Top 5 smartphones under Rs. 20,000

We’ve already given you our choice for the best high-end smartphones in the market, now it’s time to dial it down a notch and look at some of the best deals available under Rs.20,000. Not everyone has a big budget when it comes to mobile phones, which is fair, but spending less doesn’t mean you have to compromise a lot on features or performance. There are plenty of good options to choose from thanks to big price cuts and new higher end models launching almost every month now, putting a lot of good phones withing the reach of those on a strict budget. Let’s have a look at, what we feel, are some of the best, value for money handsets under Rs. 20,000.

HTC ChaCha - Rs. 14,700 (View Stores)
First up, is the ChaCha from HTC. This touch-and-type smartphone has cleverly managed to integrate one of the most popular social networks (Facebook) into a well designed and easy to use handset. The ChaCha is a brilliant little phone even without the big ‘F’ button, the keypad is very comfortable to use and the touchscreen is quick and responsive.

Compact and functional

HTC has also thrown in their Sense UI to complete the experience. The phone is powered by an 800MHz CPU and runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread. We really didn’t have any major gripes with this phone other than the price, which we felt was a tad on the higher side. Either ways, you won’t be disappointed with the features and it’s functionality. Here are some of the highlights of the phone:

• 2.6-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 320 pixel resolution

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with DLNA support and hot spot creativity

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash, video capture up to 720 x 480 resolution

• VGA resolution secondary camera

• 3.5mm earphone socket

• Expandable memory up to 32GB

Motorola Defy - Rs. 15,699 (Check prices)
Motorola’s Defy is still going strong as one of the best rugged smartphones in the market. While it was a good buy even at launch, it’s an even sweeter deal now at its current pricing. The phone is designed for all-weather use and easily withstands dust, grime, water, what have you, making it perfect for our country.

Rugged and durable

Powered by an 800MHz Cortex A8 processor from Texas Instruments, the phone is pretty quick and even though it officially comes with Froyo, you can easily update it to Gingerbread (just Google it). Here are some of the highlights of the phone:

• 3.7-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 854 pixel resolution

• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity

• GPS with A-GPS support

• Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0

• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash, video capture up to 640 x 480 resolution

• 3.5mm earphone socket

• 2GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB