Are you buying a cheap smartphone? Here are the mistakes you shouldn’t make

0
25
1035966.jpeg
1035966.jpeg

The world of smartphones increasingly resembles a jungle , there is an endless number of products on the market and in spite of the chip crisis, brands continue to launch new devices with very few differences compared to what is already available. In this confusion, on the one hand, the saying one is as good as the other becomes more credible , but on the other, we often see dangerous “infiltrators” who aim to conquer the user without really having something good to offer, with technical characteristics that they can draw. deceived.

With this article we try to suggest some precautions to avoid making gross mistakes by buying a cheap smartphone and we will do so by taking the new Honor X8 as an example, a good representative of the low-end from which we can draw some interesting ideas.

INDEX

  • BUILDING QUALITY and DESIGN
  • TECHNICAL FEATURES
  • BATTERY AND CHARGING
  • SOFTWARE AND UPDATES
  • CAMERAS
  • NEW RELEASE OR OFFER ON THE “OLD”

BUILDING QUALITY AND DESIGN

We assume that we are referring to a price range around or under 250 euros , in this sense it is very difficult to find products with refined materials, glass for the back and aluminum for the frame, but plastic reigns supreme so you need a little settle.

However, there is plastic and plastic (or polycarbonate to give it a tone), not all smartphones are the same and you immediately notice the differences by picking them up, touching them and tapping them on the back. The frame can have a glossy or opaque treatment, hold more or less dirt and be more or less slippery but it is the back cover that irremediably reveals the cards: if it sounds hollow, if it flexes under pressure it is not a good sign .

A small trick that we suggest is to extract the drawer of the SIM (s ), if it does not have any type of rubber seal it means that it is subject to water infiltration, if it is provided it is a good indication of a certain construction care. .

You could, if you want to be fussy, disassemble the phone to check the gaskets on any audio jack and speakers , they are a refinement that however has a great weight in the durability of the product. Having them means being able to expose your smartphone to splashes of water or rain, and even short dives without major risks.

Our Honor X8 has all the gaskets you need, that’s a great thing. Unfortunately it is not always possible to verify such construction details, try searching online, often our Indian colleagues on YouTube are an incredible source of information on build quality.

DESIGN

There is not much to say about design, even spending a little the eye wants its part , so be careful not to underestimate the impact that an ugly smartphone could have on you , or already apparently of dubious quality or anachronism.

In general, and even more so if the budget is limited, it is nice to have an aesthetically pleasing smartphone, on the contrary you risk finding a product that you do not like and that becomes almost annoying being one of the objects we use most during the day. Or are we wrong?

In this sense, Honor X8 is an excellent example, because although it costs little it has been made with an eye on it. The front has very thin bezels on three sides, the glossy back cover gives it a premium touch, the edge is flat as the latest trend wants.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Here, you cannot expect miracles here but you have to pay close attention to some departments , otherwise you literally risk throwing money away for a product that will be tight after a few hours of use.

SEE ALSO  Android Auto, in-depth guide: what it is, how it works, how to connect your mobile and the best thing you can do

The Honor X8 data sheet is a good example, it does not shine for the choice of the processor but manages to reach a basic level sufficient to guarantee a good user experience. Here are the features to look out for in brief.

MEMORY

First of all the memory: be careful to go below 128 GB , the lower step is 64 GB, halfway. With the smallest cut you seriously risk finding yourself with the memory full in an instant, already by reinstalling your apps in the configuration phase you may realize that you have made it big.

Do not make the mistake of relying on expandable memory , that can be useful for saving photos or videos but it is much slower than the integrated ones and often the coupons betray the best, never rely exclusively on a microSD for your memories.

PROCESSOR

Or rather the SoC, on the low end there is a bit of everything, pay attention to the production process , the lower the number the better, above 12 nm it means that you are dealing with a smartphone with poor performance and high consumption, 10 , 8 or 6 nm are modern manufacturing processes. There is no precise rule but if you follow our reviews you will never miss a consideration on the hardware platform adopted.

There are basically three SoC manufacturers that equip smartphones: Qualcomm, Samsung and Mediatek. For the former it is easy to identify the series and consequently the positioning in the lineup, the 4XX series is now adopted very little, the performance leaves much to be desired, the 6XX series is already discreet, the 680 that we find on the Honor X8 is a good entry processor level, while the 695 is an “engine with more horsepower” and 5G connectivity, the 7XX series is finally a guarantee of quality, performance and low consumption, it is the one to be preferred if the budget allows it.

At Mediatek on the low-end we often find SoCs of the G line, rarely the older P, clearly between the two families it is better to prefer the more recent G95 or G96. They have lower energy efficiency (12 nm production process) than Qualcomm’s 600 series but in terms of performance they play it. Lately, some smartphones with Dimensity 700, 800 and 900 are arriving on the market. With these families, energy efficiency increases compared to the G, while performance remains low-end, with only the 900 series able to equalize the upper range of the Qualcomm family. Snapdragon 600. Going further we find the Dimensity 1000 series, excellent processors capable of rivaling and often surpassing the best Qualcomm 700 series.

We then come to Samsung with the Exynos, mostly equipped on Samsung smartphones, they are a category of their own, even if technically they do not have big differences compared to the more classic Mediatek and Qualcomm. On the low end there are often Exynos 850, 990 and 980, the first made at 8 nm, comparable to Dimesity G or Qualcomm 600 series, while the two 980 and 990 are slightly higher end.

CONNECTIVITY

As for connectivity, the elements to pay attention to are different. The WiFi should be at least of the “ac” type , that is capable of supporting WiFi networks at 2.4 and 5 GHz, Bluetooth at least in version 5, while the NFC chip is now a must to be able to take advantage of payments by bringing the smartphone closer at POS.

Then there is the 5G issue, for which some reflections need to be made. The current state of 5G networks still leaves something to be desired , so actually it is not a really usable specification at the moment, it will probably become one in the future but we are talking about a time horizon of at least 2 or 3 years. To date, therefore, it is not a big problem if the smartphone chosen is not compatible with 5G, given that we are talking about cheap products, which have other limits that would make the advantages of 5G less evident.

SEE ALSO  WhatsApp rectifies and lets us swipe again to change tabs

In the case of Honor X8 there is no 5G connectivity due to the processor. A pity, but on balance it is not a lack that will somehow be felt.

Having said that, it must be considered that buying a 5G smartphone gives you the security of having a modern SoC on board and probably more performing than the older models, it is not always true but it is a good clue.

EXTRA TO CONSIDER

Honor X8 has two interesting features that give us the opportunity to talk about as many aspects that must be considered. The first is the display, in fact we have a FullHD LCD panel at 90 Hz, an atypical choice compared to many OLEDs that we find in the 200-300 euro range. The question arises, is it better or worse?

BATTERY AND CHARGING

Here, on this point we could be unbalanced in saying that we can rest assured . Generally, low-end smartphones often have capacious batteries in themselves, 4,500-5,000 mAh, the case of Honor X8 instead is emblematic of the fact that even without large capacities (4,000 mAh) autonomy is still not a problem.

The merit is of the processor, and it is a common feature on the market segment, these are hardware platforms dedicated to energy saving , which ask for some sacrifice on performance but pay off in terms of energy savings.

An added value could be fast charging, 40-50-60 Watts are a pleasure, even if it is rare to find these speeds under 200 euros. Fortunately, almost all smartphones now have at least 20-25 Watts to offer, do not take into consideration smartphones with lower charging values .

SOFTWARE AND UPDATES

 

On the software the question is delicate, many of our readers are extremely sensitive to the subject of updates, while others do not even ask themselves the problem. Generally , those who are a little more geeky take into strong consideration the version of Android with which the smartphone arrives on the market and the number of updates that the brand plans to release. Most of the people who buy on the low-end, on the other hand, do not have high expectations , they are mostly concerned about having a well-functioning smartphone in hand.

Buying a smartphone around or under 250 euros it is often difficult to find information on the update support period provided by the brand, most of the times the houses do not declare anything for cheap products. In addition to this, further considerations must be made:

  • the interfaces customized by manufacturers have minimal differences between one version of Android and another, often small features change that the user does not even notice
  • security patches are updated in parallel and independently of the basic software, it can therefore happen that cheap smartphones receive security updates throughout their life without ever being fully updated with regard to the basic software
  • it happens that the updates are pejorative, while at the debut on the market the brands worry that their product is working well (even if it is not always true, especially in the higher segments of the market)

Usually, for better or worse, all smartphones receive at least one new version of Android, even on the low-end. Our advice is to prefer products that come out with the latest version available , in this Honor X8 it is not virtuous, in fact it debuts with Android 11, however it does not make too much sense to limit one’s possibilities only for the updates speech, precisely for the considerations that we have set out above.

SEE ALSO  Android 15 Developer Preview 2 is deployed: the new features that will soon arrive on your mobile to transform it

CAMERAS

 

The main mistake not to make when buying a cheap smartphone is to be duped by the number of cameras . It has no meaning, indeed, it is a real red herring. We must therefore be smart and inform ourselves, be able to see beyond the technical data sheet.

Honor X8 in this is a case in point, but now all smartphones have this type of setting: a good quality main camera, a generally sufficient secondary camera (the ultrawide) and a couple of lenses to make up numbers, in this case a macro from 2 MP and a 2 MP depth sensor.

By checking the data sheet we realize that the main camera is remarkable, 64 MP, phase detection AF and aperture F / 1.8, are values ​​that ensure the success of the shots. The ultra wide-angle camera has a resolution of 5 MP, the minimum questionable, but it is there and manages to give an original point of view to the photos. The other two are almost useless and negligible.

So be careful, do not buy by number of cameras but inquire about the quality, there are products where from 5 cameras you can barely save 1.

GOOGLE CAMERA

Here, this is a great opportunity and is reserved for smartphones with Qualcomm processor , with some very rare exceptions. The technique has been refined for years now: installing the basic camera app of the Google Pixel on smartphones, known for the great quality of photography, entrusted to prodigious algorithms rather than hardware.

Here, buying a smartphone compatible with Google’s camera is a choice not to be underestimated. Our Honor X8 completely changes face using the Google Camera (this version) instead of the default camera app.

Recently an app has been published on the PlayStore that helps you find the best version of the Google camera for your smartphone, then you have to install the app as an apk file, or install manually by tapping on the file after downloading it. Alternatively, we can refer to the most complete database on the various ported versions of the Google camera.

NEW RELEASE OR LAST RECENT OFFER

We dedicate a last paragraph to a doubt that surely many will have placed themselves in the purchase phase. Is it better to buy a smartphone that has just come out on the market, or to focus on products with a few months on your shoulders that you can find with good offers?

The advantage of the latter is evident: for the same price you take home a smartphone that tends to be better , which probably started from a higher price list and which, despite a more “mature” technological age, can easily keep up with the new releases. Furthermore, often the devices that have been on the market for some time have already received those software refinements that naturally the houses go to carry out in the first months after the release.

On the other hand , buying a newly released smartphone guarantees longer-lasting software support and often important technological developments. Obviously this is not always true, you need to inform yourself carefully. A last variable increasingly comes into play and is represented by launch offers . The manufacturers have recently been marketing smartphones with strong discounts for the first buyers, offering prices that are difficult to find in the following months.

HONOR X8 Smartphone, 6 + 128GB Cell Phones, 6.7 90Hz LCD Display, 64MP Professional Camera, 4000mAh Battery, Quick Charge, NFC Dual SIM Card, GMS
259 € Honor X8

{shop}

€ 259