Shootout: The best smartphones under S$350

Overview

Many of the latest flagship smartphones can cost upwards of S$1,000. If you don’t feel like paying that premium, there’s great value to be found in mid-range mainstream smartphones, many of which now boast flagship features like Full HD displays and 64-bit octa-core processors. We've chosen seven smartphones under S$350 to find out which offers the most bang for your buck.

All of our phones have 4G LTE connectivity, 5- or 5.5-inch displays, and at least a quad-core processor.

ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML 2GB RAM - $349

There are a few different versions of the ASUS ZenFone 2 available (see here for more info on the full lineup). For this shootout, we’ll be looking at the ZE551ML 5.5-inch Full HD ZenFone 2 with 2GB RAM. If you’re more of a power user, there’s also a 4GB RAM version (reviewed in depth here), which also has a slightly faster processor, available for $429.

The ZenFone 2 has an ergonomically curved profile, which fits comfortably into the palm of your hand, letting you keep a firm grip on it. While the phone is entirely plastic, it has a brushed metallic finish on its rear cover, which actually looks fairly convincing, at least at arm's length. Removing the back cover reveals two micro-SIM slots and one microSD card slot. The ZenFone 2 supports Cat4 LTE, which provides data transfer rates up till 150 Mbps. However, it’s worth noting that only one SIM card slot supports data transmission - the other slot is for calls only.

Unusually, the volume rocker on the ZenFone 2 can be found on the rear of the device, similar to LG’s flagship phones. On a phone this size, we appreciated the rear button positioning and, while it can take a bit of getting used to, we found it ergonomically comfortable and generally easier to reach than side buttons. On the other hand, for some reason, ASUS has positioned the power button all the way on the top edge of the phone, which is hard to reach when using the phone one-handed. On the plus side, the ZenFone 2 has a built-in feature that lets you double-tap the screen to turn the display on/off, so you may never need to use the physical power button anyway.

As for the rest of the ports, the micro-USB port is on the bottom edge, while the headphone port is on the top, next to the power button, leaving both the left and right-side clean and minimalist.

This variant of the ZenFone 2 uses a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution (403 ppi). Clarity is top notch and color reproduction was accurate, although contrast could probably be a bit better. There are three capacitive navigation buttons below the screen, but unfortunately they’re not backlit. Below the navigation buttons is a metallic accent with ASUS signature concentric circle design, which is a nice premium touch.

On the rear of the phone, you’ll find a 13-megapixel, f/2.0, PixelMaster camera module with dual-color LED flash. On the front, there’s a 5-megapixel, f/2.0 front-facing camera. ASUS’ proprietary PixelMaster technology combines hardware, software and optical design to deliver superior images in a number of tricky scenarios. It includes digital image stabilization as well as a very useful Low Light Mode, which uses oversampling techniques to increase light sensitivity in poorly lit conditions.

The ZenFone 2 is powered by an Intel Atom Z3560 quad-core processor and runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with the latest version of ASUS' ZenUI. One of the more notable new features in ZenUI is ZenMotion, which lets you quickly launch apps while the display is asleep. For example, draw a C to launch the camera, a W to launch the internet browser, an S to launch SMS messages, or an E to launch e-mail. ZenMotion also lets you flip the phone face down to mute an incoming call or any music playing.

A nice feature that's becoming more common in flagship smartphones, but is still quite rare at this price range is the ZenFone 2's Quick Charging capability via ASUS' BoostMaster technology. This will charge the phone from 0 to 60 percent in about 40 minutes.

Lenovo A7000 - $229

The most affordable phone in our shootout, the Lenovo A7000, costs just $229, making it a full $50 cheaper than the next cheapest, the Xiaomi Mi 4i.

Design-wise, the A7000 is about as safe as they come. The phone has a utilitarian rectangular design with slightly rounded rear edges for a more comfortable grip. If you like bright colors you’re out of luck, the A7000 only comes in matte black or matte white.

The entire phone is made of plastic, but feels relatively sturdy. One complaint we have is that the matte finish looks a bit cheap and tends to pick up grease and oily fingerprints quite easily. The right edge of the phone houses the volume rocker and the power button, which thankfully are made of metal and have a etched circular pattern on them for a bit of flair. The top edge houses the headphone jack and, unusually, the MicroUSB port can also be found here, leaving the left and bottom edges port-free.

The rear cover is removable and hides two micro-SIM card slots and a microSD card slot. Unfortunately the phone only has 8GB internal storage (which is actually only 3.5GB once you factor in the space taken up by Android), and the microSD slot only supports cards up to a measly 32GB.

The A7000 has a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a 1280 x 720 pixels resolution (267 ppi), giving it the lowest pixel density of any of our phones. Clarity on the phone isn’t too bad, but it is noticeably worse than the Full HD display on our other 5.5-inch device, the ASUS ZenFone 2. Color reproduction is decent if a little warm, and viewing angles and brightness are quite good overall. The screen is protected by Asahi Dragontrail glass, which is said to have a similar level of toughness as Corning’s Gorilla Glass. Below the display, there’s a row of capacitive buttons but unfortunately there aren't backlit, so finding them in the dark can be a bit tricky.

One of the unique features on the A7000 is that it is one of the first phones to support Dolby’s Atmos technology. This technology replicates a surround sound experience with any pair of headphones. Obviously this only works with headphones plugged in, and doesn’t do anything to improve the A7000’s single rear speaker, which isn’t very impressive anyway. However, with a pair of headphones plugged in we were quite impressed by the simulated surround sound experience. Do note that you need to be watching Dolby Atmos certified movies or trailers for the technology to work. Sadly, such content is scarce at this point of time and that makes this feature more of a marketing angle than of real value for consumers.

On the rear of the phone you’ll find an 8-megapixel camera with a 1/4-inch Sony Exmor IMX219 sensor and a dual LED flash. On the front, there’s also a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Lenovo’s default camera interface is fairly clean and easy to use but a little on the basic side.

The phone is powered by a MediaTek MT6752m octa-core processor and runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with Lenovo's Vibe UI 3.0 skin on top of it. Like most Android phones from China, this skin does not use an app drawer. Other than that, Lenovo hasn’t done too much tweaking, and most of its pre-installed apps can be easily removed.

Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE - $300

The Lumia 640 is the only non-Android phone in our shootout, instead it’s running on Windows Phone 8.1 OS, made up of big, colorful tiles that will come as a refreshing change to anyone that's tired of Android (or even iOS).

Lumia phones may be part of Microsoft’s brand today, but they look and feel almost exactly the same as when Nokia was making them. Like previous Lumia phones, the 640 has a one-piece polycarbonate design that bends around to meet the screen at the front. The phone is slightly on the thick side, measuring 8.8mm, and it’s also a bit more angular than some of the Lumia phones we’ve seen in the past, but it’s still very comfortable to hold.

The stiff polycarbonate feels sturdy and well-built, and you can actually swap out the rear cover if you feel like changing colors, or if you just want to replace your old cover when it starts looking a bit worn out. Our review unit is glossy blue, but rear covers are also available in bright green and orange, or if you prefer something more understated, black and white are also available.

The headphone jack can be found at the top of the phone, while the micro-USB port is at the bottom. The power button and volume rocker can be found on the right side, while the Micro-SIM and microSD card slots can be found hidden beneath the rear panel. You'll definitely want to make use of that microSD card slot, which supports cards up to 128GB, as the phone only comes with a mere 8GB of on-board storage.

The Lumia 640 has a 5-inch IPS LCD display with a 1280 x 720 pixels resolution (294 ppi), which isn’t as good as the Full HD models in our shootout, but is still reasonably adequate. The Windows Phone OS makes use of multiple tiles on its homepage and the phone’s resolution is sharp enough to give each tile a crisp edge. Color reproduction is fairly good with vivid colors and there’s a decent level of contrast too. Viewing angles were also quite good, but the display could probably be a little bit brighter, as it doesn’t fare that well under direct overhead sunlight.

Turn the phone over and you’ll find an 8-megapixel rear camera which, despite its fairly low megapixel count is actually quite decent with sharp focus and good, natural color reproduction. The same can’t be said of the phone’s front-facing camera, which is just 0.9-megapixels and barely usable, resulting in low-quality, grainy selfies.

The Lumia 640 is a bit underpowered, running on an older 32-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor and just 1GB RAM. If you’re unfamiliar with Windows Phone OS, the homescreen is made up of a scrolling list of colorful tiles that show live information, and can be resized and rearranged to your liking (for more info, check out our full guide here). The 8.1 Denim update brings some much-needed updates like a pull-down panel showing incoming notifications and settings like the screen brightness and Wi-Fi.

While Windows Phone OS is quite enjoyable to use, the lack of available apps has always been its downfall - especially local services based apps. Most of the big apps, such as, Facebook, WhatsApp, Spotify and Instagram, are all available now, but Windows Phone still receives updates later than iOS and Android, if at all.

Phicomm P660 - $318

Phicomm is a Chinese manufacturer that is new to the Singapore market. Its first phone here is the P660, a minimalist slab style smartphone that looks quite similar to Sony’s Xperia Z flagship phones. The phone has a unibody design with distinct, sharp corners and is made from plastic with brushed magnesium alloy side panels making it the only phone in our shootout to utilize metal in its build, a very nice premium touch for a phone in this price range. Our review unit is black with metallic grey side panels, but a white version with silver side panels is also available.

The 5-inch phone is the thinnest in our shootout, measuring just 7.3mm, and it’s also remarkably light, weighing a mere 110g. A metal power button with an unusual oblong shape and an attractive bronze trim on its edge can be found on the right side of the phone, and you’ll also find a Micro SIM slot, as well as a Nano SIM slot that doubles up as a MicroSD card slot, here. The volume rocker is located on the left-edge, while the headphone jack can be found on top, and the micro-USB port, on the bottom.

The rear of the phone isn't as exciting, but has a nice soft-touch matte finish which is pretty good at resisting fingerprints and scratches. Due to its angular edges and lack of curves, the P660 isn’t the most comfortable phone to hold, but it does provide you with a secure grip.

The P660 has a 5-inch Full HD IPS LCD display with a 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution (441ppi). On paper this gives it the same specs as Xiaomi’s Mi 4i, however, in our opinion, Xiaomi has the better display. Overall clarity between the two displays is about the same, but the Mi 4i’s display is noticeably brighter and also boasts more accurate color reproduction. We found the P660 display to be slightly on the warm side, although its contrast was quite good and viewing angles were decent too. Below the screen, the P660 has three capacitive buttons, but unfortunately they’re not backlit, which can make them hard to see in the dark.

The rear of the P660 sports a 13-megapixel camera with a 1/3.06-inch Sony Exmor RS IMX214 CMOS sensor, f/2.0 aperture lens and LED flash. On the front, you’ll find a 5-megapixel camera with an 84-degree wide angle view, which is great for group selfies.

The P660 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, but sadly is still running on Android 4.4.4. KitKat. Phicomm also runs its own custom Expect UI skin on top of Android, which, unlike most Chinese UIs, is actually fairly close to stock Android 4.4 and includes the Android app drawer, as well as most of the stock notification and settings menus.

One of Phicomm’s own customizations is a gesture control option, which uses the front camera to detect hand movement and supports simple actions like unlocking the screen, pulling down the notifications tray and swiping between home screens and pictures. It’s a little gimmicky and we would have liked to see options included for launching apps, but it does work as described.

Xiaomi Mi 4i – S$279

The Xiaomi Mi 4i was launched earlier this year in India (the ‘i’ stands for India) as a cheaper alternative to Xiaomi’s Mi 4. Compared to the Mi 4, the Mi 4i uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615 processor instead of the Snapdragon 801 and it only has 2GB RAM instead of 3. For a more in-depth review of the Mi 4i, click here.

The Mi 4i has a minimalist rectangular body with rounded edges and a smooth soft-touch matte finish. Constructed from a single piece of polycarbonate, the Mi 4i feels light and well-made, and somewhat similar to Microsoft’s Lumia range. The polycarbonate has an interesting stain-free finish, you can actually write on it with a marker pen and it will rub right out. At 7.8mm thin, the phone is fairly slim, and its rounded edges let the Mi 4i sit comfortably in hand. Interestingly, compared to the more 'premium' Mi 4, the Mi 4i is slightly thinner and also 19g lighter.

As with most of Xiaomi's phones, the Mi 4i supports dual micro-SIM cards, and the SIM tray can be found on the left of the phone. The headphone jack is found at the top of the phone, while the micro-USB port sits at the bottom of the device. The sides of the Mi 4i are relatively uncluttered with both the volume rocker and power button on the right side.

The Mi 4i sports a 5-inch IPS LCD display with a Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution (441ppi). Clarity is top notch and both text and pictures look crisp and clean. Color reproduction is also excellent, with the Mi 4i’s display capable of reproducing up to 95 percent of colors found in the NTSC palette, which puts it on par with a flagship device. The display is protected by Corning Concore glass, which is custom made for Xiaomi. It has roughly the same toughness as Gorilla Glass 3.

The Mi 4i’s display is also equipped with useful new technology called Sunlight Display, which uses hardware-level algorithms to increase visibility under bright sunlight by automatically boosting contrast and midtones.

Flip the phone around and you'll find a 13-megapixel camera with a 1/3.06-inch Sony Exmor RS IMX214 CMOS sensor, five-element lens construction, f/2.0 aperture, and a Philips dual-LED warm/cold flash. The front of the phone has a 5-megapixel camera.

The Mi 4i is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor. But while the Mi 4i, Phicomm P660 and ZTE Blade S6 all use the same processor, Xiaomi’s is actually clocked slightly higher than the other two. The phone runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with Xiaomi’s custom MIUI 6 UI on top of it. The main difference between MIUI and stock Android is the removal of the apps drawer. Instead, all apps are displayed on the homepage screens similar in style to iOS. Like the ZenFone 2, the Mi 4i supports Quick Charging. It's not the fastest we've seen, but it can go from flat to full in about three hours.

Something worth noting about the Mi 4i is that it’s the only phone in our shootout without expandable storage, so you’ll have to make do with its small 16GB internal storage.

ZTE Blade S6 - $349

The ZTE Blade S6 looks just like Apple’s iPhone 6. It shares a very similar shape, with the same rounded edge design, and similar looking buttons, and it even has a faux aluminum rear, which is actually plastic, but does look fairly convincing from a few feet away. There’s even a ‘designed by ZTE in California, assembled in China’ print on the rear, in the same place as Apple’s famous wording. The only thing missing are the antenna bands (plastic phones don’t need them).

No points for originality, but since the Blade S6 basically looks like an iPhone, naturally it’s quite attractive, especially for a phone in this price range. In hand, the plastic feels a bit cheap, and the phone is much lighter than an iPhone 6, but it’s comfortable to hold overall. Button placement on the S6 isn’t exactly the same as Apple’s, with both the power button and volume rocker located on the right-side (on the iPhone, the volume buttons are on the left). On the left, you’ll find a microSD card slot and a SIM card tray that holds dual 4G Nano SIMs. The audio jack can be found at the top of the phone, while the micro-USB port is found at the bottom.

The Blade S6 sports a 5-inch 1280 x 720 HD display (293 ppi). Clarity isn’t as good as the Full HD models in our shootout, but viewing angles are fairly decent and the display does boast fairly bright and vivid colors. At the bottom of the screen, the S6 has a small circle indicating the home button. It looks a bit like Apple’s Touch ID button, but it’s not; it’s just a regular capacitive home button. The menu and back buttons are invisible, but light up when any of the capacitive buttons are pressed.

On the back of the S6 you'll find a 13-megapixel 1/3.06-inch Sony Exmor RS IMX214 sensor, which is the same camera sensor used by Xiaomi and Phicomm. ZTE has also added a few software optimizations to get the most out of the camera, including an 'Expert' mode that lets you manually adjust metering, ISO levels and focal points. The front camera on the Blade S6 is a 5MP shooter with a wide-angle 80 degree lens, making it ideal for group selfies.

The Blade S6 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor and runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with a custom MiFavor 3.0 skin on top. Unsurprisingly, MiFavor 3.0 looks very similar to iOS 8 with a flat design and bright icon colors. As with many China phones, the UI removes the app tray in favor of multiple home screens full of icons (just like iOS).

The phone also comes pre-loaded with ZTE’s Smart Sense gesture-based commands. For example, to quickly turn on the torchlight, just shake the phone vigorously and it will turn on. Shake it again to turn it off - useful for when you're hunting for your keys in the dark. Hold down the volume up button, bring the phone up to your face, and release the button, and you activate a mirror application (really just the front-facing camera turning on). The gestures are a bit complicated to learn, but once you’ve used them a few times, they can be quite helpful as quick-launch features.

Benchmark Performance

There's a fair bit of chipset variety between our mid-range smartphones. The Phicomm P660, Xiaomi Mi 4i and ZTE Blade S6 all use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, although notably, Xiaomi's Mi 4i uses a speedier version with 1.7Ghz and 1.1Ghz cores. Lenovo also uses an octa-core processor, but one made by Mediatek, while ASUS uses an Intel Atom Z3560 quad-core 1.8GHz processor. Microsoft uses an older 32-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor and also has just 1GB RAM (everyone else has 2GB). Here's a specs table recap:-

SunSpider Javascript

SunSpider JavaScript measures the browsing performance of a device when processing JavaScript. It not only takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, but also assesses how optimized a particular platform is at delivering a high-speed web browsing experience. The ASUS ZenFone 2 was the clear winner in this benchmark, with a blistering speed of 688.8ms, which surpasses many flagship smartphones.

Quadrant

Quadrant is an Android benchmark that evaluates a device's CPU, memory, I/O and 3D graphics performances. As this is an Android benchmark, the Lumia 640 LTE is not included. Surprisingly, the winner here was the Snapdragon 615-equipped Xiaomi Mi 4i, which also easily beat the other 615-equipped smartphones thanks to its slightly higher clock speeds. The ZenFone 2 also performed well.

3DMark 2013

3DMark 2013 is designed to test the gaming capabilities of a device, putting its GPU through a rigorous OpenGL ES 2.0 benchmark test that uses fixed off-screen rendering with high quality textures and post-processing effects. The Unlimited version of the benchmark disables v-sync, display scaling and other OS factors, making it ideal for chipset comparison.

The ZenFone 2's PowerVR G6430 GPU was surprisingly dominant, easily outscoring the rest of the field. There wasn’t much to separate the rest of our smartphones, although it looks like the Lumia 640 was held back by having just 1GB RAM.

Battery Life

Our standard battery test for mobile phones includes the following parameters:

• Looping a 800 x 480-pixel video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

As expected, the phones with lower resolutions did better in our battery life benchmark, and the Lumia 640’s combination of a reasonably small screen, HD resolution display, and a relatively under-powered processor made it the leader here. That aside, the ASUS ZenFone 2 is the next best performer for a Full HD smartphone.

Conclusion

The mainstream smartphone category just keeps getting better and better, and all the while dropping in price. Just for comparison, eleven months ago, we did a shootout of 4G LTE smartphones under $600. All of our phones were between 4.2 to 4.7-inches and none of them had Full HD displays. All of them had just 8GB internal storage, and most of them had pretty terrible cameras. A year later and this year's batch of mid-range smartphones are closing the gap to flagship phones, and have also dropped to almost half the price of last year's models.

Here's a summary of each smartphone for this comparison and their final standings:-

		The winner of our shootout is the ASUS ZenFone 2, not only for its overall excellent benchmark scores, but also for its ergonomic, premium design and top notch Full HD display. If you’re in the market for something a little more powerful, you can opt for the $429 4GB ZenFone 2, which also has a slightly faster processor.
		Xiaomi is known for great value and the Mi 4i is no exception. It's the only phone with a Full HD display under $300 in our shootout and it also boasts a more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor than the more expensive Phicomm P660 and ZTE Blade S6.
		We were very impressed by thePhicomm P660 and for a first entry into the Singapore market, it's a great start for the Chinese brand. At this price range, almost everything is entirely plastic, so the P660's magnesium alloy side panels are a very nice premium touch. The phone is also incredibly light and thin too. Unfortunately its battery life is a bit lackluster and the lack of Androud 5.0 Lollipop is a big disappointment.
		The ZTE Blade S6 is an unusual phone. It looks quite nice, but that's only because it looks exactly like an iPhone, and once you get closer you can see that the back is cheap plastic and not aluminum. Personally this reviewer would rather have a phone that maybe doesn't look as good, but isn't such a blatant copy of another, more premium phone. At least then, it doesn't feel like you're trying to fool people into thinking you have an iPhone.
		The Lenovo A7000 is remarkably cheap and offers great value, but that's about all it has going for it. Its design is very plain, and it was only average in our benchmark tests.
		The Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE is a good alternative for anyone who's sick of Android, but it's let down by its old Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and very sub-par 0.9-megapixel front-facing camera.

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