Get smart and save a fortune There are plenty of phones that will do the job without breaking the bank

NOT everyone can afford upwards of a thousand pounds for a smartphone, can they? And with very rare exceptions, those at the lower end of the market are more or less useless, underpowered slabs of plastic and glass.

Is there a sweet spot in the middle – I would say so. You don’t have to splash out on the best phone when there are plenty that are good enough.

Here are five smartphones that sit comfortably under the £500-mark for unlocked and sim-free versions. And there are bargains to be had on all of them from the carriers...

ONEPLUS 7T THEY SAY:

With a responsive 90 Hz refresh rate and the latest HDR10+ technology, the OnePlus 7T’s Fluid Display is smooth, vivid, and incredibly immersive. If it sounds too good to be true, just wait until you see it.

The OnePlus 7T’s three independent cameras work in concert for exceptional versatility, stunning clarity, and accurate colour reproduction.

WE SAY: That 90Hz refresh-rate this phone’s screen is capable of is important because it makes everything from games to video look considerably better and is a great feature to have at this price.

OnePlus is giving the big boys a run for its money at the high end, but this phone (which has reduced in price by £80 recently) hits all the sweet spots right in the middle.

It runs a version of Android 10 called OxygenOS, which OnePlus says is optimised for efficiency and ease-of-use.

Cost: £469

SAMSUNG GALAXY A71 THEY SAY:

Behind Galaxy A71’s symmetrically aligned 6.7” InfinityO Display, Super AMOLED Plus colour technology delivers real-tolife colour in everything you watch and do–from gaming and movies, to web-surfing and multi-tasking.

WE SAY: Samsung is, of course, top of the smartphone pile for sales,

SONY XPERIA 10 II

THEY SAY: Boasting IP65/68 rating water resistance, durable Corning Gorilla Glass 6, and a long battery life, the Xperia 10 II is built for worry-free use.

A multi-window feature offers new ways to use your smartphone while a cinematic 21:9 Wide 6” OLED display1 makes viewing content a pleasure.

You’ll also enjoy more creative freedom for photos and videos, thanks to the new triple lens camera.

WE SAY: Sony has managed to find a little USP for its line of phones after years of wondering how it can mark itself out from Apple and Samsung.

Its Xperia line of phones sport the unusual 21:9 aspect ratio… which essentially means its screens are taller and thinner than other phones.

This offers the advantage of working better for watching films, and the extra vertical space also comes in handy in other list-based scenarios, too.

But this phone isn’t all about the screen. It’s a great phone in many other ways, too – you know you can trust Sony to churn out a decent camera, for a start. Cost: £320

and its latest high-end model, the Galaxy S20 is magnificent.

But this phone packs in a lot of high-end features at a budget price. The battery is great, for a start, and the camera array and OLED screen both feel like they should be in a phone that costs more than this.

So while it might look a bit cheap and cheerful compared to others, it hits hard where it counts.

Cost: £419

APPLE IPHONE SE THEY SAY:

The secondgeneration iPhone SE, is a powerful new iPhone featuring a 4.7-inch

Retina HD display, paired with Touch ID for industry-leading security.

iPhone SE comes in a compact design, reinvented from the inside out, and is the most affordable iPhone.

The new iPhone SE is powered by the Apple-designed A13 Bionic, the fastest chip in a smartphone, to handle the most demanding tasks.

iPhone SE also features the best single-camera system ever in an iPhone, which unlocks the benefits of computational photography including Portrait mode, and is designed to withstand the elements with dust and water resistance.

WE SAY: The iPhone SE is built for a long life, with a latest-generation chip that will continue to run Apple’s software for years to come.

The compromises made (singlelens camera, and no face ID among them) are the right ones, and are often mitigated by great software.

If you’re on the iOS side of the fence, there is every chance that SE is all the iPhone you need and it costs £310 less than the base model iPhone 11. Cost: From £419