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Top 10 Smartphones on a Php10,000 budget

Some of us Filipinos often hesitate when it comes to upgrading to a new smartphone because of many factors. One of the most important to things to keep in mind is the budget (for obvious reasons). Why choose a phone that you can’t afford, right? You’ll just end up getting frustrated.

The operating system and the phone’s hardware features should be put into consideration since you have to purchase a device that’ll suit your wants/needs! You should be able to get more use out of your new phone other than just for calls and texts (and the occasional sound trippin’).

Yugatech 728x90 Reno7 Series

No worries, I’m here to offer some help. I’ve chosen the ten best smartphones available locally that costs around P10K or less that offers the best ‘bang for the buck’ to help you decide on your next purchase.

Go on and have a look below:

(Note: Phones are listed in no particular order, price quotes are based on online sellers and lowest mall prices we’ve found.)

1. Blackberry Curve 9320/9220 (Php9,800 – Php10,000)

Best for people who: Want a straightforward QWERTY smartphone with cheap social networking subscriptions.
Not for you if: You love playing games, browsing the net, watching videos.

Pros: Cheap mobile internet packages, BBM, great full QWERTY keyboard, good battery life

Cons: poor app selection, outdated OS, clunky web browser, average camera, low resolution screen

2. Nokia Lumia 610 (Php9,400 – Php10,500)

Best for people who: Want a simple smartphone without too much tinkering needed to get things done.
Not for you if: You don’t like the tiled interface, if you hate Microsoft.

Pros: WP7 Metro UI is unique, beautiful and functional, zippy performance, good battery life, Xbox and Windows 8 integration

Cons: ‘Dumbed’ down version of the Lumia 710, limited UI customization (typical of WP7 devices), App market still lacking, low resolution screen

3. Sony Xperia U (Php10,000 – Php10,800)

Best for people who: Want an affordable, stylish and speedy Android phone with a simplified UI.

Not for you if: You’re a file junkie.

Pros: zippy performance thanks to the 1GHz dual-core processor, excellent design and build quality, decent battery life, good performance when running apps, high resolution display

Cons: 4GB internal storage (no microSD card slot), awful 720p video clips, no ICS yet

4. Sony Ericsson Live Walkman (P7,200 – P8,000)

Best for people who: Love music, compact phone and live an active lifestyle.

Not for you if: You play games, watch movies on your phone.

Pros: great bundled earphones, designed for music lovers, decent battery life, stylish exterior

Cons: UI is a little dated, screen can be a bit cramped for some

5. Sony Xperia Pro (Php10,100)

Best for people who: Want a good Android phone with a fully-functional QWERTY keyboard in a small package.
Not for you if: You’re a performance freak, afraid of phones with a sliding mechanism, you want a compact phone.

Pros: spacious slide-out keyboard, good display (BRAVIA engine), in-call noise cancellation, good performing camera and features (Exmor R sensor), Android ICS update is out already

Cons: No Dvix/Xvid support, old Snapdragon S2 chip, slightly bulky

6. Sony Xperia Active (Php9,800 – Php10,200)

Best for people who: Are adventurous, a fitness junkie, clumsy or love to take pictures in the shower.
Not for you if: You have really big thumbs, picky with screen resolution or like watching movies.

Pros: water, shock and dust resistant, zippy overall performance, good camera, ANT+ system support for health devices (external blood pressure monitors, Nike+ pedometer, etc…), decent battery life

Cons: bulky for its screen size, lots of Sony bloatware, lack of media format support

7. Lenovo P7000 (Php10,500 – Php10,999)

Best for people who: Want an adequately fast phone with a 4″ screen and long battery life for a cheap amount of money.
Not for you if: You don’t like the thought of owning a ‘dual sim’ phone, hate carrying a big slab inside your pocket.

Pros: ICS out of the box, large capacity battery (2500mAh), simple, minimalist exterior, dual sim functionality, HSPA+ support

Cons: UI laggy at times, 4″ screen’s resolution is a bit on the low side for its size, build quality seems a bit flimsy

8. HTC Desire C (Php9,900)

Best for people who: Want a compact phone and experience ICS on a budget.
Not for you if: You’ve owned a 1GHz phone with Gingerbread on it, ICS on the desire C isn’t exactly ‘smooth-sailing’.

Pros: simple, zippy UI, good camera

Cons: sluggish CPU (600 MHz), low resolution display

9. LG Optimus Black P970 (Php10,950)

Best for people who: Want high-performance phone on a budget.
Not for you if: The 4″ screen is too big for you

Pros: large 4″ NOVA display, 1GHz processor, HSDPA support, very thin and light, WiFi Direct

Cons: low resolution screen for the size, can be a bit too big for some people, still on Android 2.2, battery life

10. HTC Radar (P10,300- P10,800)

Best for people who: Want HTC’s solid build quality in a phone that’s stylish, FAST and runs Windows Phone 7 OS.
Not for you if: As usual — if you don’t like WP7’s Metro UI.

Pros: great S-LCD display, fast, stylish, great build quality, good camera, loud speakerphone

Cons: non-removable battery, no storage expansion, app market still lacking, limited UI customization (typical of WP7 devices)

As you may have noticed, I did not include ‘feature phones’ or phones that run different versions of Symbian, Bada OS or any other mobile operating system other than Blackberry OS, Android and Windows Phone since any OS other than these three is like taking two steps backward (i.e. app availability, performance, free bundled services, etc…) — except Apple’s iOS which I wasn’t able to include (even if I wanted to) since any iPhone version that sports a price tag around 10K is obviously a second-hand unit.

Anyway, the most of the phones I’ve chosen above mostly possess processors that are clocked at least 800MHz since anything slower than that (without taking CPU architecture into account) will most certainly guarantee frequent occurrences of headache, also, it’s worth noting that the only dual core phone on this list is the Sony Xperia U. If I were to purchase three phones found on this list, my three best bets would be the Xperia U, Blackberry Curve 9320 and the HTC Radar. It’s the best of ‘three’ worlds?

Was I able to help you decide on which phone you should purchase? If I did, please let me know by posting a comment below. If I didn’t, well… you probably should save a bit more money. Teehee!

(Just kidding! Please do post some other phone models that I’ve missed and tell us what makes that particular phone special. The rule? Price should be around 10K or less)

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Avatar for Kevin Go

Kevin is a blogger, avid gamer and always keeps himself updated with the latest trends in technology. He's still a bit shy so no Twitter and Facebook link here.

61 Responses

  1. Avatar for john john says:

    Nokia lumia 620 runs in windows 8 OS
    around 10 – 11 k.

  2. Avatar for GG GG says:

    Hi,

    Please advise which phone would be the top choice among the following?

    1. htc desire x
    2. xperia sola
    3. htc desire vt/vc

    thank you1

  3. Avatar for daile daile says:

    hi. does anyone know where I can buy the xperia pro aside from online stores? thank you! :)

  4. Avatar for Riza Flores Riza Flores says:

    Hi, can you help me decide what to buy. a Smartphone with good camera performance. Im confused of this three Sony Xperia Neo L, Samsung Galaxy S Advance or Sony Ericsson Arc S, my bet is Sony Ericsson Arc S but ive read that Sony Ericsson will be phased out this midterm of the year. pls help me. thank you :)

  5. Avatar for lekimikel lekimikel says:

    update list?…

  6. Avatar for alex alex says:

    what to buy sony xperia u or lenovo p700

  7. Avatar for ronnie ronnie says:

    meron nakong p700 so far maganda nman ang performance nya tsaka mabilis ang download sa call ok txting ok din, mahirap lng maghanap ng screen protector at leather case kc bago lng sya sa market sulit ang 10k ko. . .

  8. Avatar for apolakay apolakay says:

    sir kevin/yuga;
    can u tell us your well-known online seller?

  9. Avatar for howard howard says:

    can we update this post?

    galaxy ace 2(800mhz dual core / 786mb ram) is around 14k

    Sony Experia U and Pro sa megamall is around 14k.

    I’ve bought LG Optimus Black for 7K, its a good phone for that price.

    I saw the Lenovo P700 and the unit is great and hoping they mark down the price a lil’ bit.

    I was hoping for the Motorola Defy+ to mark down their price aswell(I still love their design and life-proof’ability)

  10. Avatar for Estela Estela says:

    Hi everyone! My 2 1/2-yr-old nokia E66 is now broken, hope Nokia center can still fix it. However, I’m planning to buy a new one since it cannot support my corpo email. Can someone help me decide which smartphone to buy.
    Here are my priorities:
    1. 3G and with wifi hotspot for internet sharing with other mobile devices (laptop to be exact, not a gadget person)
    2. can support corporate email (not just webmails)- microsoft outlook to be exact
    3. with decent applications and media players. (E-book reader and e-piano would be useful)
    4. solid body
    5. not costly to use its full capacity
    4. budget up to 15K

    Torn between BB and android :(
    Plus…there are tons of android phones out in the market. I’m not good at reading specs too.
    Hope someone would be kind enough to share some thoughts. Thanks in advance!

  11. Avatar for boyscout boyscout says:

    hi, im from iloilo and i cant find any malls here offering 10k for d above mentioned handsets.. could anyone suggest where to buy, even trusted online seller?

  12. Avatar for boyscout boyscout says:

    hi kevin/yuga. can u give me d well-known online seller that u know?

  13. Avatar for druggist druggist says:

    totoo ba about 10k lang htc radar bat sa market e arourd 17k

  14. Avatar for vince vince says:

    What about the BB Pearl 9105. I always wanted that phone. it’s below 10k right?

  15. Avatar for JazzHawz JazzHawz says:

    Ang mura ng Blackberry kaso,

    “Not for you if: You love playing games, browsing the net, watching videos. ”

    So hindi pwede sakin :)

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