Five of the best budget mobile phones right now

Check our latest 2011 post on Five Cheap Smartphones which won’t break the bank

Budget Mobile phones have always had a place in peoples hearts. They are convenience tools – suitable for a secondary phone and also suitable as a main phone if money is low or if you are not really technology savvy.

Owning a budget phone nowadays is not such a bad thing – generally, there are a range of budget phones which have decent cameras, memory expansion slots, colour screens, easy to use and highly navigation UI’s and and a good build quality. Some budget phones last for years.

Now, you may think that for less than £50 you can not get a reliable handset, and you may think that for less than £100 you will get a phone which just wants to be its bigger brother – e.g. Nokia 6303 and Nokia 6700. But having a reliable phone which is also cheap is one of the great things about technological advancement, because as consumers we always get better products at better prices year after year.

And so without further ado, below is the list of Five of the best budget mobile phones right now;

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Nokia 6303 | Best classic candy bar option

The Nokia 6303 boasts fantastic build quality. Reminisescent of the Nokia 6300, the 6303 also has a 3.2 mega pixel camera. Slim, with a metal out casing, the Nokia 6303 is a mobile phone with a surprising price. Specification wise the 6303 runs on Symbian S40, has a dual LED flash 8X zoom camera, a 240 x 320 pixel display, EDGE, GPRS, Bluetooth and ships with flash lite. The speed of this handset is also very good, with no lag between opening applications or messages. As with all Nokia mobile phones, multimedia wise the handset has a music player, basic organiser, sync contact function and a range of games pre installed. The screen is vibrant, internet access fast for the price and call quality is top notch.

Prices from £79.99 to £99.99 on PAYG. Available from multiple stores.

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LG Pop | Best cheap touch screen option

The LG Pop is the best touch screen mobile phone of its price range. It boasts a bright and mostly responsive touch screen, a nice UI, a sturdy and refined build quality and is a vast improvement on the LG Cookie. Specification wise the LG Pop has a 3 inch display, aluminium casing, a 3 megapixel camera, FM Radio, a nice music player, a MicroSD expansion slot, an Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, GPRS/EDGE technology, Bluetooth and Facebook / Twitter integration. Call quality is good, as is speakerphone quality. As with all touch screens a case should be in order though.

Cheapest Price £79.99 (Vodafone, Orange). Available at multiple stores.

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Blackberry Curve 8520 | Best cheap business phone option

The Blackberry Curve 8520 is a business phone with good e-mail support, good connectivity, a nice solid build, a fantastic QWERTY keyboard, a bright vivid screen and a surprising price tag. Although much more expensive than the other phones in this list, if you are looking for a Smartphone, and are on a budget, then check this out. Specification wise the handset has Wifi, Bluetooth, GPRS,256MB internal memory (expandable to 16gb), a 320 x 240 2.46 inch screen and a 512MHz processor.

Available on contract for as little £15 PM on multiple networks- or PAYG from £164.99.

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Nokia 5130 Xpress Music | Best phone for under £3o option

On a serious budget? Going to Leeds Fest for the weekend and do not want to spend much? Then check out the Nokia 5130. With great call quality, a sturdy build and bluetooth this phone is definately worth a punt.  Specification wise the handset has a 256K color 2 inch screen, a 2 megapixel camera, music player (hence Xpress Music), GPRS, EDGE, Java support, microSD – up to 16GBwith a  1GB card included and 30 MB intenal memory. It also available in a range of colours.

With a bit of punting, price wise this phone can be found for £29.97 on Orange via Dialaphone. Heres the link http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/orange/nokia-51 | just so you do not have to do it yourself.

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Sony Ericsson C903 | Best cheap camera phone option

What list would not be complete without one? Although smart phones are incorporating decent cameras now, you just can not beat a sony ericsson when it comes to camera quality. The SE C903 is a prime example of a mobile phone which is packed full of great features, including a 5 MP camera, at an extremely affordable price. Specification wise this handset has an Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, 105 MB internal memory which is expandable, a TFT 256K color 2.4 inch display which is scratch resistant, 5 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, GPRS and EDGE.

Available at cheapest from £99.95 on O2, Orange and Vodafone.

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”Five of the best budget mobile phones right now”

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