Why do people stick to famous brands like Apple or Samsung? One of the reasons is the guarantee of durability, reliability and quality. Choosing their products, we buy not only the necessary functions, but also the confidence that the phone will not die for no apparent reason after a month of operation.
In addition to the world-famous smartphone manufacturers, there are many others. You can explore their offers on trading platforms like AliExpress. Dozens of companies unknown in our country sell smartphones that look interesting at first glance. Quite modern characteristics are complemented by a low price. How can one resist the temptation here, if in real stores a phone with the same parameters will cost 2-3 times more?
Price, quality and one pitfall
There are not many ways for a start-up or small company to win over an audience. One of these ways is low prices. By the way, they also scare off potential buyers: many people shy away from unfamiliar logos, because they believe that a reliable product cannot be very cheap.
But still, the material question prevails over fears. Yes, everyone wants to have a reliable means of communication, but not everyone is ready to spend 50+ thousand rubles on it. This is how the demand for phones from little-known manufacturers that offer the characteristics of expensive brands, only cheaper, is kept.
Let’s take two models as an example – the 2020 Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus and the Umidigi Bison Pro, released in July 2021. The first one is now sold for 35-40 thousand rubles, its main characteristics are 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB of ROM and computing power for years to come. But Umidigi Bison Pro with approximately the same characteristics (at least on paper) can be ordered on AliExpress for 15 thousand. You most likely have never heard of it, but you are already wondering: why is it worse than Samsung?
In general, we note for clarity that according to the tests, Umidigi Bison Pro loses to a device from Samsung. And similar characteristics are not a reason to believe that in real conditions the performance of phones will be on the same level. But if the issue of design and assembly is not a priority, and the phone is needed for basic tasks, and not some specific ones like night shooting, then you can turn a blind eye to the discrepancy in power. Indeed, in dollars, their price difference reaches an impressive $ 530!
In addition to Umidigi, there are dozens of brands whose price-performance ratio looks very tempting. They do not claim to be high achievers, but simply release budget phones with good parameters for today. Buyers are attracted by the large battery capacity, camera resolution, charging speed and high results in benchmarks.
Why can you buy cheap smartphones too?
To be honest, buying a no-name phone is always risky. The chances of getting a good thing and an unusable device are equal, that is, 50 to 50. Why is it still worth the risk?
Small companies have ambitions. They try to develop, while not leaving the framework of their prices. They mainly use mid-range hardware, adding breakthrough solutions to it.
For example, the Umidigi A9 has a mid-range Helio P60 chipset, and as a feature there is an infrared thermometer – not of professional accuracy, of course, but quite working in increments of one tenth of a degree Celsius. Similarly, the Oukitel WP7 diverts attention from its weaknesses with a night vision camera system and an 8000 mAh battery. For every feature that looks weak, these phones have something unusual, practical and profitable.
If Apple, Samsung and others are afraid to ruin their reputation with non-standard technologies, then small companies are fearlessly trying new things. True, the chances of success are also 50/50, but still they have more radically new ideas. So if you want to own a truly unique phone, look for it among the no-name brands.
In addition, little-known companies have an amazing ability to combine high-end features with a low price. In budget phones, you will find a large amount of memory, a huge battery, a gaming chipset, fast charging and other goodies 2-3 times cheaper than flagships.
Not all budget smartphones are as good as they seem. Many are copies of popular flagships, and quite bad ones. In others, there are many engineering flaws. And as a customer, you will have to learn, willy-nilly, to tell the good from the bad.
Little-known reliable brands
In any product class, there are companies that produce something that is inexpensive yet reliable and powerful. Among smartphones, these are names such as Umidigi, Tecno, Infinix and Oukitel.
1. Umidigi
The bulk of Umidigi smartphones fall straight into the mid-budget level. They have metal cases, modern iron and decent autonomy. Among them are many models that look like the flagships of Samsung and Xiaomi. There are many options for the camera – from weak to those that can compete with popular camera phones.
From fashion, the company introduces side and on-screen fingerprint scanners, streamlined AMOLED displays, fast charging. Worthy models from Umidigi are the A9 Pro, A11 Pro Max, the already mentioned Bison Pro and Bison X10.
But the characteristics will not show how long the phone will live in the hands of the owner. If we talk about the latest models, that is, released since 2021, then Umidigi has also focused on reliability. But with the old ones, how lucky, it is better to bypass them.
2. Tecno and Infinix
If you want to support little-known Chinese brands, take a look at Tecno and Infinix. Both are subsidiaries of the Chinese techno concern Transsion Holdings, headquartered in Shenzhen. They cannot be called quite young: both Tecno and Infinix have already earned a name for themselves in the African, South Asian and Middle East regions.
Their offerings are mostly mid-range budget devices with some premium innovations, and tend to be durable. Many models with beautiful design and high-end MediaTek and Qualcomm processors.
At Tecno, you can safely choose from Pova 2, Pova 5G, Camon 18 Premier and Spark 8p. Infinix has Zero X, Hot 10i, Hot 11s and Note 12.
Common characteristics of both brands are large battery capacity, high display refresh rate, mid-range and high-end chipsets that perform well in games with medium graphics settings. The cameras are of average quality.
Each model either focuses on 1-2 options (for example, battery and camera), or achieves a balance between all characteristics. For example, the Tecno Pova series features a good chipset and battery. This phone will appeal to gamers with good power and long battery life.
3.Oukitel
This company is also based in Shenzhen. Oukitel smartphones are mostly mid-range devices. Particular attention is paid to the battery life and durability of the case.
Dozens of models from Oukitel can work on a full charge for several days. The battery capacity reaches 20,000 mAh (WP series).
Camera quality varies. There are models that are strong in this regard, there are also very weak ones, but even from good ones you should not expect the level of Google Pixel. If you do not take into account photography, then in general, Oukitel smartphones can be called competitive. They can be found premium features presented in the flagships of the high price segment from well-known brands.
When choosing one of Oukitel’s long-running models, be prepared for the fact that the phone will be very thick and heavy. This is especially true of the WP series, which belongs to the extra strong ones. The C-series is much thinner, while its autonomy is good.
What can go wrong?
The main drawback of no-name smartphones is software support. They may be running an older version of Android at the time of release, and most of these phones will never receive system updates. A similar problem with security updates: it’s good if they come at least a couple of times.
Small companies, unlike large ones, are not able to provide long-term support for phones.
If your phone stops receiving security updates, its reliability is at risk. And that’s a good enough reason to opt for a big brand like Samsung or OnePlus.
Another problem is defective products. As a rule, this is the result of poor-quality testing, but recently this has happened less often, although it can permanently spoil the impression of the purchase.
It is difficult to get original spare parts for know-name phones. Since their manufacturers have not yet entered the global market, it can be difficult to repair their phone: you will have to wait a long time for spare parts, if at all you can find them.
Is it worth the risk?
If you are on a budget or want to try something new, the smartphone market from little-known companies is a very interesting place. The value for money there is attractive, there are even premium features.
Of course, you cannot get everything at once in such a phone. It will not have a top-end chipset, super-fast charging and other premium chips. But this is how the difference in price is achieved: for one or two strong characteristics, there are several weak ones. So a no-name phone is an acquisition that needs to be considered with special care, having previously got acquainted with the history of the company and customer reviews.
Source: www.makeuseof.com
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