Best Medium Screen Smartphones under 5 inches of January 2016

For those who doesn’t want to have a large smartphone in their hands, here are the best medium sized smartphones with a screen size of 5-inches and below. While these may not give a great multimedia experience as the phablets, but gives a great in-hand experience with a single hand usage. With its small form factor, the devices also give a nice grip to hold onto them. Below are the best smartphones launched in January and comes with a display measuring 5-inches and below.

• OPPO F1 – Rs. 15,990

OPPO has announced the launch of the new F-series that will be announced in India on February 28th. As teased earlier, the first device under this new series called as OPPO F1 has been launched along with the high-end OPPO F1 Plus that will be launched in April. The device is said to offer perfect selfie experience with its 8MP selfie camera along with software features like ScreenFlash that capture selfies even in the dark light conditions. The Aluminum build looks premium in hand and also measures just 7.25mm thickness.

It comes with a 5-inch HD display and has a 13MP rear camera with PDAF and LED flash. Under the hood is the Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor along with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It is backed by a 2,500mAh battery that supports OPPO’s VOOC fast charging. The device supports dual SIM and offers connectivity options like 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a MicroUSB 2.0 port. It is priced at Rs. 15,990 and will be available starting from February 4th.

• Gionee Marathon M5 Lite

A couple of months back, Gionee came up with a new variant of Marathon M5. The new Marathon M5 Lite comes with a similar design and but a slightly smaller battery. The device is priced at Rs. 12,999 and comes only in Gold color. It sports a 5-inch HD IPS display and is powered by a 64-bit MediaTek MT6735 quad-core SoC. There is 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage while in China it was launched only with 1GB RAM. The device supports runs on customized Amigo UI based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.

It has an 8MP sensor with an LED flash on the rear and a 5MP selfie shooter on the front. The device is backed a 4,000mAh non-removable battery which the company claims to give three days of normal usage and a39 days on standby. It measures 143 x 69.9 x 8.5 mm and weighs 182 grams. The dual SIM device supports 4G LTE along with other basic connectivity options. It comes with a plastic removable back cover with an Aluminum frame around the device.

• Coolpad Note 3 Lite – Rs. 6,999

Not many of you might be surprised by listing this smartphone on the list. The Note 3 Lite is the cut-down variant of the Coolpad Note 3 which is the most affordable smartphone with 3GB of RAM. Now the Coolpad Note 3 Lite is priced at just Rs. 6,999 is one of the highly recommended devices at this price range. This is the affordable device to not only offer 3GB of  RAM but also includes a fingerprint sensor. According to the company, the first sale that was held last week on Amazon has seen a lot of 30,000 units of Note 3 Lite sold in just 21 seconds.

It offers a 5-inch HD display and is powered by a MediaTek MT6735 quad-core SoC. As said earlier, there is 3GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage along with a MicroSD card slot.  On the camera front, it has a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front-facing camera. The dual SIM device supports 4G LTE along with other basic connectivity options. It is backed by a 2,500mAh battery that is rated to deliver 10 hours of talk time and lasts up to 200 hours on standby. It runs on Cool UI 6.0 based on Android 5.1 Lollipop, and the company has announced to Android 6.0 Marshmallow to launch in the near future.

• Swipe Virtue – Rs. 5,999

Swipe is the well-known brand for manufacturing low-cost smartphones and tablets in India. This month, the company has unveiled its latest budget smartphone Swipe Virtue priced at Rs. 5,999. The device is available exclusively through Snapdeal and comes only in White color. The device supports dual SIM dual standby but lacks the 4G LTE connectivity. The Swipe Virtue features a 5-inch IPS display with 720p resolution and is powered by a 1.3GHz MediaTek quad-core processor.

The device includes 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage that can be expanded up to 32GB. Coming to the camera, it has an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front camera for selfies. It is backed by a 2,500mAh battery that is rated to deliver  8 hours of talk time and lasts upto 250 hours on standby. Connectivity options include 3G HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a MicroUSB port. The device measures 8.3mm thick and weigh about 172grams.

• Xiaomi Redmi 3 – Rs. 6,999 (approx)

After several leaks and rumors, Xiaomi has finally unveiled the Redmi 3, the successor for the most popular Redmi 2. It is priced at 669 Yuan and comes with a premium looking metal body with a textured back panel. Compared to the Redmi 2, we can see major upgrades in terms of design and specifications of Redmi 3. It is also the most affordable device to be powered by the latest Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor. The device runs on Android 5.1 with MIUI 7 overlaid. The 5-inch device comes with an HD resolution display and includes 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.

Talking about the camera, it has a 13MP rear camera with PDAF, f/2.0 aperture, and an LED flash. On the front is the 5MP sensor for capturing selfies and is said to record videos in Full HD resolution. The dual SIM device is backed by a massive 4,100mAh non-removable battery that can easily last more than a day. It measures 8.5mm thickness and comes in Gold, Grey, and Silver color options. While it is already available in China, there is no information about the availability of the device in India.

Also, have a look at the best phablets launched in January or else the best upcoming smartphones in February.