Best budget smartphone

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d7e7r7

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Can anyone recommend a good budget smartphone?

My mom got a Gobii and that was really awful, screen got a crack in it after a tiny drop, and it started showing Chinese writing and was basically unusable.

She got a refund for the Gobii and got a Zest T1, which hasn't been much better, also got a hairline crack across the screen after a small bump and it keeps freezing as well as whatsapp and other apps not responding randomly.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations...
 
Cheap smartphones in general are pretty bad. I've only read great things about the Moto E though. I've also heard that low-end Lumia (windows phone) run well.
 
DA-LION-619 said:
Microsoft Lumia 435
http://www.takealot.com/microsoft-lumia-435-black/PLID34198045

Be wary of cheap Androids they tend to have bloat and run out of memory. The Lumia will be lag free.
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Lumia 430/5 is R999 at game and other stores. Takealot is R100 more.
And with cheap android like the vodafone kicka, alcatel pixi, the touch isn't that accurate, is generally slow with everything and sometimes you don't get gps.

MTN steppa 2 lte seems decent, but I'm expecting it to turn out like the gobii/zest sooner or later, at least there is warranty with MTN where you can walk in stores to claim.
I found that samsung, nokia phones to be the most solid. Apple phones can last for years.
There are tons of Samsung accessories as well and easy to find.
Also ALL android phones on 512mb ram sucks, suck worse if the cpu is slow as well. Huawei seems to have decent build as well but their budget phones only have 512mb and getting replacement batteries with them is difficult.
Xiaomi is supposed to launch some time soon, I'm guessing their build quality to be better but I got burnt by Chinese phone before so I'm hesitant on those.

If you want something decent I say Lumia 435 as previous post recommended, its like the only phone in that price range that has 1gb ram with solid build. And it's getting windows 10 which you can update without waiting for official carrier approved one by getting insider app. OS update is much better for windows phone than any cheap android.
 
The cam on the 435 is atrocious and has no flash...just in case she occasionally takes pics on her phone
 
If your budget is really tight and you only need a very basic phone then this. ImageUploadedByMyBroadband1443009846.912990.jpg

This is at P'nP
 
I'd recommend moto g, very nice phone, had it for a year now and no real problems. Got mine through orange store
 
janinki said:
I have a Samsung Galaxy Pocket for card transactions that works like a charm
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Had a Galaxy Pocket Plus. Still have it as my back up phone. Loved it. Not the best phone ever, but got the job done. You could also hold it with one hand.
 
The Huawei G6 is a good option. Not the newist phone but still decent and there are some good deals possibly clearance sales. ImageUploadedByMyBroadband1443095720.508177.jpg
ImageUploadedByMyBroadband1443095775.914982.jpg

If you are happy with a windows phone

ImageUploadedByMyBroadband1443095857.987024.jpg

If you want a small cheap iPhone then this.
ImageUploadedByMyBroadband1443095913.657256.jpg
 
I got my father a refurbed iPhone 4s from Orange for R2500.

I find iOS the best fit for people who are not technically savvy - its restricted nature makes it less likely to get messed up / full of crap apps. It's got a good build quality and accurate touch screen keyboard. He can use it just fine.

For that price the Android options available are horrible and slow and general pieces of rubbish.
 
blunt said:
I got my father a refurbed iPhone 4s from Orange for R2500.

I find iOS the best fit for people who are not technically savvy - its restricted nature makes it less likely to get messed up / full of crap apps. It's got a good build quality and accurate touch screen keyboard. He can use it just fine.

For that price the Android options available are horrible and slow and general pieces of rubbish.
Click to expand...


For that price the Android options aren't rubbish but then again that price isn't a budget price.
 
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