VFM Deals 2018 - Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 (Certified Refurbished) - India

Okay, so it has been quite a while since we have posted anything here. We are trying to get back and this time take it bigger, hopefully.

We are introducing a new Value For Money Deals series, through which will be some awesome irresistible mobile phone deals online.

Here's the first one - Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 (Certified Refurbished)

 Image credits: GSMarena.com

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1, brand new 3GB 32GB variant is still being sold only for Rs.10,999/-, and is a great VFM phone already, but here's the deal, you can get the same phone for much less, if you don't mind going for a Certified Refurbished phone.

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 - Certified Refurbished can now be yours for around Rs.8,500/- (December 16th 2018) on Amazon.in.



Agreed, the Zenfone Max Pro M2 has already been announced and you should be able to buy one by end of this month(December 2018), but the Zenfone Max Pro M1 is still a great VFM phone, considering the fact that most other phones from the competition in this segment(Redmi Note 5 Pro, Nokia 6.1 Plus, Motorola One Power) is still giving you the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset, RAM and Storage configuration.

And even the Redmi Note 6 Pro released a couple of weeks ago, still comes with almost the same internals. The only differentiation being the notch in the display on all these phones except the Redmi Note 5 Pro.


So, the other big differentiator will definitely be the camera or the image quality. Asus has got a trick up its sleeve for even that, you can install/side-load the Google camera app by enabling the Camera2API, which shouldn't take you more than 5-10 minutes and take our word or just google and you will see huge difference in the image quality using the Google camera app.


Image credits: GSMarena.com

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 also comes with a 5,000 mah battery which should keep you going for an entire day, for sure and then some. It is incredible how this phone with the 5000 mah battery weighs only as much as the other 4000 mah battery phones, so weight of the phone should never be an issue if you are used to or were ready to go for phones with around 4000 mah batteries.

However, the charging speed is slower though in comparison to the others, but once charged 100%, there shouldn't be a reason/situation where you would have to charge it again during the day.

What is a Certified Refurbished phone?

As per Amazon.in:

Minimal or no signs of wear & tear. Comes with a 6 month warranty.

This Amazon Renewed product is professionally inspected and tested by an Amazon qualified supplier. Box and accessories (no headphones included) may be generic.

Head on to Amazon.in for more details.

Certified Refurbished phones on Amazon come with a 6 month seller/manufacturer warranty. We have bought a couple of Motorola phones in the past and when we had an issue with one, we did get the service covered under warranty by Moto Lenovo India and to our surprise, we were even provided a 1 year warranty instead of the 6 months.

Let us know if you have any questions, we will be happy to help. And please do post your views or suggestions in the comments section below.

See you all in another post, soooooooon!! Cheers!

Best Budget Smartphones < INR 10k

Hello Guys! PhReview is back with a new post, and this time it will be the budget smartphones.
Phones for people who are just entering the smartphone world, who are a little skeptical and would like to play safe before going big, pouring in their hard earned cash on a flagship.


So, here are the little fellas...!!




Android


HTC Explorer

                            The Explorer is HTC's idea of a first smartphone or the ideal smartphone for a first time smartphone buyer. The Explorer comes with a decent 3.2" LCD display with an average(readable) resolution @ 180 ppi, a 600 MHz processor, a 512 MB RAM, a 3.15 MP camera, 1230 mAh battery and is also 3G and WiFi/GPS enabled. HTC has sure shown some love to it's most basic offering in the form of SRS surround sound enhancement technology built in to the phone. The phone ships with HTC's famed custom UI, Sense on top of Android Gingerbread. HTC has created a lite version of it's latest Sense 4.0 UI for smooth operation on the Explorer's humble hardware and small screen size.


The Explorer can be purchased at INR 8,000 and comes with an incredible build quality for a phone at this price. Infact the build quality even beats phones from much higher price ranges.


LG Optimus Net

                           The Optimus Net is the improved version of LG's best ever basic Android phone, the Optimus One. The Optimus Net remains almost the same with only a faster processor this time. The Net comes with a 800 MHz processor, a 512 MB RAM, 3.2" LCD display with an average resolution @ 180 ppi, a 3.15 MP Autofocus camera, a large 1500 mAh battery and is also 3G/WiFi/GPS enabled.


The Optimus Net can be bought at INR 9,300 and comes with Gingerbread out of the box.


If you are on a tighter budget, but would still love to try an Android phone from a major manufacturer, then here's your phone.


Samsung Galaxy Y

                               The Galaxy Y is the basic Android phone from Samsung who have sold 20 million of their current flagship, the Galaxy SII in just 10 months. The Galaxy Y is Samsung's way of welcoming the user into the Android world. The Y comes with a 3.0" display with a poor screen resolution @ 133 ppi, a fast 836 MHz processor, a decent 290 MB RAM, 2 MP camera, a 1200 mAh battery and is also 3G/WiFi/GPS enabled.


The build quality of the phone is definetly good but does look cheap when compared to the LG Optimus Net and more so when next to the HTC Explorer. Samsung has also released an interesting version of the Galaxy Y called the Galaxy Y Color Plus which comes with 4 spare back panels, each in a different color.


The Galaxy Y/Galaxy Y Color Plus is currently sold at INR 7,000 and comes with Samsung's TouchWiz interface on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box.




Bada OS


Samsung Wave Y

                                   
                                    The Samsung Wave Y is the basic phone from Samsung for it's very own smartphone OS, the Bada. The Bada OS has been there for over 2 years now, existence of which in a highly competitive market filled with Android, iOS, Symbian and Blackberry phones is either due to it's goodness or because of the success of Wave I and Wave II phones from Samsung. The Bada OS is in it's second version now, Bada 2.0


The Wave Y  comes with the same 832 MHz processor as the Galaxy Y, but with a bigger and much better display and looks. The Wave Y has got a 3.2" display with an average(readable) screen resolution of 180 ppi, a 2 MP camera and is also 3G/WiFi/GPS enabled.


The Samsung Wave Y can be purchased at INR 6,900 and comes with a Samsung TouchWiz like interface on top of Bada 2.0 out of the box.




Symbian


Nokia 500

                           The Nokia 500 is the latest basic smartphone along with the trio of recently released Symbian Belle phones - Nokia 603, Nokia 700 and 701. The Nokia 500 comes with a 1 GHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, a 3.2" nHD display with a fine resolution @ 229 ppi, a 5 MP fixed focus camera and is also 3G/WiFi/GPS enabled.


The Nokia 500 is sold at INR 8,800 with Symbian Anna out of the box and a planned upgrade to Symbian Belle. The 500 also comes with free lifetime navigation in the form of Nokia maps similar to all Nokia smartphones these days.


The Bada and Symbian OSes are sure lagging behind in the number of apps when compared to the Android but are surely worthy contenders with the kind of hardware on offer and their price, especially the Nokia 500 with it's 1 Ghz proccessor, Symbian Belle upgrade and a 5 MP camera.


Hope it helps! See you all in the next post.


Cheers....!!




* All prices mentioned in the blogpost are quoted from the best online deals in India. The deal websites will be shared if needed.