Best smartphones for all budgets to brighten up Diwali

As big as they come

• 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, dual-band Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support and GLONASS
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and an LED flash
• Secondary 1.9MP Camera
• 16GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot

HTC One X+ – Rs. 40,100
The One X+ takes a winning formula by HTC and beefs up the specs giving you one of the best Android experiences after the Note II. The most notable difference is the new Sense 4+ skin, which works a lot better with Jelly Bean along with a keyboard that is actually usable. The Nvidia SoC now runs at a faster 1.7GHz instead of 1.5GHz and a larger battery. You also have 64GB of internal memory, making it a very good package overall.

A true powerhouse

• 4.3-inch S-LCD2 touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, dual-band Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support and GLONASS
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and an LED flash
• Secondary 1.6MP Camera
• 64GB internal memory

Honourable Mentions

HTC One S – Rs. 25,000
The HTC One S is a highly underrated phone and didn’t get much of the limelight, especially due to its high launch price and the fact that it had the older S3 SoC from Qualcomm instead of the S4, in India. However, at 25K, all those little niggles can be forgiven as you’re looking at a phone that has around 80-90 percent of all the features of the One X, minus the high price tag. The phone is also a lot more manageable at 4.3-inches and has one of the best chassis in the market.

Samsung Galaxy S II – Rs. 26,000
Even after the launch of its successor, the S II continues to be a favourite and has garnered a huge fan base, just like the Galaxy S did. The S II’s gradual price drop makes it an incredibly tempting buy, especially when you consider the amount of support it has in the modding community. Even if a day comes where Samsung stops rolling out updates for it, rest assured that there will always be a custom ROM of whatever Google’s latest Android version is down the line for this handset.

Apple iPhone 5 – Rs. 45,500
No smartphone list is complete without a mention of the iPhone. Apple’s latest and (not so) greatest smartphone didn’t make it to our charts for two simple reasons. The first one is that it’s not all that different from the iPhone 4 and 4S. Other than it being slimmer and lighter (which is not always a good thing), it’s practically identical to the previous two generations. The second reason is that instead of making it more user-friendly, and by that we mean the ability to transfer media back and forth with ease, Apple continues to lock you down to their software. And to complicate things further, you now have a new proprietary connector. In any case, just to keep the Apple fans happy, here it is.

For more Diwali related articles, check out our link here; we’ve got some great deals and devices listed out for your festive shopping.