Flagship smartphones might cost the same as your first car, but there is an ever-increasing number of great budget options.
Shoppers with a budget of £200 can land a solid smartphone – capable of handling the latest games and apps, with a good 1080p display and a capable camera.
Express.co.uk has picked up some of the latest budget smartphones from Huawei-owned brand Honor, OnePlus, Motorola, HTC and Bq.
We then put this sub-£200 smartphones through a series of tests, putting the design, camera, speed and battery life through its paces.
All five budget handsets impressed – and would be a great buy, but there was a clear winner.
With its metal and glass build, the OnePlus X packs the same premium how-do-they-make-any-money-on-these-devices first impression we are used to with OnePlus.
In terms of design, the OnePlus X shares more in common with the iPhone 4S than the OnePlus 2 – but that's not a bad thing.
Weighing in at just 138g, the OnePlus X is comfortably lightweight, without feeling cheap.
It's also easy to use and hold in one hand, thanks to its compact design.
The Bq Aquaris x5 is a close second, thanks to its premium design, choice of colours and double-anodised aluminium.
To test the speed of these budget smartphones, Express.co.uk timed how long the models took to boot-up.
The Huawei-built Honor 5X was the fastest to switch on – topping the competition. But the budget Android handset stumbled during the second part of the speed test.
For the second test, Express.co.uk launched six commonly-used Android apps in a row, only quitting the software after it had completely loaded and was ready-to-use.
Related articlesExpress.co.uk loaded Google Chrome, Asphalt 8, Calculator, YouTube, Google Maps and the preinstalled Camera app.
Each was loaded twice before the timer was stopped. After this test, there was only one clear winner – the OnePlus X.
The £199 smartphone blitzed through the test 1 minute 31 seconds. That's 13 seconds faster than second place, the Honor 5X.
Powering the OnePlus X is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor and 3GB of RAM. For comparison, the Honor 5X runs on a Qualcomm 1.5GHz processor and 2GB of RAM.
Both smartphones feel fast during day-to-day use, but if speed is a priority – the OnePlus clinches it.
All of the smartphones in our test are sub-£200, but there is a variation between the prices.
The cheapeast, the Moto G, is available via the Motorola website for £149. Meanwhile, the OnePlus X is almost £50 more expensive, at £199.
Express.co.uk judged the handsets based on their current price, as well as the specs and features to determine which represents the best value for money.
The Honor 5X is currently discounted to £169.99, which is phenomenal value for a smartphone with a lightning-fast fingerprint sensor, 5.5 inch Full HD display, all-metal unibody design and 13MP rear camera.
Motorola's Moto G is a close second place, thanks to its water resistant design and jaw-droppingly low £149 price tag.
Battery life is incredibly important for any smartphone.
Even the best spec'd smartphone becomes useless when it runs out of juice.
To try and assess the battery capabilities of these budget handsets, Express.co.uk set each of them to Aeroplane Mode and cranked the screen brightness up to 11.
We then watched Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, which runs at 131 minutes.
After the credits rolled, we ranked the smartphones based on how much battery life they still had left in the tank.
The OnePlus X and Moto G both made it through the 1983 classic with an impressive 78% of their battery life left. That's more than enough to watch the rest of the original trilogy during a long-haul flight or drawn-out train journey.
Slightly less impressive is the Bq Aquaris x5, which finished with 73% battery left. But the worse performer was the Honor 5X, with only 71%.
Rear Camera –
Front Facing Selfie Camera –
The Honor 5X deftly handled the bright sunlight – capturing our typical tourist snap without completely blowing out the sky, or shrouding the subject in shadow.
Express.co.uk has directly compared the results of the best performing rear shooter, the Honor 5X, and the worst, the Moto G.
Both smartphones boast a 13MP sensor – but the results are dramatically different.
The Honor 5X was not the crispest image, that accolade went to the OnePlus X, but it did produce the most accurate colours.
Bq Aquaris x5 was a close second, but the final image was noticeably duller.
But whereas rear camera on the Moto G struggled, it's front-facing 5MP camera comfortably produced the best selfie. Colours were bright and accurate, unlike the muggy results from the HTC Desire 626.
Honor has dubbed its latest smartphone, the "most affordable premium smartphone of 2016" – and honestly, it's difficult to disagree with this marketing tagline.
The smartphone has a stunning 5.5inch 1080p IPS LCD, with an impressive 401-pixels-per-inch.
The display is bright – topping out at an impressive 585 nits. That ensures that outdoor visibility is never an issue with this £169.99 handset.
Colours are pleasantly vivid, if a little cold. But the Honor 5X avoids over-saturation – unlike the OnePlus X.
Bq Aquaris x5 has a similarly pleasant screen, with solid viewing angles. It's not as bright as the OnePlus X, but it also avoids its over-saturation issue.
The Moto G is easily the worst.
The display peaks at 449 nits and looks muggy and dull when placed next to its sub-£200 rivals.
The Moto G has a staggering number of stand-out features – especially for a smartphone with a price tag of £149.
The budget handset is fully customisable via Motorola's excellent MotoMaker service, which lets customers pick the colour of the case, the front plate, upgrade the internal memory, add an engraving – and even set the screensaver.
Each smartphone is built to your specifications and then posted to you.
And on top of the granular customisation options, the budget handset is also waterproof.
It is rated IPX7, which means it can withstand 30 minutes in up to three feet of fresh water. Although the phone functions are not designed to work while submerged underwater, Motorola adds.
Related articlesOther notable mentions include the Honor 5X – the only smartphone in the line-up with biometric security to protect your data.
The OnePlus X is one of only two Android smartphones to have an iPhone-style notifications switch, that lets users quickly shuffle between silent modes.
Both the OnePlus X and Bq Aquaris x5 have support for dual SIM cards – something which is sure to appeal to frequent travellers.
The Best Smartphone Under £200
It's a close-call, but for our money – the OnePlus X is the best smartphone on the market for under £200.
This budget smartphone has a flagship-esque design, a brilliant and bright five-inch 1080p display and useful physical notification switch.
It also runs on OnePlus' excellent OxygenOS – a barely-there Android skin that adds a handful of genuinely useful tweaks to the excellent stock Google operating system.
The rear camera is decent, as is the battery life and selfie camera.
Smartphone owners can also increase the 16GB of internal memory with a microSD card and there's even dual SIM support for frequent flyers.
The Honor 5X is a worthy second place, winning as many categories as the OnePlus X.
But the Huawei-made smartphone's stellar hardware is let down by the unsightly and clunky operating system.
Huawei's version of Android drops the App Drawer and completely redesigns the Notifications shade in an effort to make the budget Android smartphone appear more like Apple's iOS.
But the smartphone ends up being a little confusing to use, and no where near as pretty as Google's brilliant Material Design aesthetic.
If the Honor 5X was running stock Google Android, it might have nixed the OnePlus X's reign.
Bq Aquaris x5 and Moto G are both solid smartphones – and at a great price, tied in third place.
Unfortunately, these smartphones have a few too many frustrating niggles to make them must-haves.
The water resistant design and customisation options offered by MotoMaker make the Moto G stand-out, but the mediocre camera and washed out display mean it ranks comfortably below the other smartphones in the test.
Related articlesSource: Best smartphone under £200: OnePlus vs HTC vs Honor vs Moto in our Ultimate Showdown
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