Top Smartphones Under Rs 10,000 (June, 2015)

Lenovo  A 6000 (Priced @ Rs. 7,000)

enova  A 6000 was recently launched in January 2015 by Lenovo, exclusively on Flipkart, to capture the sub 8,000 smartphone market share which is currently ruled by competition.

The smartphone packs  a 64 bit 1.2 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon Quad core processor , 8 GB internal storage(expandable upto 32 GB)  and  1 GB RAM  to provide a lag free experience . the lenova 6000 runs on Android kitkat 4.4. The phone features a 5 inch HD screen with IPS display and it delivers 180 degree viewing angle , The smartphone also boasts of Twin Speaker with Dolby Digital Plus for excellent music experience on loudspeaker.

The phone has dual speakers with Dolby digital plus audio enhancement which gives better listening experience while playing games and watching videos. The lenova A6000 has a 8 MP primary camera and a 2 MP secondary camera.

The phone’s highlight is that it offers 4G connectivity in this price range, the other low cost smartphone which offers 4G is Lumia 638. The Lenova A6000 comes with 2300 maH battery , it’ good to last entire day without a second recharge.  The smartphone is selling like hot cakes currently with Flipkart selling the stock in seconds.

 

Lenovo A6000 Plus

Lenovo recently launched the Lenovo A6000 PLUS for Rs. 7,499 which is considerably better than the original Lenovo A6000. The Lenovo A6000 had many quality issues and user complaints due to heating and lack of RAM because of bloatware added by Lenovo. The 1 GB RAM on the A6000 was not adequate as per many users for the smartphone to play games and run it smoothly. Our test unit also faced some lag while gaming for a longer period, though not too much.

The lenovo A6000 Plus offers two upgrades Vs the A6000, the RAM is 2 GB on the Lenovo A6000 Plus which helps a lot in multi tasking and make it more fluid compared to the Lenovo A6000. The second major upgrade on Lenovo A6000 plus is the internal storage is increased to 16 GB which is great compared to the 8 GB on the A6000.

The design, camera and other specs are exactly same as the A6000, but the modifications are good to make the smartphone much better compared to A6000.

Asus zenfone 5 – 8 GB (Priced @ Rs. 8,000)

 The recent price drop makes Asus Zenfone 5 a great deal if you are looking to buy a great camera smartphone in this range. Earlier the smartphone was priced at Rs. 10,000 now Asus has dropped the price to Rs. 8,000.

The mobile phone has decent built quality and better hardware and software integration which makes it look and feel premium. Featuring a 5 inch screen (1280*720p resolution), it also has corning’s gorilla glass protection in case you have a habit of dropping the mobile often.

The Zenfone 5 comes with Intel processor with hyper threading technology  and a 2 GB RAM which makes the phone smooth and fast. It runs on Android Jelly bean , and you get the Kitkat update OTA.  Yet there is no word on Zenphone getting Lollipop update.

The mobile phone has a quality 8 MP camera that takes incredible photos and is also better at taking low light pictures, the front camera is  routine 2 MP shooter.

Battery life is adequate with it’s 2110 maH battery that provides  353 hours standby and 18 hours talk time on 3G.

Motorola Moto E (Priced @ Rs. 6,999)

Moto E is designed for those who are obsessed about build quality. This phone offers best value for the  money as it comes with durable design  and smooth performance with water resistance.

Moto e has matte finished body which gives good comfort and grip that never gives the feel of a budget smartphone.  It is fairly easy to use with one hand and the contoured body makes it naturally fit in your hand.

The phone has a 4.3 inch IPS screen with qHD display resolution (960*540 pixels) and the best part is, it also comes with Corning’s Gorilla glass 3 protection.

The Moto E is powered by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm snapdragon 210 processor, 4 GB internal storage , 1 GB RAM and  also have an Adreno 302 GPU for all your gaming needs. It runs on Android kitkat 4.4.4 with guaranteed upgrade to Android Lollipop which Moto E buyers are eagerly waiting.

Motorola has compromised with the camera of this phone since it has a  5 MP fixed focus camera at the rear and it lacks L.E.D flash and a VGA front camera.

The Moto E packs a 1980 mAh  non removable battery that last full day on 3G with normal usage

Android One smartphones (Priced @ Rs. 6,299)

Android One is a Google project started first in India in late 2014 to provide low cost smartphones with better hardware and regular software updates through OTA  to budget buyers.  The initiative is about getting more people online and offering them a sea of information with internet connectivity.

Google has partnered with Indian brands like Karbonn , Spice and Micromax to provide Android One smartphones. All these smartphones have same specifications as they are made with Google’s reference and guidelines.

Currently there are three Android one smartphones

1. Karbonn sparkle v
2. Spice dream UNO
3. Micromax canvas A1

All these phones have 4.5 inch screen, with 854*480 pixels resolution, 5 MP rear and 2MP front camera 4GB internal storage, Mediatek MT6582 quad core processor and a 1GB RAM.

These phones runs on Android Kitkat out of the box and receives regular system updates and likely to get the Android Lollipop update as well.

They all comes with a 1700 mAh battery  capacity

iaomi Redmi 2 (Priced @ Rs. 6,999)

The Xiaomi Redmi 2 is the successor to the very successful Redmi 1S. The Redmi 2 is priced at Rs. 6,999 and is currently available only with Flipkart. The smartphone has the latest super fast  64 Bit , Snapdragon 410 processor, and 1 GB RAM. The GPU is Adreno 306 which is relatively good, if you are a gaming enthusiast.

The Redmi 2 is a dual Sim(GSM+4G LTE) device which offers 3G/4G connectivity. The screen size is 4.7 inch IPS LCD, with a 1280*720 resolution, 312 PPI that is great if you like to read a lot on your smartphone.

The smartphone has a 8 MP rear camera with autofocus and led flash, the front camera is also a 2 MP shooter which can click good photographs.

The Redmi 2 has corning gorilla glass 2 for protection and it weighs only 133 grams which is adequate. The smartphone has 2200 mAh battery and it runs on Android Kitkat along with the MIUI 6.0.  The android lollipop update is yet not available for the smartphone.

Motorola Moto E 2nd Gen [2015] Priced @ Rs. 6,999

The new Moto E 2nd gen succeeds the vastly successful Motorola Moto E gen 1. The new smartphone has many positives compared to the older Moto E. The Moto E gen 2 has slightly bigger screen measuring 4.5 inches and 540 x 960 pixels display resolution(245PPI).

The Moto E Gen2 runs on the latest Android Version 5.0 Lollipop, out of the box. The processor is Snapdragon 200, clocked at 1.2 Ghz Quadcore along with the Adreno 302 GPU. The Ram offered by Moto E Gen 2 is 1 GB while the internal storage has been increased to 8 GB from earlier 4 GB. You can also add a secondary micro SD card to increase storage space to 32 GB.

The battery capacity has been increased by 21% and now has a 2390 mAh battery which is sufficient to last full day with moderate to heavy usage.

Camera – The front camera is added, however is only a VGA 0.3 MP camera , you can use mostly for attending a video call. The rear camera is a 5 MP with auto-focus but lacks a flash.

The smartphone offers all the standard connectivity options like WIFI, bluetooth, 2G and 3G. This model does not have a 4G connectivity option, the 4G model is listed on Flipkart but no details are provided regarding launch date and price.

Verdict – It is a robust build, Android lollipop smartphone, backed by excellent service of Motorola.

Other Smartphones you can buy in this price range are Xiaomi Redmi 1S (read comparison Vs Honor Holly) or Micromax Unite 2 which are also a good purchase.

Motorola Moto E 2nd Gen (4G) LTE Priced Rs. 7,999

Moto E Gen 2 4G is one of the favorite contenders for the top spot for mobiles under Rs. 8000 in India. The smartphone got released in April 2015 in India and it fills up the gap between the Moto E (3G) and the Motorola Moto G2.

The smartphone is equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 Quadcore Processor clocked at 1.2 Ghz.
The smartphone has Adreno 306 GPU with 400 Mhz clock speed. The smartphone is excellent for gaming and multi-tasking, the processor is vastly improved compared to the old generation of Moto E.
The Moto E 4G LTE model runs on Android Lollipop 5.0 out of the box, and comes with minimalist apps, some of the lenovo and other smartphones are bloated with Apps. The smartphone offers 4G LTE connectivity along with the standard 3G/2G/WIFI options with Dual Sim support.
The internal memory is 8 GB and can be expanded to 32 GB using a micro-SD card. The Ram size is also 1 GB which is adequate to run multiple apps, and good amount of free RAM is available on smartphone.
Display is similar to the 3G model with 4.5 inch screen size and 960*540 pixels resolution, offering a pixel density of 245.  The screen is protected by the gorilla glass 3 and smartphone has the water resistant coating.
Camera – The major con of the Moto E 4G is the front VGA camera which is uninspiring. The rear camera is 5 MP and offers good picture quality in daylight. Considering it is only 5 MP camera, it offers a lot, and is better than many 8 MP or 13 MP smartphone cameras.
The battery is really good with the Moto E with long lasting 2390 mAh battery. The software and hardware is well optimized to consume least possible battery and avoid heating of the smartphone.
There is currently exchange offer going on the Moto E smartphones on Flipkart, you can actually buy the smartphone for Rs. 6,999 and get a discount of Rs. 1,000 on exchange of your old mobile.

Micromax Yu Yuphoria Priced at Rs. 6999

Micromax Yu Yuphoria is the second smartphone launched by the Yu tele-ventures on 12-May-2015  in New Delhi. The smartphone is launched exclusively on Amazon India and is available only through flash sale for a price tag of Rs. 6,999.  The first flash sale is on 28th May 2015 for the Yu Yuphoria.

The smartphone has a good design with contours and edges well rounded and more curved than most smartphones. The edge design draws some inspiration from Samsung Galaxy S6 and Apple iPhone 6. However the USB and speaker jack is a black patch which I didn’t liked and looks a bit out of place to me.
The smartphone boasts of a 5 MP front camera for taking selfies which is way better than the Moto E 4G and  the 8 MP rear camera with Auto-focus, led flash.  The other major highlight for the smartphone is Cyanogen Mod 12 which runs atop Android Lollipop 5.0 out of the box. Cyanogen mod brings lots of customization to the native Android OS.
The battery capacity is 2380 mAH which is adequate to run the smartphone for entire day. Internal storage on the smartphone is excellent – 16 GB, which can be expanded to 32 GB using a micro SD card.
The Yu Yuphoria is powered by the 64 Bit Snapdragon 410 processor and equipped with Adreno 306 GPU. Another key highlight of the smartphone is 2 GB RAM; Yuphoria is one of the cheapest smartphone with 2 GB RAM priced below 7K.
The smartphone has 5.0 inch IPS LCD HD display with 1280*720 resolution which is decent for reading and watching movies. Overall a great smartphone for the affordable price of Rs. 6,999.

Micromax Canvas Spark:

The canvas spark has the lowest price tag still it having great features. This smartphone will be available at snapdeal retailer via flash sale. To buy this device you need to register for the flash sale.



Key Specs:

• 4.7 inch qHD IPS display and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• Android 5.0 Lollipop OS
• 1.3 GHz Quad Core processor
• 1 GB RAM & 8GB Internal Storage
• MicroSD card Slot
• 8MP back camera with LED Flash
• 2 MP front camera
• 2000 mAh battery capacity.