skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Raising the bar...
If you have around RM680 to boot, the choice for a travel smartphone would be a Motorola Moto G.
Practically-speaking, its one of the only phone of its class to offer a quad-core 1.2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor.
Compared to cheaper phones, this one is much faster when it comes to running tasks.
It's quite an attractive package given the fact that it has a high-resolution 4.5" screen.
 |
| The Moto G |
Superior Android OS
The Moto G come with the latest Android 4.3 Kit Kat OS.
These are found on Google's Nexus phones and tablets and is said to be really smooth.
Currently, very few smartphone manufacturers offers a KitKat phone under RM1,000.
And like its Nexus cousins, you can set up your Google account during start-up and you are in business.
Two SIMs are better than one...
Yeah, like the Nokia X, this baby has two SIM card slots.
This means that you can switch between "home" and "away" when it comes to getting connected with your loved ones.
The inner workings...
Motorola's Moto G comes in two versions.
You can have the 8GB or 16GB phones.
One word of caution is that when you load up the apps, it will eat into your phone's memory and there is no way you can externally expand it.
The only downside about this phone is the fact that it does not have a MicroSD slot.
Files can be "pushed" to cloud based apps - but there is a catch. If you exceed the cloud storage space, you might have to pay for it.
As for camera, the Moto G's onboard camera is good enough to capture images in broad daylight.
I doubt that it would work well in low light.
But that is not my criteria.
If I get this phone, its purely to get connected.
So, to sum it all up, the Moto G is regarded as phone with value for money and its quad core processor performance.
"Disposables"
I've been using a HTC One X+ and frankly, it's one of the best Android OS phones I've ever handled.
Prior to that, I was lugging around an LG Optimus 2x.
That one suffers from some serious lag-time when it comes to call-handling and due to wear and tear, I had to retire it.
Now, recently, there is a selection of decent smartphones at prices below RM500.
This is a benchmark for phones you can carry abroad for travel and use with foreign SIM cards.
I gave this much thought and narrowed down my search to Lenovo's A369i with an unbeatable price below RM300.
The phone was so hot, it was literally "cleaned" from the shelves.
 |
| The Nokia X |
It's down to one choice and the winner is...
I saw a newspaper ad on Nokia's latest entry-level phone - the Nokia X.
This one has a 4-inch screen and its powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.0Ghz dual core processor.
In short, this little phone as more processing power than a 286 desktop computer of the 80s.
It's also one of Nokia's entry-level phone for those living in the third world who are not acquainted with the Android OS.
It has a retail price of RM399 and also features two ports for SIM cards.
I find this useful for travel across the border where data lines are offered as prepaid packages.
You can slip in a SIM Card, turn it on and get instant access to your emails on the go.
Since I don't want to remove the micro SIM card from my HTC One X+, the cheap Nokia X gives plenty of advantage as a "knockaround" phone for bicycle touring.
The Nokia X has a decent screen resolution.
This is much better than the Lenovo A369i.
But its nowhere compared to the defunct HTC One X+.
A lot of getting used to..
The Nokia X uses it's proprietary OS, which is the Nokia X platform.
I find the user interface a marriage between Windows phone and the Android.
What I like are the coloured bars where one can access email and social network apps.
But, there is a downside.
On the Nokia online store, it's impossible to get Whatsapp, let alone install it.
Instead, the We Chat apps came standard with the Nokia X.
I have yet to test the phone's WiFi hotspot capabilities as its able to host eight devices at any time.
So, the real testing is in Thailand next month.
Posts
