Smartphone under Rs 7500
We've split this presentation in two part: the bare essentials and the smartphones just under Rs 7500. Some regional brands have dirt cheap phones, but we will take a global look. The locals will get a mention at the end of the chapter.
The bare essentials group is a bunch with different OSes. They are great for people who need a phone for some smartphone perks - whether its IM chat like WhatsApp or just Maps, feature phones rarely offer those (and if they do, you'll probably get a clunky app that is never updated).
The LG Joy is a small phone (4" screen) from early 2015 that runs Android 4.4 KitKat. It's low on processing power and storage too - the one we found has only 512MB of RAM and 4GB storage, but some versions have double that. Still, with GPS, microSD slot and a decent 5MP camera it will get you where you need to go.
 LG Joy | PROS | CONS |
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Android has always struggled a bit in the sub-€100 field, but Samsung's Tizen found itself a niche there. The Tizen Z1 is the baby of the lineup, with specs mostly identical to the Joy, but it recently received the latest OS update - the benefit of first-party software. Also, for this price you get a dual-SIM phone (but no LTE).
 Samsung Z1 | PROS | CONS |
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There's also the Microsoft Lumia 530, which has essentially the same specs, but has become less attractive as of now. it has a 4GB of storage which will probably prevent it from getting updated to Windows 10 (there's no clear confirmation either way). Second, HERE Maps was sold off and while Microsoft is developing a replacement, it's not clear how functional the WP8.1 version will be but in a blog post, the HERE team said that its apps will be removed the Windows 10 store, while the WP8 will only get bugfixes.
 Nokia Lumia 530 | PROS | CONS |
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We move on to the more serious players, which incidentally represent the same three OSes and fall in the "90 and a bit" euro price range.
The LG Spirit is really worth upgrading over the Joy, so unless you're sure that you want the cheapest phone, we'd recommend saving up for a bit longer and going with this one.
It starts with the screen - 4.7" 720p is about the size and sharpness as an iPhone 6 (though with worse colors and contrast). The camera is solid too - 8MP stills and 1080p videos. Not iPhone 6 quality, of course, but solid. The processing power is on par too with a quad-core processor. Note that we found the H420 version with Cortex-A7 but there's one with Cortex-A53 too. That's the LTE-enabled H440 version.
 LG Spirit | PROS | CONS |
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Microsoft's answer is the Lumia 550. The phone launched with Windows 10 (avoiding the 530's issues) that comes with a 4.7" 720p screen like the Spirit. The camera isn't that good though - you only get 5MP/720p. The entry-level chipset means even Windows feels sluggish, another knock against the Lumia.
As with the Joy/Spirit, the Lumia 550 is strongly preferred over the 530.
 Microsoft Lumia 550 | PROS | CONS |
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The Tizen candidate has improved a lot too too. You get a 5" 720p screen and it's a Super AMOLED - even though it's an older generation, it's the best screen in its price segment.
Tizen's weakness is apps (same goes for Windows), Samsung's solution is to add Android app support. On all the platforms we've seen, added Android compatibility is less than perfect, but it's an excellent compromise for rare apps - the apps not in the Windows Store are out of Lumia's reach and that's that.
 Samsung Z3 | PROS | CONS |
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Sub-€100 phones we skipped and why
The Yu Yuphoria launched to much fanfare, but unfortunately its availability is limited to India. The Lenovo A6000 is a solid phone too, but can be equally hard to find. Both boast 5" 720p screens, quad-core processor and 8MP cameras. Solid if your local shops have them, but not good enough to warrant importing them.
YU Yuphoria Lenovo A6000
The LG K4 was released a month ago, but we dropped it in favor of the older Spirit. Its screen has sub-HD resolution, you don't get 1080p video (lower resolution stills too, 5MP) and no Android Marshmallow. At roughly the same price, we'd have the Spirit.
Compared to the 550, the Microsoft Lumia 535 has a bigger screen (5" vs. 4.7") and a 5MP selfie cam (vs. 2MP). However, we picked the newer model for its better screen (brighter, better sunlight).
LG K4 Microsoft Lumia 535
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