Cheap smartphones that are not nasty
Pat Pilcher takes a look at some affordable smartphones just released by Vodafone.
Budget phones have come a long way in a short amount of time. What not so long ago was considered mid-range or even a high-end smartphone can now be bought for a wallet-pleasing price.
This translates into high-end features such as HD screens, zippy processors, plus fancy features such as fingerprint sensors.
Vodafone’s devices in this market include the Smart V8 ($349) and the Smart N8 ($199).
Look and feel
Both phones sport a generic design. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as smartphone layouts have been refined to a point where the curved rectangular slab with chamfered edges works well.
This is the case with the N8, which is crafted out of gunmetal gray plastic. Weighing in at 151g, it’s light and works great for onehanded use. Its rear has a slightly ridged finish which helps it resist fingerprints.
The V8’s slightly higher sticker means it has a more upmarket look and feel.
On both phones, bezels are kept to a minimum on the sides, but those on the top and bottom are a little more substantial.
Under the hood
The N8 may be the first sub-$200 phone to feature a fingerprint scanner in New Zealand. More importantly, the fingerprint sensor on both the N8 and the V8 worked like a charm. The fingerprint scanners are located just below the rear camera, which is right where my fingers typically sit when the N8 or V8 is in my hands.
The both also have NFC which makes pairing some Bluetooth accessories a painless undertaking. Add to this a 5-inch 720p LCD screen for the N8 and a 5.5-inch 1080 LCD display for the V8 and you’d be forgiven for not thinking that these were smartphones aimed at the middle or upper end of the market instead of budget buyers.
Both phones also sport quad core CPUs (the N8 uses MediaTek silicon while the V8 uses a Qualcomm 435 processor). The N8 has 16GB of storage (but only 1.5GB of RAM) while the V8 comes with 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM.
In use
Both phones use LCD displays. This means that while the displays do a perfectly good job, they’re not as bright as the AMOLED displays used on some flagship hardware. That said, the screens in both the N8 and the V8 were usable in daylight and viewing angles are also acceptable. Colour accuracy was OK on both devices.
Both the N8 and the V8 also run Android Nougat 7.0. Vodafone has avoided filling its user interface with customisations or apps that duplicate what is already on offer from Google, but there are a small number of Vodafone apps preinstalled.
Vodafone has also added several small but useful tweaks too. These range from lock screen shortcuts to the camera and flashlight; the added Vodafone apps can’t really be called bloatware either. Genuinely useful inclusions such as an FM radio app and an encrypted folder app plus a file and password keeper, all extend the usefulness of both phones.
If music is your thing, you may want to invest in a decent set of headphones. Like most phones (regardless of price) their speakers are tiny and struggle to deliver anything resembling bass.
Battery life is seldom given the attention it deserves. It doesn’t matter if your smartphone has all the bells and whistles in existence if only runs for half a day before needing to be charged.
The battery in the Vodafone Smart N8 is a 2400mAh unit which seems on the small side. That said, its CPU and screen are fairly energy efficient and this saw it lasting for most of a day with typical use.
The V8’s 3000mAh battery delivered a day and a half with typical usage. On both phones, there are also power-saving modes which can greatly extend battery life by disabling battery-draining features.
The Vodafone Smart N8 comes with a 13MP rear shooter and a 5MP front camera. Under decent lighting conditions, the N8’s autofocus locked onto test subjects fine; the resulting shots were definitely passable. Lower lighting conditions saw the autofocus struggle plus some pixel noise was noticeable. This is part of the par for most phones.
The V8’s handset’s 16MP rear snapper and 8MP front shooter both performed fine, delivering accurate colours and wellbalanced contrast.
Hitting the shutter button was responsive for photos and on the video front, the V8 proved capable of recording HD video recording at 30fps from both the front and rear cameras.
Verdict
Vodafone has made big strides in bridging the gap between a good and an affordable smartphone.
The Vodafone Smart N8 boxes well above its $199 price, thanks to its accurate fingerprint scanner, NFC, 4G, and a decent screen.
That said, the N8 is still a budget phone so its battery life is as average as its camera. But for a backup phone or a smartphone for a teenager, the Smart N8 is a great choice.
One thing to note is that the N8 can only work on Vodafone’s network unless you pay a $30 unlocking fee. With the V8 you get an upmarket, 4G smartphone with a reasonable camera.
For those on a tight budget and wanting decent bang-per-buck performance, the V8 is a solid choice.