Do you want to buy an Android smartphone under $500?
Look no further, you may have found the right article. In this article you will find an extensive list of smartphones that cost less than $500. All smartphones listed in this article have been released at most last year.
The name of flagship has long been reserved for devices sold between 500 and 1,000 U.S.D, often it was necessary to choose between design, photographic quality, resistance or performance now no longer. Since then, actors like OnePlus, Xiaomi or Huawei have become part of the film, commercializing what we can call top of the range, able to shine in all areas.
In the face of Chinese companies, historical producers are still there, but they are finding it increasingly difficult to resist. Of the smartphones of our selection, many are of Chinese brand. Their leader, Huawei, through its subsidiary Honor, is not far behind in this top.
The mid-range smartphones, often with a good quality-price ratio, are increasingly numerous. Some with their performance sometimes exceed the high-end models. Here are the best, tested by the editorial staff. So let’s see what are the best Android smartphone under $500.
Best Android smartphone under $500 | July 2018
OnePlus 6 – Price: from $520
PRO
- Excellent value for money
- Incredibly fast performance
- Super fast Face Unlock and fingerprint scanner
- Slim, elegant but robust design
- Audio jack on board
- Good battery life
- It is recharged very quickly
CONS
- No wireless charging
- Complete resistance to water is lacking
OnePlus 6 is the first phone that comes to mind when you look for an economic alternative without major compromises. OnePlus 6 now features an even larger screen (yes, with a notch, but we do not mind), a thinner bezel and a sleeker design in glass and metal.
In addition, it comes with OxygenOS which offers some hardware optimizations that make this device for what really is the Android platform. You also have the ability to use gestures for navigation rather than the buttons on the old school screen. OnePlus also significantly improved the quality of the camera and allowed us to get really beautiful shots.
Honor 10 – Price: $450
PRO
- Competitive price
- Good-looking design, solid build quality
- Fast fingerprint reader
- Excellent duration of the bacteria
- Good camera
CONS
- It takes some time to get used to the interface
- No resistance to water
- No optical stabilization of the camera
The new Honor 10 is a phone that seems almost inspired by OnePlus success and tries to compete with OnePlus 6 as much as possible. The Honor 10 definitely has an attractive design with a wonderful glass back, it also mounts an almost magical double camera and is equipped with the best hardware for the price range. Yes, there is also a notch, but that seems almost a necessary evil these days.
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s – Price: $ 500
PRO
- Impressive, clean and elegant design
- Excellent quality LCD screen without notch
- Great implementation of gestural navigation
- Fast performance
- The phone does not overheat
CONS
- The default MIUI theme has an excellent appearance, the icons are not who knows
- At the interface and the settings menu you get used slowly, things are hard to find
- Slippery
- No resistance to water
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s is an exceptional phone. At its MIUI custom interface it takes a while to get used to it, but the big and beautiful display, the good camera, the well-executed gesture navigation and the overall sophistication and elegance of the design have more than made up for it. If you are willing to deal with something new and different, and if you happen to live in a country where Xiaomi actually sells its phones, you should definitely consider buying Mi Mix 2s.
Moto Z3 Play – Price: $ 500 from 64GB
PRO
- Attractive and subtle design
- Modular hardware is an open door for new features
CONS
- Display not bright enough, inaccurate colors
- The services are not top notch
- No wireless charging without mod
The new Moto Z3 Play has an excellent super-slim design with support for Moto Mod and a lower price than that of a flagship. The biggest compromise with this phone is the dim display that does not look as good as on other phones and also this device also has a fingerprint scanner located oddly on its side.For everything else, it offers a clean and pleasant experience and a fast performance.
Nokia 8 – Price: $ 500
PRO
- Great price
- Fluid performance
- 64 GB of internal memory
- Quick charger included in the package
- Long life battery
CONS
- Large frames, colors not as bright as on other screens
- The camera is below average
- No waterproofing
- The fingerprint is not as precise as on other phones
- The always active display is difficult to see because it is too weak
The Nokia 8 has no flashy features, and its camera is a gimmick. Here are other things to consider: the screen looks boring and with unnecessarily large frames, the camera is slow and the quality is not on par with the best, the fingerprint is less accurate than many other expensive phones.
But – that’s important – it’s an excellent offer when you compare it to other flagships and you can buy two Nokia 8 phones for the price of a Galaxy Note 8. And the Nokia 8 excels in everyday use with uniform performance throughout in short, it is a good choice.
ZTE Axon M – Price: $ 725
PRO
- Two screens are better than one for multitasking
- Advanced configuration with two speakers for calls and media
- SD821- and 4 GB RAM offer fast performance
CONS
- Ergonomic nightmare
- The user interface needs refinement in the transition between screen modes
- Poor camera performance
- Extremely intrusive black bar between screens in extended mode
- Most apps only work in portrait mode if extended
- Poor placement of the fingerprint scanner
Unfortunately, software is one of the most deficient areas of this device. Simply extending and splitting content in accordance with the integrated functionality of the Android operating system leaves the user a rather poor experience. The games can not take advantage of the double big screen and this certainly does not give realism to all this, the videos are quite unpleasant with the black bar in the middle and the transitions between the screen modes are terrible. The only real advantage seems to be in web browsing and multitasking.