microSD support up to 128GB
  • 8GB internal storage
  • microSD support up to 32GB
Battery
  • 2,040mAh
  • 2,000mAh
  • 2,440mAh
  • 2,200mAh
  • 1,830mAh
  • 2,330mAh
Dimensions
  • 143.1 x 70.5 x 9.6mm
  • 131.2 x 65.3 x 7.85mm
  • 129.6 x 66.0 x 9.8mm
  • 129.4 x 65.3 x 5.7 ~10.4mm
  • 129.5 x 66.7 x 9.2mm
  • 139.6 x 71.1 x 8.6mm
Weight
  • 143.5g
  • 115g
  • 121g
  • 130g
  • 134g
  • 148g

You would probably notice that Samsung is out of this comparison field and that's only because they do not have test units for mid-range devices like the Galaxy Express or Grand 2 LTE for media in Singapore. That probably goes to show that Samsung isn't focused on these mid-tier devices in our country, so we'll just give it a miss and see how the rest of the available contenders compare.

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