Best Mid-Range Smartphones below Rs 15000 (March – April)

If you are looking best budget smartphones available in the markets, then below are few highly recommended devices that offer best performance even at an affordable price range. Unlike the entry-level smartphones, these devices feature a good built material and offers better user experience. Also, have a look at our best upcoming smartphones for the month of April, if you can wait for few more weeks.

• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus – Rs. 8,499

Lenovo has unveiled the all new Vibe K5 & Vibe K5 Plus smartphones at the Mobile World Congress. This week Lenovo India has confirmed the launch of Vibe K5 Plus in India on March 15th. The device comes with a 5-inch display with Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. Under the hood is the Snapdragon 616 quad-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz along with 2GB of RAM. It is also equipped with 16GB of built-in storage that can be expandable upto additional 32GB via MicroSD card slot.

It has a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP camera on the front for selfies and video calls. 2,750mah battery is what keeps the device powered on. The device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with Vibe UI overlaid. It comes with dual SIM dual standby and offers 4G LTE along with other basic connectivity options. Comparing with the Vibe K5, the differences is the display resolution and processor.

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 – Rs. 9,999

Xiaomi has unveiled the Snapdragon 650 powered Redmi Note 3 in India this week. It is priced at Rs. 9,999 for 2GB variant and Rs. 11,999 for 3GB variant can give good competition for the popular LeEco Le 1S and Honor 5X. This is also the first smartphone to be powered by the Snapdragon 650 hexa-core processor which was first announced as Snapdragon 618 SoC. The device sports a 5.5-inch Full HD resolution and runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with latest MIUI 7 laid on top.

It features a 16MP rear camera with PDAF and dual tone LED flash and a 5MP selfie camera on the front. This is also the first ever smartphone in the Redmi series to come with a fingerprint sensor. It is backed by a 4,000mAh battery that can easily last for more than a day of usage. The Quick Charge 2.0 charges the battery to 50% in just one hour. There is also an IR Blaster for using the device as a remote controller for using the home appliances like TV or AC. FYI, there is also another variant of Redmi Note 3 that launched in November last year and is powered by Helio X10 SoC.

• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) – Rs. 8,990

Samsung launched its latest affordable smartphone Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) in India this week. The device comes with a unique feature called as S Bike Mode and is this might also be the most affordable smartphone with NFC. Once the S Bike is activated, the incoming calls will be answered by a pre-recorded audio while only the emergency calls can be altered by pressing 1. While the device is already launched in the U.S, there is S Bike mode on those devices.

It comes with a 5-inch HD (1280 x 720) Super AMOLED display and is powered by Spreadtrum SC7731 quad-core processor along with 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage. Coming to the camera side, it has an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and 5MP selfie camera. The device is kept powered on by a 2,600mAh battery. It supports dual SIM dual standby and runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. It is priced at Rs. 8,990 and is available to purchase exclusively from Snapdeal.

• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro – 899 Yuan (Rs. 9,250)

Few months back, Xiaomi had launched the metallic build Redmi 3 as the successor for the Redmi 2 in China. Now a new variant of Redmi 3 called as Redmi 3 Pro with added fingerprint sensor is made official. It sports a 5-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels)IPS display and is powered by the Snapdragon 616 octa-core processor. There is 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage along with a MicroSD card slot. The device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with the latest MIUI 7 overlaid. It supports dual SIM dual standby with the hybrid SIM card slot that can be used for expanding the storage.

It has a 13MP rear camera with  PDAF and f/2.0 aperture that can record videos in Full HD resolution. For selfie lovers, it features a 5MP front camera with beauty mode and live filters. The device is kept powered on by the massive 4,100mAh battery that can easily last more than of usage. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS/A-GPS, Bluetooth, and MicroUSB 2.0 port. While the non-fingerprint variant is priced at 699 Yuan, the new fingerprint variant comes with a price tag 899 Yuan.

• Intex Aqua Ace II – Rs. 8,999

Intex has launched one more smartphone with 3GB of RAM; the new Intex Aqua Ace II is the successor for the Aqua Ace that was launched last year. While the Aqua Ace was launched at Rs. 12,999, the latest Aqua Ace II is priced at Rs. 8,999 and comes with almost same specifications. The device features a 5-inch HD IPS display with a pixel density of 294ppi. It is powered by MediaTek MT6735 quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. As said earlier, it has 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

The rear camera has been downgraded to 8MP from 13MP while the 5MP selfie camera on the front remains same. It supports dual SIM but offers 4G LTE only on the first SIM. The device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop OS out-of-the-box. The Aqua Ace II is backed by a 3,000mAh battery which bigger than the 2,300mAh battery on Aqua Ace. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a MicroUSB 2.0 port. It measures 145.3 x 72 x 8.65 and weighs 149 grams.

• Vivo Y31L – Rs. 9,450

Vivo launched the Vivo Y31L & Y31A as the successor for the Vivo Y31 in India and China respectively. The biggest upgraded over its predecessor is the 4G LTE -connectivity that offers higher data speeds. Both the devices sports a 4.7-inch qHD (960 x 540 pixels) resolution display and are powered by Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor. It has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

The device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with FunTouch 2.1 OS overlaid. The Y31A comes with an 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera while the Y31L has the same 8MP rear camera but the front camera is of 2MP sensor. The devices support dual SIM dual standby and offer 4G LTE connectivity. The Vivo Y31L is priced at Rs. 9,450 and will be available starting by the end of this month.