Can You Get a Decent Phone for $250?

Flagships usually get all the attention, but can you get a decent phone for $250? Take a look at the new Moto G and you’re getting a lot more than the price tag might suggest. With a five-inch screen and curved back, the Moto G feels good in the hand, especially with the new textured rear cover. It’s also IPX7 water-resistant, so you won’t want to go swimming with it, but it’s totally fine getting wet. Just make sure the removable back is properly sealed, this is where you’ll find your SIM and MicroSD card slots. You can also customize the phone in Moto Maker, allowing you to pick the color, back cover, and accent at no extra cost.

Moving over to the Asus Zenfone 2, we’ve got a much bigger 5.5-inch display. It’s about the same size as an iPhone 6 Plus but it is a fair bit thicker. You’ll find capacitive touch, home, and multitasking buttons along with the volume rocker on back. This works nicely, but having the power button on top is awkward and the button itself is small and usually takes a couple of tries to actually press. Pry off the back, and you’ll find a MicroSD and dual SIM card slots, which is a cool extra feature. With the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3, the first thing you’ll notice is just how thin and light it is. It has the same-sized 5.5-inch screen but it comes in over three millimeters thinner than the Zenfone and it’s even lighter than the Moto G. It might not seem like a big deal, but with large phones like this, it makes a difference.

You won’t find a removable back, but you do have a tray for a SIM and MicroSD card. Usually, budget phones don’t have the greatest screens, but you won’t find much to complain about here. The Moto G has a five-inch 720p display that’s good, viewing angles are reasonable, and colors are decent. The Zenfone steps things up with a 5.5-inch 1080p screen and Asus includes an app to fine-tune the colors, although the screen doesn’t get as bright as I’d like. The clear winner, though, is the Idol 3, on paper it looks similar with a 5.5-inch 1080p screen but it’s a terrific-looking display with great colors, solid viewing angles, and it gets much brighter than the others.

When it comes to audio, they each handle things differently. The dual front-facing speakers of the Idol 3 easily take this one, it’s right up there with the very best like the HTC One. As far as specs go, the Moto G is a little outgunned here; the Zenfone has a powerful Intel Atom processor and the Idol 3 has a whopping eight cores. Take a look at Geekbench, and the Zenfone takes a big lead thanks to that Atom CPU and when you look at graphics, it’s not even close with the others.

The camera is another area where these phones stand out. The Motorola hasn’t exactly had a great track record with cameras lately, but the Moto G has been a pleasant surprise. There's a ton of detail, and colors are very natural; things like dynamic range are the best here, and the HDR mode is really impressive, it brings a lot of life to images without going overboard. My biggest problem has to do with the overly simple camera app that snaps your shot when you tap the screen or uses an imprecise control wheel to set exposure. It took me a few tries before getting several shots which was frustrating.

All three cameras shoot 1080p video, but here there’s really no contest. Both the Idol and Zenfone deliver passable results, but the Moto G gives much sharper video and renders colors better than the others. The big takeaway is that you can get a really solid phone for $250; you’re getting eighty percent of the flagship experience for a third of the price. Hard to argue with that.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHey guys this is Austin. Flagships usuallyget all the attention but can you get a decentphone for $250? Take a look at the new MotoG and you’re getting a lot more than theprice tag might suggest. With a five inchscreen and curved back the Moto G feels goodin the hand especially with the new texturedrear cover. It’s also IPX7 water resistant,you won’t want to go swimming with it butit’s totally fine getting wet. Just makesure the removable back is properly sealed,this is where you’ll find your SIM and MicroSDcard slots. You can also customize the phonein Moto Maker, allowing you to pick the color,back cover and accent at no extra cost. Moveover to the Asus Zenfone 2 and we’ve gota much bigger 5.5 inch display. It’s aboutthe same size as an iPhone 6 Plus but it isa fair bit thicker. You’ll find capacitiveback, home and multitasking buttons alongwith the volume rocker on back. This worksnicely but having the power button on topis awkward and the button itself is smalland usually takes a couple tries to actuallypress. Pry off the back and you’ll finda MicroSD and dual SIM card slots which isa cool extra feature. With the Alcatel OneTouchIdol 3 the first thing you’ll notice isjust how thin and light it is. It has thesame sized 5.5 inch screen but it comes inover three millimeters thinner than the Zenfoneand it’s even lighter than the Moto G. Itmight not seem like a big deal but with largephones like this it makes a difference. Youwon’t find a removable back but you do havea tray for a SIM and MicroSD card. Usuallybudget phones don’t have the greatest screensbut you won’t find much to complain abouthere. The Moto G has a five inch 720p displaythat’s good, viewing angles are reasonableand colors are decent. The Zenfone steps thingsup with a 5.5 inch 1080p screen and Asus includesan app to fine tune the colors although thescreen doesn’t get as bright as I’d like.The clear winner though is the Idol 3, onpaper it looks similar with a 5.5 inch 1080pscreen but it’s a terrific looking displaywith great colors, solid viewing angles andit gets much brighter than the others. Thiswould be great on a phone at twice the price.When it comes to audio they each handle thingsa different way.The dual front facing speakers of the Idol3 easily take this one, it’s right up therewith the very best like the HTC One.As far as specs go the Moto G is a littleoutgunned here, the Zenfone has a powerfulIntel Atom processor and the Idol 3 has awhopping eight cores. Take a look at Geekbenchand the Zenfone takes a big lead thanks tothat Atom CPU and when you look at graphicsit’s not even close with the Idol 3 andMoto G falling far behind. In actual use thereisn’t as huge a gap, even with relativelyweak specs the Moto G feels snappy thanksto the 720p screen and basically stock buildof Android. You’ll find a few additionslike Active Notifications to check what’sup at a quick glance but otherwise this isabout as close to a Nexus as you can get.The Idol 3 also works well in normal use,it has a slightly more skinned version ofAndroid Lollipop but basically all of thecustomizations are either cosmetic or easilyuninstallable bloatware. With the Zenfoneperformance definitely isn’t an issue butthe software is. There’s an enormous amountof junk that ships on the phone and Asus havedone a fairly major overhaul of Android, nothingis necessarily terrible but there are lotsof small, annoying changes that really addup. Even with the big differences in powerthe group does very well for battery lifewith the Idol taking the win but all threecome in around the seven hour mark. One otherarea worth mentioning is the single stream2.4 gigahertz Wi-Fi on the Moto G. This isn’ta huge problem for most people but my apartmenthas notoriously poor Wi-Fi reception makingthe dual band Wi-Fi on the Idol 3 and Zenfonefar more reliable. Get into cameras and onpaper all three are closely matched with 13megapixel sensors. The Zenfone isn’t halfbad but it can’t keep up in this comparison.Many of the shots I took looked a bit washedout with inaccurate white balance. There wasalso a bit of noise sometimes even in greatlight but there is a lot of detail and withthe option of manually controlling the camerayou can get a nice shot. The Idol 3 can alsodeliver solid results. It tended to underexposea bit but the color is much more realisticto my eye. Even though it has 13 megapixelsit doesn’t quite have the same level ofdetail as the other two, it’s not bad butif you zoom you’ll see a bit of softnessin the image. Motorola hasn’t exactly hada great track record with cameras lately butthe Moto G has been a pleasant surprise. There’sa ton of detail and colors are very natural,things like dynamic range are the best hereand the HDR mode is really impressive, itbrings a lot of life to images withoutgoing overboard. My biggest problem has todo with the overly simple camera app thatsnaps your shot when you tap the screen oruses an imprecise control wheel to set exposure.It took me a few tries before getting severalshots which was frustrating. All three camerasshoot 1080p video but here there’s reallyno contest. Both the Idol and Zenfone deliverpassable results but the Moto G gives muchsharper video and renders colors better thanthe others. As the cheapest phone here theZenfone delivers the highest performance butmakes some odd hardware choices and goes overboardon the bloatware. The Moto G delivers a greatcamera, solid battery life and an excellentsoftware experience but the superior screenand speakers along with the nicer hardwareand better performance of the Idol 3 giveit the slight edge in this one. The big takeawayis that you can a really solid phone for $250,you’re getting eighty percent of the flagshipexperience for a third of the price. Hard to argue with that.