Best Basic Mobile Phones

Finally, one of the pioneers of India's mobile revolution, Nokia, has made a comeback into the Indian market after a long hiatus with a revived version of its vintage mobile phone Nokia 3310 with a price tag of around Rs. 3500. Now, that's what I call a smart strategy from this giant mobile phone brand to add another feather to its overall marketing game plan and make the product more visible to a large number of consumers.

Now coming to the specs of Nokia 3310, what is worth discussing is the fact that it now comes with a fully colored screen. The other specs of the phone are as follows:-

After the great influx of Chinese smartphone brand into the Indian market, Indian brands have really struggled to find a space for themselves. Micromax, which used to be the number 2 smartphone brand in India back in 2014 and was becoming a serious threat to Samsung, is today finding it very hard to pitch itself against the likes of Xiaomi and Oneplus. As far as the other Indian smartphone brands are concerned, today they are just beginning to disappear from the market with only Intex having some relevance.

But somehow in the recent past, Micromax seems to have gained some space in the market with several smartphones it launched in the year 2017. Still, the magic touch was missing for this Indian brand until it came with an announcement to directly compete against Jio 4G basic mobile phone with a basic mobile phone of its own named Micromax Bharat 1.

When Micromax for the first time came up with the announcement of a Jio-like basic mobile phone, it was quite evident that somehow the phone is going to be better than its counterpart. And it turned out to be true as Micromax Bharat 1 has become the first basic mobile phone to run on a Snapdragon processor.

How can it be even remotely possible that we talk about best basic mobile phones and Samsung does not find its name in it? So, here it is the Samsung Guru Music 2 that is one amongst the best basic mobile phones available in the market right now.

Nobody can ever reject the fact that it was Samsung who started the redefining process of basic mobile phones a decade ago by adding a colored display and some attractive features like FM Radio, VGA camera, MP3 player and much more. Although later on, Nokia too started making its basic mobile phones more appealing and attractive with additional features, Samsung is the pioneer of such a change that changed the way we viewed basic mobile phone as something whose usage is just limited to voice calling and text messaging.

Coming back to Samsung Guru Music 2, the phone is still selling like hot cakes after being launched a good 2 to 3 years back. The best thing about the phone is its wonderful-looking body and a firm built quality which makes it a pure delight for our palms. The specifications of the phone include:-

Nokia along with Samsung dominated the basic mobile phone market when its usage was an all-time high. Even after the advent of other mobile brands making basic mobile phones, Nokia still commands a lot of respect and credibility amongst the basic mobile phone users. Today, there are a number of basic mobile phones from Nokia that is loved for their design, features, and battery efficiency. Nokia 130 is one amongst those Nokia basic mobile phones that are very popular and launched very recently in September 2017 to carry ahead the popularity of Nokia 3310.

Priced at Rs. 1599, Nokia 130 comes with Built-in FM Radio and MP3 playback capability. In terms of design, the phone sports a tough polycarbonate shell along with a glossy front finish with color matched keys and a matte black cover along having a tactile island keymat that separating the keys. With 4 MB and 8 MB RAM and ROM respectively, Nokia 130 runs on 30+ software platform and has a 1020 mah battery that can power the phone a whopping 11.5 hours of video playback. Having a 0.3 mp VGA camera on the back, Nokia 130's internal memory can be expanded via an SD card to 32 GB. The size of the QQVGA color screen of the phone is 1.8-inch. With connectivity options that include a dual-SIM slot, Bluetooth 3.0, a micro USB and 3.5 mm audio jack, the phone has an LED torchlight and includes popular games from Gameloft - Ninja Up, Danger Dash, Nitro Racing, Air Strike and Sky Gift along with Snake Xenzia.

Specifications at a glance

In 2014, American-based smartphone brand called Infocus that made its debut in the Indian market. The phone that the company launched was called as Infocus M2. The biggest highlight of the phone was its 720p display and an 8-megapixel front camera at a price less than Rs. 5000 bucks which in 2014 was unimaginable. But somehow the magic that this American smartphone brand created in the hearts and minds of Indian smartphone lovers was lost in due point of time as it started launching its smartphones at a faster rate. The smartphones Infocus launched were just average ones with average specifications and the popularity the brand gained faded very quickly with brands like Xiaomi and Asus becoming stronger than before.

Infocus is a privately owned company founded in 1986 and based in the state of Oregon in America. The company started off by manufacturing DLP & LCD projectors and accessories as well as large-format touch displays and software before moving towards making LED televisions, tablets, and smartphones. After M2, Infocus came up with many other phones with some really good specs and received much adulation from Indian consumers. But in 2016, the company took a long gap of about 7-8 months before coming up with a new phone called Infocus Turbo 5 recently in the last week of June 2017.

In order to catch the attention of consumers from lower segments, Infocus launched its first basic mobile phone in India by the name of Infocus F120 in the year 2016.

The best thing about Nokia's basic mobile phones is their credibility and quality. Since the time basic mobile phones were in every Indian's hand, Nokia was and is the king along with Samsung.

Nokia's tremendous growth in basic mobile phone segment was never a surprise for anyone since everybody knew that with the kind of trust it had earned, the brand had in it to conquer the heart and minds of people with its basic mobile phones. So much so that even now Nokia has used its old device 3310 to announce its re-entry into the Indian market by modifying the amazing piece with a colored screen and a nice & beautiful body. And what's more, the plan has created for Nokia as people craved to lay their hands on the newly revived 3310 basic mobile phone and it has actually become an instant hit setting new standards for basic mobile phones without the 4G facility. Apart from 3310 model, Nokia has also gone ahead with few new basic mobile phone launches this year amongst which Nokia 105 Dual Sim is the one that has impressed many.

Launched recently in July 2017, Nokia 105 is a dual sim phone that is currently priced at Rs. 1319 in Flipkart. At this price, you get a nicely built and finely crafted basic mobile phone that comes with with a 1.80-inch display with a resolution of 240 pixels by 320 pixels and is powered by an 800mAh removable battery. With connectivity options that include an FM radio, Nokia 105 has 4 MB of RAM and the same amount of ROM which cannot be expanded and somehow is not that kind of an unfortunate thing considering the fact that the phone is a basic one for simple calling and text messages. With a measurement of 112.00 x 49.50 x 14.40 (height x width x thickness) and weigh 73.00 grams, Nokia 105 runs Series 30 and has no primary camera

Such is the power of the brand called Nokia that another basic mobile phone from it has found a place in this list. In the last 2-3 years, Nokia has come up with a number of superb basic mobile phones that have great features and unparalleled durability. And one such basic mobile phone is Nokia 216 that was launched last year in the month of September.

Available at a price of Rs. 2495, Nokia 216 comes in Black, Grey, and Blue color variants. Measuring 118.0×50.02×13.5 mm and weighing 83 grams, the Nokia 216 Dual SIM comes in a strong polycarbonate body that protects it from any rough conditions and features a QVGA display of 2.4 inches. The special thing about this basic mobile phone is that along with a 0.3 megapixel VGA camera on the back that has LED flash, it also has a camera at the front with the same resolution. With an internal memory of 16 MB that can be expanded up to 32 GB via an SD card, Nokia 216 comes with a 1020mAh battery that has the capacity to last 18 hours of talk time and up to 19 days on standby mode. Having connectivity features like Bluetooth 3.0, Micro-USB, and 3.5mm jack, the phone runs on Series 30+ OS.

Looking at the features, it seems clear that Nokia has given a great try in moving the standard of basic mobile phones with its Nokia 216 that is targeted at consumers who are willing to buy a good basic mobile phone but with some additional features and a battery that will save him from situations of crisis.

Specifications at a glance

'COMPETITION', an 11 letter word that drives individuals, corporate giants and even public-sector undertakings to try new things and develop newer strategies and products in order to become more favorable amongst consumers thereby reaching their goals. The same can be said about Intex who recently launched its first 4G-VoLTE feature called Turbo+ 4G.

Basically, the 4G enabled phone is a part of Intex's strategy to counter Jio which recently announced India's first basic mobile phone with 4G-VoLTE and an effective price of Rs.0 that requires a customer to deposit a security amount of Rs.1500 that would be returned after 3 years when the same customer also returns the phone to Jio.

Coming back to Intex Turbo+ 4G, its specs are almost identical to that of the Jio basic mobile phone whose booking will start from August 24, 2017. The specs of Turbo+ 4G include:-

Finally, last but not the least and in fact the best basic mobile phone of all is the Samsung Metro XL. Since the time it was launched, the craze for it has only grown with time making it an irresistible basic mobile phone.

Nobody should forget that Samsung from time to time has always come up with new innovations that are not just limited to its high-end smartphones but also basic mobile phones. There was a time when a decade back, basic mobile phones of Samsung were selling like hot cake when adults, new college students, and even older ones loved to have one in their hands. The things that drove Samsung to the top of the feature market were credibility, durability, and quality of its basic mobile phones. Out of all basic mobile phones available on the market, ones from the Samsung were and are always able to distinguish themselves with unique features.

Coming back to the features of Samsung Metro XL, the best thing about the phone is its large (for a basic mobile phone) TFT screen measuring 2.8 inches. Being a multimedia-oriented basic mobile phone, it has 128 MB of RAM, that can be expanded up to 16 GB via an SD card. With a 3.1 MP main camera, the phone also comes with a 2.0 MP front camera that takes up to 9 shots in continuous mode, similar to a burst mode allowing users to pick and choose the best selfie. There is an FM chip on board along with a browser for surfing the web. The battery capacity of the device is 1,200 mAh that can power the phone for at least 2-3 days continuously. Available in black and white the phone is priced at Rs 3,190.

Specifications at a glance