The toughest segment for the brands to compete, and for the consumers to choose from, is the price range of Rs. 6000 to Rs. 10000. There were several launches, from the well-established brands as well as the new entrants in the Indian market. While the already known brands compromised with some particular specs but tried to hold authority with their after sales service part, the new companies had a lot to answer regarding the service issues, though the devices were packed with enough to compete even with the mid-range devices from the competition.
[blockquote right=”pull-right”]The price segment below Rs. 10,000 is where the top-tier brands failed this year, and most of the best smartphones in this range were from the newly entering Chinese brands, and the phones were pretty great, not just with the specs, but as an overall package.[/blockquote]
Here are our favorite smartphones in this category.
Coolpad Note 3
The first device from the Chinese smartphone manufacturer in India was rightly priced, and what made us include it in the list, is the excellent fingerprint scanner, a good performance and battery life.
Asus ZenFone 2 Laser
Asus had a long list of portfolio for this year, but the company’s ZenFone 2 Laser has fared well especially with the camera and battery. In fact, in this price range, if we talk of phones with a great battery life, this is the third best after Vibe P1m from Lenovo, and the Coolpad Note 3. Concerning other aspects as well, the Asus ZenFone 2 Laser did quite well.
Lenovo A7000
A very decent performer with no pain points in the most important sections like gaming, music, and the camera combination that was just enough for the price tag. The K3 Note would’ve been a choice over this since the display is quite better, but the performance issues take it out of the list, and we’d instead settle with a 720p display if the rendering was that bad for a 1080p one.
Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime
One of those phones in this price range that has a decent screen size, and thus the Redmi 2 Prime is an easy choice over the others for someone who isn’t comfortable with the larger screen phablets. There is a lot to like about it, but we’ll give it a vote for its build, performance and the decent display.
Honor 4X
This is a very good phone with a decent camera combination and a great battery life, but the performance on gaming was not up to the mark. On the other side, this would still be one of the ideal choices if someone wants a phablet and if they aren’t much into gaming.
Worth a mention
Though there were certain areas where these phones might not have their best against others, still the Lenovo Vibe P1m, Xiaomi Redmi Note, and Meizu M2 are phones that tried to put their mark in the same price segment, one with a great battery capacity, and the other as an overall package with a smaller screen if someone wanted to stick to a 5-inch or smaller size. The Redmi Note had two variants, both doing fairly well in all the departments.
We know there are more than 50 models that went out in the market in this price range, and there are some seriously good alternatives to the ones we mentioned, but the list is made from our personal reviews and usage, and not based on the specs packed into the phones.
Have you used one of these phones? How was your experience? Which is your favorite in this price range?
Gizmo Times 2015 Ratings:
- Smartphones from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 10000
- Smartphones from Rs. 10000 to Rs. 15000
- Smartphones from Rs. 15000 to Rs. 20000
- Smartphones from Rs. 20000 to Rs. 30000
- Best flagship smartphones of 2015
