The price bracket of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 is still considered as a mid-range segment. Many high-end devices hover in this segment before actually getting discontinued from the market. There are some really good smartphones that stay in this bracket for long and turn out to be actual value for money.
Several good handsets exist in the price bracket above Rs 20,000 but not all fit the bill to deliver top level performance. We collate the information on the basis of specifications, our review or experience with the device and most importantly, the feedback from the relevant device owners.
Here’s our list of top five handsets:
Huawei Ascend Mate
Huawei had announced the Ascend Mate phablet earlier this year in India. The Ascend Mate flaunts a 6.1-inch IPS+ LCD panel with 720p HD resolution. The display has been constructed using Corning Gorilla Glass technology. Huawei has packed its own quad-core 1.5 GHz Huawei K3V2 mobile processor and 1 GB RAM in the Ascend Mate.
At the rear, the phablet features an 8 megapixel camera with LED Flash for full HD video recording. There is a 1 megapixel camera in the front for HD video recording or chatting. Huawei has offered Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Emotion user interface in the Ascend Mate. Best part of this phablet is not only the large display but also the large 4050 mAh battery. Huawei Ascend Mate retails for around Rs 24,900.
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Panasonic P51
Panasonic P51, which was launched at Rs 26,500, is now available at around Rs 21,000.
By default, the Panasonic P51 runs on the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system and has a 5-inch LCD display with 720p (HD) resolution. This Dual-SIM smartphone comes with a quad-core 1.2 GHz mobile processor, 1 GB RAM and 4 GB on-board storage. It also supports up to 32 GB capacity based micro SD card.
The Panasonic P51 features an 8 megapixel camera at back while in the front lies a 1.3 megapixel camera for HD video chatting. Panasonic has packed a decent 2500 mAh battery in this phablet which competes closely with the Galaxy Note GT-N7000. However, one must not forget that Panasonic also bundles a flip accessory worth Rs 1500 for free with the device.
You can read its full review here.
HTC had joined the Windows Phone 8 bandwagon with its flagship 8X smartphone and surprisingly has not released a new phone after that. Though it was launched in India last year for around Rs 35,000, it is now available for as low as Rs 24,500.
The HTC 8X features a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 display that supports 1280×720 pixel resolution natively. Measuring 10.1mm thick, the HTC 8X has a nice feel offering built. It houses a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 mobile processor with 1 GB RAM. The HTC 8X packs GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS support for better location locking. At the rear, there is 8 megapixel camera with LED flash to click high quality images and record 1080p HD videos. HTC has packed 1800 mAh battery pack in the handset which comes in four colours – California Blue, Graphite Black, Flame Red and Limelight Yellow.
Refer to our review of the HTC 8X here.
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LG Google Nexus 4
LG launched the Google Nexus 4 (16 GB model) in India earlier this year for Rs 25,990 but you can get this for as low as Rs 23,911 from Homeshop18.
The Nexus 4 has a 4.7-inch IPS display, constructed using Corning Gorilla Glass 2 technology, with 1280×720 pixel resolution. The 9.1 mm thick Nexus 4 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro mobile processor and 2 GB RAM to run the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean smoothly. LG has packed variety of Sensors Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Barometer, Ambient Light sensor and digital Compass.
At the rear, the LG Google Nexus 4 has an 8 megapixel camera with LED Flash while a 1.3 megapixel camera is at its front. LG Nexus 4 comes packed with a 2100 mAh battery that promises about 15 hours of Talk time over the 3G network. The camera of the Nexus 4 is not that great compared to other devices and the lack of micro SD card slot might irk many. You can read our thoughts as part of our review of the LG Google Nexus 4.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note GT-N7000 is a perfect mash-up of a smartphone and tablet. It comes with a S Pen stylus which is extremely useful for taking quick notes, drawing/sketching, signing and even navigating through menus. The Galaxy Note has a 5.3 inch Super AMOLED HD screen with native 720p (HD) resolution.
The Samsung Galaxy Note comes with a dual core 1.4 GHz processor that powers Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and TouchWiz UI that has and Live Panels layered on top. Galaxy Note has an 8 megapixel camera with flash that can record full HD videos. After that you can edit videos on Note itself. The bigger display might look a bit cumbersome but in fact it is amazingly helpful while taking quick notes or working on something important. It has a powerful 2500 mAh battery.
The only reason for including old Note instead of Samsung’s new Galaxy Mega 5.8 was that we found that the performance of the Note would still trump the Mega. We shall clarify more on this in our review of Galaxy Mega 5.8 soon.
Currently, the Samsung Galaxy Note is available for as low as Rs 23,150. You can read its full review, here.