Best budget mobile phones
- — 24 August, 2010 14:00
Paying less for a mobile phone doesn't mean you should be forced to skimp on features, and the good news is, many budget phones now have capabilities well beyond what you would expect given their price tags.
Whether it's accessing your social network profiles, downloading apps, or sending and receiving e-mails, many mobile phones with entry-level price points offer great features — even some prepaid handsets. Keep in mind that the main trade offs when it comes to cheaper, entry-level phones come in the form of a smaller screen with a low resolution, or a plastic body rather than metal.
If you're buying your mobile phone outright, we've limited our selection to phones that retail for $500 or under. And if you're purchasing it on a plan, we've opted for phones that are available for $0 upfront on $29 plans and under. Note that some phones in our list may list an RRP higher than $500 — in this case, these are definitely available on $29 plans and under through one or more Australian telcos: Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, 3 or Virgin Mobile.
10 / 11
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HTC Wildfire
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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini Pro
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RIM BlackBerry Curve 8520
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LG GW620
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Nokia N97 mini
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Garmin-Asus A10
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LG Optimus
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Motorola Quench
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Nokia C5
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Samsung GenoA (C3510)
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Motorola DEXT
Samsung deserves some credit for producing a phone at this price point with a capacitive touchscreen and a 3.5mm headphone jack, but the GenoA loses points due to its lack of 3G connectivity and erratic on-screen keyboard.
- Review Date:
- Reviewer:
- Manufacturer:
- 11th May, 2010
- Ross Catanzariti
- Samsung
- Rating:
- Price:
- $ 129.00
- Pros:
- Price, capacitive touchscreen, TouchWIZ UI, distinctive design, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Cons:
- No 3G, widget system needs work, keyboard isn't always responsive
