An affordable smartphone is much better these days than it was a few years ago. What do you get for a maximum of 600 euros? We test 3 smartphones in this price range: Google Pixel 7a,, Samsung Galaxy S23 FE and Apple iPhone SE (2022).
Rens Blom and Rob Coenraads
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In this test we have used the recommended retail prices as |
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Google Pixel 7a
Google Pixel 7a
The Google Pixel 7a is now a year old and (almost?) succeeded by the Pixel 8a. Google naturally wants you to buy the latest model, but the lower-priced 7a is still a very interesting choice.
The device has a solid casing that is water and dustproof and can charge wirelessly. The 6.1 inch screen looks good quality thanks to the oled screen with 90Hz refresh rate and full-hd resolution.
A trump card of the phone are the two cameras on the back for normal and wide-angle photos. The cameras are above average, especially in the dark.
We also like the clean Android software and five years of updates, now down to four.
The battery of the Pixel 7a lasts a day without any problems, you have to arrange a charger yourself. The fact that charging is quite slow is a pity, but because of the good battery life we ​​do not find it a major negative.
The Pixel 7a is nice and fast with its Google Tensor G2 processor and 8GB of RAM, and the storage memory measures 128 GB.
Suggested retail price: €509,-
+ nice total package
+ clean software gets updates for a long time
– no charger included
– charges slowly
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE
For the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, FE stands for Fan Edition and this is the cheapest S23 model. The large (158 x 76.5 x 8.2 mm) and solidly built S23 FE has a large 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen with 2340 x 1080 pixels and a refresh rate of max. 120 fps. This makes the image scroll smoothly, videos look sharp and there is a clear image with excellent colors and contrast.
The cheaper processor and 8GB of RAM can handle almost any task; our model also has 128GB of storage. It also has 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, USB-C and good-sounding stereo speakers.
The battery capacity of 4500 mAh is good for about 10 hours of use, wireless charging is also possible.
The cameras (50MP main camera, 12MP ultra-wide lens and 3x 8MP telephoto lens) lag slightly behind the Ultra, but produce images with plenty of detail and colour, and all the high-end camera features are available.
Add to this Android 14, four years of OS upgrades and 5 years of security updates and you have a better mid-range device with a good price-performance ratio.
Suggested retail price: € 379,-
+ gets four years of updates
+ excellent battery life
– no charger included
– cameras not special
Apple iPhone SE (2022)
The Apple iPhone SE (2022) is an odd one out in this test. This device has been on sale for over two years, but has not been succeeded. The smartphone is still worth considering, because Apple usually promises five to seven years of software updates. In this respect, the iPhone can therefore last for a few more years.
In terms of user experience, the phone is in many ways different from the modern Android offerings. For example, the iPhone has a small 4.7-inch screen with low resolution, thick bezels and a physical home button with fingerprint scanner.
The technical performance with the latest software is somewhere between decent and less smooth, while the single camera on the back lags behind the competition in terms of functions and quality.
The battery is practically empty in the evening and charging via the outdated Lightning port takes a long time. Wireless charging is also possible, but takes even longer.
Nevertheless, the iPhone SE (2022) remains very complete in terms of functions and the water and dustproof device can be used well with one hand.
Suggested retail price: €559,-
+ handy
+ very complete..
– .. but also outdated
– slow charging