Top 10 Best Budget Phones (Spring 2021) Under £200

So the pubs have finally praised the

lord jesus reopened and you went a

little bit mental and spent all of your

lockdown savings on a

bathtub's worth of booze but then you

also went and buggered up your trusty

phone by dropping it in a bucket of

sangria or

unleashing hot vomit fury all over the

thing well never fear my friend because

in 2021 you've got a tiny choice of

budget-friendly smartphones that are

well worth seeking out

motorola xiaomi oppo nokia and loads of

others offer slick

shiny slabs busted brilliant battery

life flexible camera setups and enough

grunt to blaze through games like pubg

and call of duty all for a budget under

200 quid i'm not even kidding there's

been a torrent of fresh new budget

smartphones

launched in 2021 i've been reviewing as

many of the weed buggers

as possible so here's my roundup of the

best budget-friendly smartphones under

two in japan you can grab yourself in

the uk

right now then i've personally tried out

and for more on the latest and greatest

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cheers so one of the best new budget

smartphones you'll find at this cheapy

price point is motorola's fresh moto g30

a 159 quid handset that offers a strong

everyday experience like most budget

phones this is another plastic

blower offering little in the way of

frills or flare although it is at least

splash resistant if you have yourself a

bit of an accident

what you have here is a stock android

experience that's very easy to get along

with along with all those

standard features that we know and love

like a dark mode and proper gesture

navigation

plus some very worthy motorola extras

like a badass choppy torch effort

the 6.5 inch ips screen is unfortunately

only a 720p

res effort so it's not exactly supremely

crisp the visuals are reasonably punchy

and you do get a 90 hertz refresh so

everything looks buttery smooth

the snapdragon 662 chipset can handle

fast-paced games like call of duty

mobile

no bother and motorola's dedicated

gaming mode can manage resources out of

sight

and block pesky notifications for

buggering up your concentration

the 5000m battery will happily keep you

going all day long even if you publish

the moto g30 a fair

bit and meanwhile the camera tech is

perfectly respectable too

that 64 megapixel primary sensor does

typically struggle in stronger low light

but otherwise it could snap some decent

looking pics of the fam

although the video mode does top off at

full hd resolution and all the other

features that you would hope for and

expect from the moto g30 are present

correct as well including a good bit of

nfc if your contactless payments

you've got some micro sd memory card

support to expand the onboard storage

and a tasty bit of headphone jack action

too overall a very respectable package

indeed but an alternative

budget mode roller smartphone option if

you can't get your mitts on the moto g30

or you'd prefer some slicker look at

visuals is the still rather lovable moto

g9 plus from last year

this is another plastic blower with a

stock android experience and an ips

screen but this time it's an

even more flipping massive 6.8 incher

and it's a bit of a blinder too pumping

out natural looking full hd plus visuals

with hdr 10 support chucked on top

although unlike the g30 the sadly no

variable refresh rate to speak of

performance is pretty smooth thanks to

the snapdragon 730g chipset with that

capable adreno 618 gpu

and moto's gaming tools once again

making for a satisfying pubg

or call of duty experience again you got

a 5 000 milliamp capacity battery

crammed into that plastic fantastic body

and

once again it will happily last you the

day no matter how much time you spend on

your blower and you've got all those

other features

like the nfc and the micro sd support as

you would expect

the package is rounded off by a

perfectly decent 64 meg primary camera

backed by an 8 megapixel ultrawide angle

effort just like the moto g30

plus you've also got some macro and

depth sensor shenanigans all in all it's

perfectly fine for everyday shooting

even in fairly testing conditions

and even if that didn't quite butter

your muffin well motorola has a shag

load of other budget-friendly

smartphones under that 200-pound price

point in 2021

including the also very mighty indeed

moto g9 power

this is yet another hand fill and 6.8

inch blower that lacks thrills and

excitement but more than makes up for it

with respectable specs for around 170 of

your british pounds

performance is reasonably dependable

thanks to once again that snapdragon 662

platform

packs by four gigs of ram you can get

stuck into some like gaming if you want

to blow off some steam by blowing off

someone else's skull

and of course the name like power you

would expect some pretty supreme battery

life out of this thing and that's

definitely a winner here the moto g9

power rocks a 6

000 milliamp capacity battery that'll

easily keep you going for a full day

even if you're basically never off the

damn thing and it'll last you two full

days if you don't go too nuts

the g9 power is fine for media streaming

although the ips screen once again drops

from full hd to 720p reds while the

stereo speaker setup has also been

culled but thankfully not that headphone

jack

meanwhile the triple n's rear camera

spearheaded by a 64 megapixel sensor

is unsurprisingly limited and you do

lose the plus models eight megapixel

ultrawide angle shooter although the

moto g9 power can still take good

looking photos in respectable lighting

helped along by motorola's ai smarts

alternatively for 10 bob less you can

bag yourself the moto g9 player which is

just 6.4 inches is a bit of a blessing

for more stubby troll like fingered

people like myself although the battery

capacity and the camera tech

are also scaled back now another brand

that offers straightaway stock android

smartphones for a budget friendly price

point in 2021 is

nokia and the fresh new nokia 5.4 is a

respectable package for just 150 quid

this 6.4 inch blower suffers from

standard nokia tropes like the fat lip

down below

harbor and some needless brandon and of

course that always pointless assistant

button

but this dusk model is rather fetching

in a moody emo kind of way

we're still waiting on that android 11

upgrade unfortunately which is roller

grayson to say the least but that should

eventually tick through and then

supposedly we'll be getting an

android 12 update once that's available

as well plus three years of security

updates

just for an added bit of reassurance

you've got nfc support here in the uk

and the dual sim support as well plus a

separate microsd slot to expand that

storage

meanwhile the ips screen is a mere 720p

panel but it's fine for streaming

youtube or browsing the old internet

power and proceedings is the snapdragon

662 chipset again

and once again this is fine for gaming

on the go while the 4 000 milliamp

battery is near impossible to drain in a

single day

unless you really bloody punish this

thing and last up that 48 megapixel

rear primary sensor was absolutely fine

for your everyday picks of the family

and all that good stuff but the video

recording was a bit of a mess

and lots of vocal popping and other

issues like that so as if you want to

shoot lots of home movies of the sprongs

doing cute stuff then

you might want to look elsewhere

personally i'd rather grab myself an

oppo

a53 which costs as little as 130 bob in

2021. this phone is a bit of a superstar

offering a smooth everyday experience

around two days of battery life between

charges and all the standard stuff like

nfc and that expandable storage the

display is a mere hd effort once again

but it's not bad at all for kicking back

with some youtube or whatever

and impressively you do have a 90 hertz

max refresh for it too

not to mention a stereo speaker setup

and strong audio chops

the oppo a53 is still stuck on creaky

old android 10 at the time i shot this

at least it was for me

and not everyone will delight in that

clunky old color os launcher either but

the snapdragon 460 chipset and 120 hertz

touch response rate meant i stood a

reasonable chance against the hordes of

unwashed school kids when stumbling my

way through online slog fests

and that 13 megapixel primary camera

does a decent job of daily snaps

certainly for this asking price moving

on and of course it's impossible to run

at the best budget smartphones in 2021

without a hot bit of xiaomi action

especially as the rather bloody

brilliant poco x3 nfc is still one of

the best blows around

at this price point the name's still a

bit clunky but the poco x3 nfc says that

the kind of specs and features you

usually find for about a hundred quid

more

let's start with our gorgeous 6.7 inch

full hd ips screen

which boasts hdr 10 support and tops off

at a whopping 120 hertz refresh rate

something you don't even find on a lot

of flagship phones movies sound good

over the stereo speakers and you've got

a headphone jack

for plugging in and enjoying proper

high-res audio this is one of the first

smartphones to pack in qualcomm

snapdragon 732g platform

so you can absolutely blaze through

games like call of duty and pubg no

worries

especially as xiaomi found spears for

six gigs of ram in this plastic wonder

and the poco x3 nfc runs off its general

awesomeness with a nice

tsd 5000 milliamp battery and a 64

megapixel primary camera

that can capture decent looking shots in

ample conditions if you can't quite

stretch up to that near 200 pound asking

price well poko still has you kind of

covered with a reasonably good

poco m3 despite costing closer to the

100 pound mark you still get a full hd

plus resolution display

the 6.53 inch beast which is definitely

commendable the snazzy yellow version is

certainly eye-catching and you get the

same snapdragon 662 chipset that was

packed inside of the moto g9 player and

power

so gaming on titles like call of duty

and pub g is all good but one of my

favorite bits of the poco m3 is that 6

000 milliamp battery a match for the

moto g9 power so again you can punish

this thing as much as you like

it'll keep you going all day long no

sweat the poco m3 can be rather quirky

at times however and the camera is very

basic at best

but overall it is worth that price and

also as a heads up

xiaomi often has random little sales and

discounts on its smartphones on me.com

so definitely keep an eye on that if

you're after a budget smartphone quite

often the likes of the me 10t light will

creep

under that 200 pound price point that's

definitely still one of my favorite

budget 5g smartphones right now i

managed to grab it for 190 quid

in one of those sales so yeah definitely

well worth having a squint at

but of course one xiaomi smartphone the

awards have to wait to be discounted is

the redmi nine which is a very

respectable alternative to that poco m3

this 6.5 inch phone is a lovable beast

pumping out full hd visuals and lasting

for yonks with its similarly huge

battery

you don't get the 120 hertz refresh rate

or the hdr support or the stereo speaker

setup while the performance can be a wee

bit stuttery as well

but the redmi 9 can handle everyday life

without much of a grumble

and it will suit any users on a stricter

budget now this sort of price point you

will also

find the occasional samsung galaxy a

series branded smartphone as well which

might seem quite tempting

i haven't personally tested most of

these out unfortunately because samsung

isn't really particularly keen on

sending out samples of its budget

handsets

what i can tell you though is definitely

steer well clear of the galaxy a12 which

is rather clunky and juddery

no matter what you're up to and

definitely weak source compared with a

lot of the other rivals in this best

budget phone roundup so that right

there's my personal pick of the best

cheapy handsets you can grab yourself

right now in spring 2021 of course these

smartphones i've all personally tested

and reviewed so i might have missed off

your own personal favorite

definitely feel free to call me a

bag down in the comments and clue me in

as to what your selection would have

been definitely go check out my full

reviews of any of these smartphones if

any of them have particularly tickled

your fancy and uh please do poke

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all that other youtube shenanigans and

have yourselves a fantastic

rest of the week cheers everyone love