A simply good smartphone does not have to cost six hundred euros. With a maximum of three hundred euros in your pocket, you can choose from all kinds of great devices. But which ones stand out? These are the 10 best smartphones up to 300 euros according to the editors of Techzle.
- 1. Samsung Galaxy A50
- 2. Motorola One Vision
- 3. Xiaomi Red Note 8 Pro
- 4. Motorola Moto G7 Plus
- 5. Motorola Moto G8 Plus
- 6. Huawei P30 Lite
- 7. Samsung Galaxy A40
- 8. Honor 9X
- 9. Nokia 6.2
- 10. Motorola One Action
Top 10 smartphones cheaper than 300 euros
1. Samsung Galaxy A50
Techzle review score: 90/100
+ Nice oled screen
+ Good battery life
– Moderate fingerprint scanner
– Not the best choice for games
The Samsung Galaxy A50 was one of the best-selling smartphones of 2019. This is mainly due to its competitive price-quality ratio, which only gets better because the device continues to fall in price. With its plastic design, the A50 is not the most luxurious phone, but feels solid and feels good in the hand. Despite the large 4000 mAh battery and the large 6.3-inch screen, the smartphone is 166 grams lighter than you might think. The OLED display offers very good image quality and looks sharp thanks to the full HD resolution. The fingerprint scanner behind the screen is unfortunately poor. Under the hood is a smooth processor that only has difficulty with heavy games. The Galaxy A50 has no less than 128 GB of storage space, a 25 megapixel selfie camera and three cameras on the back. The primary camera is good, the wide-angle lens makes less impression. A depth sensor helps nicely with portrait photos. Those looking for the best camera can better skip the A50. On the battery side, he impresses. The battery lasts one and a half to two days. Charging takes two hours; pretty long. Samsung’s OneUI software is user-friendly. Due to its popularity, the Galaxy A50 also receives a security update every month, more often than for example the A40 (every three months). Upon request, Samsung cannot tell whether the monthly updates will remain until the end of the minimum support period (March 2021).
2. Motorola One Vision
Techzle review score: 85/100
+ Android One software
+ Robust cameras
– Interfering camera hole in screen
– Not the best battery life
The Motorola One Vision is a no-nonsense smartphone with a strikingly beautiful design. The glass case, choice of various colors, feels luxurious and contains a fast fingerprint scanner in the Motorola logo on the back. The 6.3-inch LCD screen looks nice and sharp due to the full HD resolution, although the maximum brightness is below average. The screen ratio of 21: 9 means that the display is longer than usual, allowing you to watch movies without black borders. The longer phone may take some getting used to. The same applies to the relatively large camera hole in the display, for the – good – selfie camera. The One Vision runs on a fast processor, has enough working memory (4 GB) and above average storage space (128 GB). With the 48 megapixel camera you can take 12 megapixel photos as standard and they look good. The real night mode works properly. We are less enthusiastic about the depth sensor: it helps with portrait photography, but is (logically) unable to do anything else. There are enough competing phones for sale with more versatile cameras, including a macro and / or wide-angle lens. The battery life of the One Vision is one day and that is a bit scanty. Charging is done with average speed. The Android One software is nice: the operating system without adjustments and three years of updates.
3. Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro
Techzle review score: 85
+ Excellent battery life
+ Four rear cameras
– Major MIUI shell from Xiaomi
– Glass back is breakable
The Redmi Note 8 series consists of a handful of devices, so pay attention to that. The Note 8 Pro is a more expensive model with a luxurious but fragile glass housing. The very large 6.53-inch LCD screen fills almost the entire front, has a notch for the selfie camera and looks sharp through the full HD resolution. Competitive smartphones with an OLED display, however, offer a slightly better image quality. The large 4500 mAh battery is striking, which means that the Redmi Note 8 Pro lasts one and a half to two days. Charging the battery runs smoothly via the USB-C connection. Also worth mentioning is the quadruple camera on the back of the device. The primary 64 megapixel camera melts all those pixels together into one – on paper better – 16 megapixel photo. The Redmi Note 8 Pro also has a macro lens, wide angle lens and a depth sensor for shooting portrait photos. Under the hood, a fast processor runs with no less than 6 GB of memory and a minimum of 64 GB of storage. Those are very nice specifications. Xiaomi’s MIUI software is busy and therefore it takes some getting used to if you previously had a smartphone from another brand. The manufacturer does have a good update policy. With the Redmi Note 8 Pro you are assured of Android updates and regular security updates for years.
4. Motorola Moto G8 Plus
Techzle review score: 80/100
+ Good battery life
+ Clean Android software
+ Performance
– Less good update policy
– Video camera moderate and limited utility
– Battery charges relatively slowly
The Moto G8 Plus is the quick successor of the Moto G7 Plus and makes various improvements. The new and more powerful processor is particularly noteworthy, making the smartphone smoother and more future-proof. Almost all games run great to very good. Also nice is the larger battery, which now has a capacity of 4000 mAh. That is enough for one and a half to two days of use. Unfortunately, charging the battery is not as fast as its predecessor, although after an hour it is still 70 percent full. The Moto G8 Plus is made of plastic and therefore feels sturdy but not very luxurious. The 6.3-inch full-HD LCD screen looks sharp and shows beautiful colors. Competitive devices with an OLED display, on the other hand, offer an even better image. There are also alternatives with better cameras. The primary camera of the Moto G8 Plus works fine during the day, but is not a high flyer. Interesting is the quarter-turn wide-angle camera, with which you film vertically and get horizontal videos. The smartphone has 64GB of storage space and ran with its release on the older Android 9 (Pie). Unfortunately, Motorola’s update policy is not that good. Only Android One devices from Motorola receive fast and long-term updates.
5. Motorola Moto G7 Plus
Techzle review score: 80/100
+ Battery charges very quickly
+ User-friendly software
– Fragile housing
– Moderate update policy
The Motorola Moto G7 Plus is a somewhat older device, but still a good choice. The smartphone looks modern and luxurious with its front-filling display and glass design, although a case is not a superfluous luxury. The glass is in fact a fingerprint magnet and vulnerable to scratches and fall and impact damage. The 6.2-inch LCD display is “just right” and the full HD resolution means that your videos, games and photos look sharp. The processor under the hood is nowadays not the fastest anymore, but has no trouble with your favorite apps. Playing heavy games becomes more difficult. The spacious storage memory of 64GB is nice. Motorola supplies the Moto G7 Plus with a 27W plug and that is much more powerful than usual in this price segment. In 30 minutes the battery charges from 0 to no less than 75 percent, something that competing devices usually need an hour for. The battery life of the Moto G7 Plus is good enough for a long day of use. With the double camera on the back you can take beautiful photos during the day. In the dark he puts it off against newer devices. Motorola installs a barely modified Android version on the smartphone and that is nice. However, the update policy is less good than on Android One devices.
6. Huawei P30 Lite
Techzle review score: 75/100
+ Relatively handy and light
+ Lots of storage
– Major EMUI shell
– Not the best update policy
The Huawei P30 Lite was very popular in 2019 and we understand that. The device offers great value for money and is still a great buy in 2020. The plastic housing is not the most luxurious, but it is sturdy and looks good. The P30 Lite is relatively handy and light, so it fits perfectly in your pocket. The 6.15-inch LCD screen can be nice and clear and looks good. The image is sharp due to the full HD resolution. Striking is the spacious 128GB storage space under the hood, where you can store a lot of data. The processor is nowadays not the fastest anymore but smooth enough for popular apps. Playing serious games is more difficult. With the primary 48 megapixel camera you can take beautiful 12 megapixel photos as standard. The wide-angle lens works properly but is a bit disappointing in terms of quality. A depth sensor helps with portrait photos. The P30 Lite will last a carefree long day, but will have to charge. Charging is at medium speed. Huawei’s EMUI software shell over Android is getting used to and less user-friendly than the shell of Samsung, for example. Huawei’s update policy is also less good than that of an Android One smartphone.
7. Samsung Galaxy A40
Techzle review score: 75/100
+ Good software (support)
+ Strikingly good display
– No premium appearance
– Hardware not very powerful
With the Galaxy A40, Samsung shows that a “simply good” smartphone does not have to cost a fortune. For example, the A40 has a 5.9-inch OLED screen that looks particularly attractive. Thanks to the full HD resolution, the image also looks nice and sharp. The minimal screen edges make the A40 more compact than you expect despite its relatively large screen. And thanks to the plastic housing, it is remarkably light (140 grams). We are therefore happy to accept that the plastic does not feel luxury and scratches faster. The hardware of the affordable A40 is more than sufficient. You can count on 64GB of storage space with a micro-sd slot, 4GB RAM and an Exynos processor that plays all popular apps. Although the smartphone is not as fast as the competition, it runs fine. There is a dual camera on the back of the A40. The normal 16-megapixel takes nice pictures, but the 5-megapixel wide-angle lens feels like a moderate extra. With the 3100 mAh battery you can go a day ahead, but there is not much more to it. Fortunately, the battery charges quickly: in half an hour it goes from zero to more than fifty percent. Samsung’s OneUI software layer over Android is user-friendly and the manufacturer has a good update policy.
8. Honor 9X
Techzle review score: 70/100
+ Nice, front-filling screen
+ Lots of storage
– No NFC chip and fast charging
– Not the best cameras
The Honor 9X does not feel very luxurious due to its plastic housing, but it does look futuristic because of the front-filling screen. The screen edges are very narrow and you don’t see a selfie camera, because it slides on and off the top of the device on command. The 6.59-inch full-HD display is beautiful, but in terms of quality it cannot match an OLED screen. The 9X is also slightly less fast than some competitors and you notice that especially with gaming. The triple camera on the back takes great photos during the day and has a good night mode. The wide-angle lens is unfortunately less impressive. The generous storage memory (128 GB) and the long battery life are worth mentioning, although it is unfortunate that the battery does not charge that fast. The lack of an NFC chip means that the Honor 9X is not suitable for contactless payment in stores. Honor released the smartphone with the older Android 9 (Pie) and needs a long time to roll out updates. Security updates also come less quickly and often available than on, for example, Android One devices. The EMUI software from Honor (and parent company Huawei) is also getting used to.
9. Nokia 6.2
Techzle review score: 70
+ Android One software
+ Good display
– Glass housing is fragile and quickly dirty
– Battery charges slowly
The Nokia 6.2 is the cheaper brother of the Nokia 7.2 and saves on the processor, camera quality and the battery. Hence the price difference. The devices are very similar in various other areas. For example, the 6.2 has the same luxury glass housing, with a triple camera module and fast fingerprint scanner on the back. The glass does get dirty quickly and is fragile – so think about a case. The 6.3-inch LCD display looks nice, can be remarkably bright (useful in the summer) and looks sharp thanks to the full-HD resolution. The primary 16-megapixel camera and 8-megapixel wide-angle lens perform on average, while the depth camera shoots very good portrait photos. The Nokia 6.2 is powered by a somewhat older processor and 4GB of memory. This combination is sufficient for the well-known apps, but has difficulty with heavier games. There are faster smartphones for sale in this price range. You can store photos, films and apps on the internal storage memory of 64GB. The 3500 mAh battery lasts a normal day, but unfortunately it charges slowly. Just like other Nokia smartphones, the 6.2 runs on the fine Android One software. This is a barely modified Android version with two years of Android updates and a security update every month for three years.
10. Motorola One Action
Techzle review score: 60/100
+ Powerful hardware
+ Good camera
– Not the best battery life
– Action camera has limitations
The Motorola One Action focuses on people who like to shoot action videos. On the back of the smartphone is a wide-angle lens that is rotated a quarter turn. This way you automatically create horizontal videos while holding the device vertically. Useful! The video images are nice and stable, but unfortunately you cannot film in 4K resolution and the wide-angle lens is also not suitable for photography. It is striking that the action phone is not resistant to a fall, water and dust. So keep that in mind. Plus points are the powerful processor, the fine regular camera and the Android One software. The One Action runs an almost inadequate Android version and receives a security update every month for three years. You can also count on two Android updates. The battery life of the smartphone is sufficient for normal day use, but that’s it. Charging the battery takes almost two hours and that is longer than average. The 6.3-inch full-HD LCD display looks sharp but somewhat pale and has a large hole for the selfie camera. That takes some getting used to. The spacious storage memory of 128 GB is a nice closing device.
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