Phones can be very expensive, but they don’t have to be good. There is mostly a fuss about the phones at 1000 USD or more, but if you look a little you can find jewels that are almost as good for half the price. These are the best phones you can buy that don’t cost a fortune.
1. Nothing Phone (1)
Nothing Phone (1) comes without a lot of extra frills and with a very reasonable price tag. It’s tight enough to withstand the weather, and it has a full light organ on the back that plays when it rings, so you get a clear notification even if the sound is off. Of all the mobile gimmicks we’ve seen in recent years, this is one of the more useful.
In addition, it is more than fast enough for a super user experience and it is well built and good looking. It also supports wireless charging and the performance of the cameras is quite decent. There aren’t really any downsides here – the main one we can think of is that the charger isn’t included.
In contrast to the Moto G200, the internals are a little weaker, but it is newer and with a better screen and several useful functions that just barely overtake it.
2. Motorola Moto G200
Lightning fast, affordable and pretty to look at. Motorola’s Moto G200 has hardware that can otherwise be found in mobile phones twice as expensive. The camera is perfectly fine for its price range and performs very well in daylight, while it struggles more in the evening. The phone is built in plastic, but still feels well built and, unlike many cheap phones, it is made to withstand a degree of moisture.
It is not tight, but inserted with water-repellent material. It remains to be desired a slightly brighter screen, stabilized camera and fingerprint reader in the screen rather than on the side – but then it would have actually cost significantly more.
3. Motorola Edge 30 5G
Great design, excellent camera and top performance for under $350? It’s hard to argue with the Edge 30 series from Motorola. The mobile manufacturer is back with some of the best experiences, penny for penny, after a couple of years with somewhat mediocre products. The screen you get here is a blazing fast AMOLED screen.
In the camera, it shares most of the same with its somewhat more expensive big brother Edge 30 Pro. The phone is water resistant with IP52 certification, so it can withstand storms. In our test, we were only a little disappointed that the battery did not impress – although it was still completely sufficient. The Edge 30 is a lot of phone for the money, especially if you’re looking for one that looks a little extra good.
4. Apple iPhone 11
The iPhone 11 has “officially” gone out of Apple’s range, but it still lives on at other retailers. At around $500 it is at the upper end of the price range for this list, but then you get a phone with around 4-5 years of remaining updates that is lightning fast and has enough storage space. It is also tight and has wireless charging.
Also Read: Best Budget Phones Under 250 USD
Fast and nice face recognition is part of it, and eventually a huge ecosystem around the phones. There are few really big things this iPhone lacks – if you go up a little over a hundred in price range, you can get the cheapest iPhone 12 models, and with that night photography.
Otherwise, there are fast screens that only the last two generations of iPhone Pro provide, and they still cost a fortune. From Apple, this is probably the most phone for his money now, and the performance was so far ahead when it came out that it is still at the very top. Also check: how to choose the best iPhone.
5. OnePlus Nord 2
Cheap and very good – you can go up quite a bit in price and still not get much more or a better phone than you get here. You get a phone that looks good, charges quickly, has an excellent camera and a fast and good screen. Most everything is in place, while the compromises needed to make a phone for under 500 USD are very well hidden.
The OnePlus Nord 2 caused quite a stir when it arrived. The price was reasonable and the user experience was like that of a top model. Since then, the mobile manufacturer has tried to “milk” the name a little, with several less exciting Nord models.
6. OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite
Perhaps the cheapest phone on the market now that is still great to use. You can get it from under 300 USD. It is important to note that compared to the other phones in this list, this is the most spartanly equipped of them. But after all, OnePlus is incredibly good at what they do, and the compromise that is the CE 2 Lite still takes perfectly decent pictures, you rarely have to wait for it because it’s slow and it has all the essentials you need.
There are almost twice as expensive phones from competitors that are easier to use than this one. You don’t get any luxury here, but for the price you get a phone that anyone should be able to handle just fine.
7. OnePlus 9
Like the iPhone 11, the OnePlus 9 is on the outer edge of the price range for this list. For just under 550 USD, however, you get an extremely good Android phone with good materials, a great and fast AMOLED screen and, in part, a very good camera. There is wireless charging here and a design that looks completely top-of-the-line, where many phones in the lower price ranges quickly become a bit anonymous.
As always with the top models, they have to be in the market for a while before they become economic choices, so two series have arrived from OnePlus since. Should you consider putting extra money into your choice, the OnePlus 10T could be an option for just under $700, but then you lose wireless charging – and essentially get a faster processor in your mobile phone and a somewhat longer lifespan with updates.
8. Motorola Moto G100
A phone that can turn into a kind of PC when you connect it to a monitor – with lightning-fast response, an excellent camera and headphone connection. All that for under 400 USD. There is a lot to like here, but also a lot to poke fun at. Like the usual “macro camera” that gives bad pictures of things up close, and a slightly sloppy fingerprint reader. But all in all, most people should be satisfied with the total package you get here.
9. Nokia XR20
Nokia XR 20 is an almost completely ordinary and fairly affordable Android phone, except that it’s built to take a beating. Here you not only get waterproofing, but also shock protection according to the MIL-810H standard. It must withstand being dropped on concrete.
The camera is excellent, in terms of use it is good – with three years of major updates from Nokia – and with everything else you need in a phone in a package that can withstand falling on the concrete, you have a far better starting point than what you get from most hard housing phones. And that for (just) under $400.
10. Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
You usually know what you get with a Samsung phone, and you get a lot of that with the Galaxy A52 as well. To take away the wormwood first; it’s slower to use than the majority of phones on this list. But if you can stand a bit of waiting now and then, you get a waterproof phone with one of the best screens you can get in this price range. You also get colorful and fun packaging, albeit in plastic.
The fingerprint reader lives under the screen instead of in a separate notch on the side of the phone. The camera is stabilized – it produces somewhat better images in the dark than others, but the image chip is not terribly large, so the photo properties are on par. A no-nonsense and safe choice of affordable mobile – especially for those who know Samsung best from before.
