**Unboxing and Reviewing Budget Smartphones**

In this review, we'll be putting four budget-friendly smartphones through their paces to see which one comes out on top. The contenders are the Nokia 2, Doogee Mix, BLU Vivo XL3 Plus, and NUU G3.

**First Up: The Nokia 2**

We start with the Nokia 2, priced at $100. While it has a nice build quality and massive battery life, its internal specifications leave much to be desired. A low-end processor paired with only one gig of RAM makes this phone almost unusable. Despite being available for just a little more, you can get a ton more phone.

**Next: The Doogee Mix**

Coming in at $170 is the Doogee Mix. This phone has an impressive bezel-less design and feels great in hand. However, its software is a major letdown. It's a straight-up deal breaker for me. A very solid third place goes to this phone.

**The BLU Vivo XL3 Plus**

In second place we have the BLU Vivo XL3 Plus, priced at $140. This phone has a lot going for it - a solid build, nice size screen, decent performance, and cameras that are decent, with a great selfie camera. The only major problem is that its software needs tweaking.

**The NUU G3**

Finally, we have the NUU G3, also priced at $200. This phone pairs an awesome build similar to high-end phones like the Galaxy S9, with a nice screen and clean software. While its cameras are decent, it's not going to blow anyone away.

**Camera Comparison**

Let's take a look at the camera capabilities of each phone. The Doogee Mix has dual cameras, but the secondary camera doesn't really function as a telephoto option. It's just there for extra depth data. When I took a photo in portrait mode, it wasn't pretty. However, the NUU G3 had faster processing and better color reproduction.

**Selfie Comparison**

Comparing the selfies, the Doogee was a washout with washed-out colors and soft details. The Nokia 2 had vibrant rich colors but looked like there was some sort of chromatic aberration or filter on it. On the other hand, the BLU Vivo XL3 Plus took the best selfie, with plenty of detail and dynamic range.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, while all these phones have their strengths and weaknesses, the winner is... ( wait for it)... the Nokia 2 is coming in at number four, followed by the Doogee Mix, then the BLU Vivo XL3 Plus, and finally the NUU G3. But let's be real, if I had to choose one, I'd go with the BLU Vivo XL3 Plus for its solid build, nice screen, decent performance, and great selfie camera.

The final winner of this review is not a surprise - it's the BLU Vivo XL3 Plus!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- This video is sponsored by Clash Royale.Hey guys, this is Austin.With flagship smart phones costingin excess of $1000 sometimes,it really got me thinking.Is it possible to get yourselfan actually decent smartphone for less than $200?Which brings us here.So in front of me I have four phonesall costing less than $200.So I just took a look at the Nokia 2as part of my why doesNokia exist in 2018 video,and my verdict on it wasactually really positive.So for $100 you're going to be gettingsome premium build quality featureslike an actual aluminum chassis,a giant 4100mAh battery.So there's decent software, a nice screen.There really wasn't alot to complain about,besides the performance.Move up to the BLU and for another $40,you're getting a much larger phone.So this actually looks a lotmore modern in a lot of ways.I feel like the main thingthat you're gonna immediately noticeis the 18 by 9 aspectratio on the screen.There's still going to be bezelsbut they're a lot smallerthan on the Nokia.One thing that is addedon the BLU, though,is a rear facing fingerprint sensor.Something that's really nice to seeon a budget device like this.Spend another $30 thoughand you can get yourself the Doogee Mix.Now this phone easilyfeels like it could costtwice it's price.So the first thing you noticeis the near bezel-less design.Yeah, there's gonna bea tiny bezel up top.And there is a fairly big chinbut it looks very distinctive and that,combined with the heft aswell as the nice metal build,the glass front and back,this really does feel like a phonethat could easily cost $500.Of course it's not going to be perfect,so with that chin comesa fingerprint sensorthat's going to be down here.Unfortunately you stillhave on-screen Android keyswhich feels like a little bit of a waste.And also, very bizarrelythe front facing camerais on the bottom right side.But I guess they didn't reallyhave anywhere else to put it?With the NUU G3, you're getting somethingthat looks very, verysimilar to a certain seriesof Samsung Galaxy devices.But that's actually notgoing to be a bad thingin my opinion.So around back, it's got that same sort ofcurved edges, you've got the dual camerasas well as the fingerprint sensor.But interestingly, you'realso going to be gettinga tapered glass finish on the back,as well as even on the display.It does curve a little bit on the edges.And bizarrely, even thoughthey did add a USB-C port,the only of these phones thatactually does have USB-C.They removed the headphone jack.Which, weirdly, the GalaxyS9 actually was ableto keep this generation.As far as the screens go, all four phonesactually do have decent displays.So the Nokia 2 has afive inch, 720p panel.Step up to the BLU andyou're getting that taller18 by 9 aspect ratio, witha 1440 by 720 resolution.However it's going to bestretched on a six inch displaywhich does look a littlebit soft sometimes.The Doogee is rockinga 5.5 inch 720p paneland interestingly thisis actually going to bea Samsung AMOLED panel.Now the colors, to my eye, are going to bea little bit over saturated.But it's a good looking panel.However, my favorite isactually going to be on the NUU.So this is still a 5.7 inch 720p panel.Same as basically all of these.However, the color, thebrightness, the contrast,and especially the viewingangles really do set thisa slight bit above therest of the other phones.When you're spending$200 on a smart phone,you shouldn't expect anykind of crazy performance.However, two of these phonesactually do perform pretty well.One of the phones that does not, howeveris the Nokia 2.And this is honestly a case where I feel likeNokia made a lot of the right decisionswhen they were designing this phone,but I think they cheaped outjust a little bit too muchwhen it comes to performance.So inside, you're going to finda Snapdragon 212 processor,which is a very old andvery slow quad core chip.And that is going to be pairedwith a mere one gigabyte of RAMand eight gigabytes of storage.Now the eight gigs of storageyou can kinda get aroundbecause you do have a microSD card slot.But only one gig of RAM and that slow CPUjust makes Android feel not great.Move up to the Vivo andyou're going to be gettingan upgraded Snapdragon 425 processor.That's still going to be quad core,however there are goingto be updated Cortex 853s,which is pretty much sharedwith the rest of these phones.And importantly, you'regoing to be gettingthree gigs of RAM as wellas 32 gigs of storage.That's going to beplenty to run pretty muchany kind of Android app or game right now.And on top of that, whatyou're going to be gettingis a pretty decently sized3000mAh battery.Interestingly, both theDoogee as well as the NUUare rocking very similar specs.So they each have the MediaTek6757 eight core processor.They're both paired withfour gigabytes of RAM.And they both also have 64gigabytes of built in storagewith microSD expandability.The biggest differencehere is that while the NUUhas a 3000mAh battery,the Doogee is going tohave a slightly bigger3380mAh cell.That was a lot of words.Use these phones in the real world though,and you'll see this isone of the best examplesof why specs and benchmarksaren't everything.So inside Geekbench whatyou're going to findis that the Doogee and the NUUare going to be significantly faster.But in practice, that'sactually not the case.So the BLU actually feels really nice.Sure, on paper, it'snot going to have quitethe same spec and quite as much memorybut it's fairly snappy.It's going to be responsive.And it is going to have thepower to do some gaming.However, when you step to the Doogee,what you're gonna findis something that feelsreally, really old school.There's one clear reason for that.This software is straight garbage town.Now I think what it is, isit's going to be a reallypoorly optimized build of Androidpaired with a pretty heavy skin.So when I'm scrolling around here,what I feel is justthe frame rate is slow.It doesn't feel responsive.It really feels like I'musing a phone from five, six,seven years ago, andthat's totally not okayat any price, especially when you considerthat cheaper phones are going to performand feel much, much better.The best of both worldsthough, is going to bethe NUU, so not only do you have theon paper specs and thepotential of those specs,but you also have a build of Androidwhich is going to be fairly cleanand you know, not laggy and slow.Sure, if you put this side by sidewith something like a Pixel,it's not going to be able to hold upbut for a normal person justto pick up the phone and use,it is going to be totally respectable.And of course, what betterway to take advantageof those awesome specsthan by playing someClash Royale, thesponsor of today's video.Don't you love my super clean segue?I've had a lot of travel lately,which has given me a lot of timeto play some mobile games.And I've found that ClashRoyale has legitimatelytaken up almost all ofmy phone gaming time.Clash Royale is a free to play gamewhere you can duel players in real timewhile unlocking arenas, cards,and collecting treasure.Now I gotta say, I'm not usuallyinto freemium mobile games,but Clash Royale is really well done.So it's really simple to beable to get into a match,and once you get in there,while it's easy to learn,there's plenty of depthto make it challenging.And you can still playwith your friends as well.And if you really wanna get into it,they released a newfeature called Clan Wars,where you could assemble aclan and compete against othersin a series of battle modesto see who's the best.So if this looks cool toyou, you can check it outin the link in the description.Or you can just search up Clash Royaleon Google Play as well as the App Store.While it might be slow, theNokia 2 has the cleanest buildof Android here.Now right now, it'srunning on Android 7although it will be gettingan update to Oreo pretty soon.But even though this isn'tan Android One device,it really does feel like it.There's essentially no bloat, and actuallyNokia's been good with updates, too.The NUU G3 isn't far off.Now yes, there are a couple of appsand they've done a little bit of tweaking,but for the most part, youare getting a stock buildof Android.What you're not necessarily getting thoughis any real guaranteeof solid Android updatesin the future.But, right now, seemsto be working out okayif you don't mind taking the risk.Come over to the BLU and well,we've got some software issues.First of all, it is apretty offensive skin.So not only do you noteven have an app drawer,but there's a lot of bloat on this guy.Now I get it, they'vegotta make some sacrificesto be able to hit this price point,but if this is me, I wouldput some serious workinto cleaning up as much as I could,changing the launcher because right now,yeah, not good.Whereas the Doogee haswell some straightgarbage town software thatI've already complained about.But, yeah, it's just not good.But what could be good are the camerason all four of these phones.Or they might not be good, actually.They are less than $200.So, yeah.So to start with, let'sgive the $100 Nokia 2 a try.Now this guy has a single eight megapixelrear facing camera.So as with a lot of things on the Nokia 2,the performance is not going to be fastwhen it comes to taking photos.And to be fair, this is areally challenging shot,which it really doesn'thold the highlights well in.That's a very white sky.There's some detail there, althoughit almost seems like theprocessing is a little bitsoft.Although I say processing,most likely it's theless than stellar optics onthis tiny, tiny little camera.Stepping up in the budgetrange to the $140 BLUwe do get a 13 megapixel camera.And well, it looks biggerso it must better right?Allow camera to phone.Why, yes, I want my camera to phone.That's definitely something I want.Alright so let's throw thatreally contrasting shot at it.So there's definitely moredetail with the BLU shothowever, I actually feel likethere's even less dynamic range.It really does have a hardtime with those highlightswhereas the Nokiaactually did a better jobat keeping them in.Here's gonna be a shot that'sa little bit more normal.Get an excellent closeup ofone of Ken's waifus.Yeah, that's actually not bad at all.It's actually fairly sharp.The dynamic range reallyisn't as big of a problem herewith the less contrasting shot.I'm actually pretty happy with that,especially for 140 bucks.Now a lot of smart phoneshave some sort of beauty modein the camera.But something I've neverseen is on this BLUwe have a beauty video mode.Alright, so this is atest of beauty video mode.So you guys can be thejudge for yourselves,on whether I am more beautifulor I look exactly the sameand there's a stupidsoftening filter on my face.Step up to the $170 Doogeeand we're going to find dual cameras.Now here we're going tobe getting a 16 megapixelmain sensor paired with a 8megapixel telephoto camera.You know that's actually not bad.So it does still have issueswith the dynamic range,but there's a lot ofdetail, it's nice and sharp,and importantly, it keptexposure of the main subjectpretty much all in here.Let's try blur mode.Oh, wow, let's not tryblur mode, are you serious?That's a photo I just took in 2018.Some quality Doogee images right there.That is wow.Well last, but certainlynot least we have the NUU G3at $200.Now this guy's also goingto be rocking dual cameras,however what's different about this oneis that while they're not onlygoing to be slightly lower resolution,13 plus five as opposed to 16 plus eight,but that secondary cameraactually doesn't reallyfunction as a telephoto option.It's just going to bethere for extra depth data,for stuff like the portrait mode.First thing I noticeis that the processingseems to be a lot faster.When you take a shot, therereally isn't that hugeshutter lag that there wason some of the other phones.Oh man, this portrait mode's not good.Oh, I can tell already thisis not going to be pretty.I think you could do somethinga little bit creative with thisbut, yeah, portrait mode,not really gonna be the strong suitof sub $200 smart phones.Comparing the selfies, thefirst thing that jumps out to meis the Doogee.The color is just really,really washed out.Sure there's detail therebut it just looks terrible.The Nokia actually hasvery vibrant rich colors.I think it's a, maybe a little bit soft.There's definitely some sortof chromatic aberrations going on.Or it looks like there'ssome weird filter almost.It's passable.The NUU doesn't do a terriblejob of getting detailand there's plenty of dynamic range.But the color just looks off.It just looks very sort of, cool, veryde-saturated?I'm not, not a fan.What should be no surprise is thatthe BLU takes the best selfie.Now a big part of that isthat not only does it havea front facing flash,but also has a 16megapixel selfie shooter.Something that's way beyondany of these cameras.Alright so it is conclusion time.Now coming in at numberfour is the Nokia 2.Now don't get me wrong, there's a lotthat I like about this phone.The build quality is nice,the battery is going to be massiveand the software is really clean.However what really undoesit, is going to be thesuper low end internals.Now I can kinda get bythe low end processor,but with only one gig ofRAM it really makes thisalmost unusable, especiallywhen you considerthat for only a little bit moreyou can get a ton more phone.A solid third placegoes to the Doogee Mix.Now there's a lot to like with this phone.The idea that it has anearly bezel-less designreally does make it stand out.I love the heft, the waythat the phone feels.And the hardware is great.But what undoes it is the software.I said it before and I'll say it again,it is a straight up deal breaker for me.A very solid second place goesto the BLU Vivo XL3 Plus.Now there is a ton to like with this guy.$140 price tag feels likeit's right in the sweet spot.You're getting a solid build.You're getting a nice size screen.You're getting decent performance.The cameras are decent,the selfie camera is great.Really the only major problemis that the software isgoing to need some tweaking.Now if you don't mindputting a little bit of timeinto your phone to customizethings like your launcher,then the BLU is really worth a look.If you're buying aphone under $200 though,I really do like the NUU G3.It pairs an awesome buildthat really is very similar to phonessuch as the Galaxy S9, whichcosts three, four, five timesas much with a really nice screen.You're getting that taller aspect ratio.The camera's going to be decentbut importantly, the software is cleanand the performance is top notch.It's a close one, I feellike a lot of peoplemight be happy with theBLU but if it's my money,I'm going to spend a little bit moreto get a much nicer overall package.