Mobile Grudge Match – Galaxy Y vs A75 vs Mi-350n

Three value for money smartphones, but there can be only one winner. Today, we pit three of the latest and hottest budget Android smartphones in the ring to see which one offers bang for the buck. They are all good phones, each with their pros and cons, making it very difficult to decide between the three as to which one is the better phone of the lot. So let’s get straight down to it and find out who’s the boss.

Samsung Galaxy Y – Rs.7,500
Samsung’s been heavily advertising the Galaxy Y on billboards and TV commercials, in order to attract more buyers. Truth is, it’s actually a very good phone with a good build quality and compact form factor making it easy to use if you have small hands. Inside you get Android Gingerbread powered by a peppy little 850MHz CPU that keeps the interface chugging along smoothly. The low resolution is the only major failing of this phone in our eyes.

Compact and chic

Its media capabilities are, by far one of the best in the segment. The audio quality is very good through a good set of in-ear phones, making it an ideal MP3 player. Connectivity-wise, you get Bluetooth and Wi-Fi ‘n’, something that manufacturers usually skip when working with a budget. It also fared very well in our battery test, tipping just over 10Hrs for just video playback, which is really good.

Spice Mi-350n – Rs.7,600
The Mi-350n is pitched at the same price as the Galaxy Y, but it does manage to offer features that aren’t available on the Samsung. For starters, it’s a dual-SIM phone, which is great for all those who have a habit of juggling around two phones. It also boasts of a metal body for the front and rear portions with rubber bits thrown in for better grip. Spice have added a splash of their own flavour to Gingerbread with handy toggle switches in the notification bar and apps pre-bundled with the phone.

A good contender

The camera department is also something worth mentioning as it comes with a 3.2MP snapper with auto-focus! Not something you see everyday in this segment. The battery life is not as great as the Samsung, mainly due to the larger screen but is good by itself. What’s more, you also get a front facing camera for video calling.

Micromax A75 Superfone Lite – Rs.8,999
The A75 is one phone we were quite anxious to get our hands on as it’s the successor to the A70, an Android phone that we all loved. This one sits a bit beyond the budget of the other two, but we’ve included it, as the feature set is more or less the same. Micromax have managed to emulate the Nexus S design extremely well and the phone looks really good. At a slightly larger screen size of 3.7 inches, the picture looks crisp and clear. The dual-SIM phone seems a tad laggy at first, but nothing that a quick install of Go Launcher won’t fix.

Nexus S much?

The Superfone Lite comes with good connectivity options, including Wi-Fi Direct. The camera does a pretty decent job as well, despite it being only 3MP and fixed-focus. Battery life takes a dive slightly as a large screen and low capacity battery aren’t exactly a perfect match.

It’s now time to stack up the scores and see what’s what. To the scoreboard!

Click for a clearer image

The Bottom Line
It’s no surprise really that the Micromax A75 has come out as the winner and come to think about it, that is the phone I’d pick as well. The minute sluggishness in the interface can still be fixed with installing a different launcher or by being a bit careful with the number of apps you open, but there’s no substitute for a low resolution screen, which is the primary reason for not picking the Galaxy Y. The A75 has the looks to back it up as well and feels very well built and a lot like the Nexus S, which is a good thing. So there you have it, if you want a good Android handset under 10K, then the Micromax A75 is one of the best, all-round offerings currently available. You need to kep in mind that while none of these phones will offer you an 'exceptional' Android experience, you get what you pay for and in that, the Micromax is just a little better over the rest.