2015 is barely underway, but smartphone makers have already launched 14 important smartphones this year. It's an important year for Android, with 64-bit being brought to the mainstream and Google's 'biggest' update to Android in Lollipop. So, here's an overview of what we have seen till now. Hopefully, it will only go up from here.
The newest in Samsung's metal endeavour is the Galaxy A7. It was launched in India less than a day ago and comes with the Snapdragon 615 SoC along with a 5.5 inch display and 2GB of RAM. The device also has a 13 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera. While the specifications are pretty much the same as the Micromax Yu Yureka, Samsung priced this one at Rs. 30,990.
Samsung Galaxy J1 4G, Grand Prime 4G, Core Prime 4G
Of course, Samsung still has budget devices to sell. The company launched the Galaxy J1 smartphone, which has a 1GHz dual-core SoC along with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, expandable to 128GB. There's also the Galaxy Grand Prime 4G and Galaxy Core Prime 4G, which start from Rs. 9,990, but don't quite match up to the likes of the Lenovo A6000.
This is the first smartphone to run Samsung's in-house Tizen OS. The device though hasn't been very well received, despite what Samsung has to say about it. Priced at Rs. 5,999, the phone again can't compete with any Android smartphone in the segment.
These were among the first A series smartphones, with metallic rims, to be launched by Samsung. The A3 and A5 are priced at Rs. 20,500 and Rs. 25,500 respectively. The devices are powered by the Snapdragon 410 SoC and have 5MP front cameras. The A5 though has a 13MP rear camera against the A3's 8MP shooter. Also, the A5 has a bigger 5 inch display, while the A3 has a 4.5 inch display.
The Galaxy E5 and E7 were launched alongside the A series phones mentioned earlier. The devices are priced at Rs. 19,300 and Rs. 23,000 respectively. These phones also have metallic rims, with 1.5 GB and 2GB of RAM respectively.
Xiaomi came into the market with its newest flagship, but this time it had competition to take on. The company may have got the pricing wrong for the first time and at Rs. 19,999, with only 16GB of storage, the Mi4 doesn't look like the value for money device that Xiaomi is known for.
Perhaps the most value for money smartphone that we've seen in the past two months. The A6000 has specs similar to Samsung's A and E series smartphones but costs only Rs. 6,999. It's the new Moto E, but only for the time being.
A few months ago, Lenovo had announced this iPhone 6 look-alike in China. The company has now brought it to India at Rs. 19,990. It runs on the Snapdragon 410 SoC and looks exactly like the new iPhone.
With a 1.2 GHz Intel CloverTrail processor and 1GB of RAM, the Zenfone C replaced the Zenfone 4 in Asus' product line-up. The new device was announced just before Valentine's Day and is selling for Rs. 5,999 on Flipkart.
After achieving good results with the Zenfone 5, Asus tried to add more value to it, dropping the price to a mere Rs. 7,999. Be warned though, this version has a different processor, clocked at 1.2GHz and 8GB of internal storage. Other specs are the same though and it still offers quite the value.
After the BlackBerry Passport failed, BlackBerry is taking another shot at gaining back its user-base. The BlackBerry Classic seems like a good option for the QWERTY lovers and BB loyalists.
HTC came out of nowhere with this budget device. The company doesn't have a very good history with its budget offerings, but the Desire 526G+ looks like a better option than what we've got from HTC before.
The Micromax Canvas Hue is a shot at redemption by Micromax. The new brand Yu has already made a name for itself and Micromax is trying to improve its brand value with this device. The Canvas Hue has a really nice AMOLED display and we found it to be quite good.
Ridiculous is the word for this one. The Oppo Mirror 3 is priced at Rs. 16,990 and comes with the Snapdragon 410 SoC and 1GB of RAM.
Karbonn Titanium Mach One
At Rs. 6,990, the Titanium Mach One is a budget smartphone with a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor and 1GB of RAM. Like the Lenovo Sisley S90 though, this one also looks like the iPhone 6.
Microsoft Lumia 435 and Lumia 532
These two were announced two days ago, on Valentine's Day. Microsoft's newest budget smartphones will start selling in India later this month. The Lumia 435 runs on a Snapdraon 200 dual-core SoC, while the 532 has a quad-core processor. The devices have been announced for Rs. 5,999 and Rs. 6,499 respectively.