Smartphones with a small screen: an overview of models

Over the past couple of years, the market for mobile gadgets manufacturers have literally thrown out a whole mass of Fablets (a device with a screen from 5 to 7 inches). For many companies, the release of this type of smartphone has become a kind of competition: thinner, bigger, faster, better and cheaper. But many users, whom mother-nature has deprived with wide palms and fingers of the pianist, look at all these фаблеты without special pleasure and enthusiasm.

Against the background of the dominance of all these "tablets" to find smart smartphones with a screen less than 5 inches, and released at the turn of 2015, it became a real problem.

Let's try to figure out whether it is possible to find a really high-quality and modern gadget from this, as it is called, "children's" group. Let's analyze the most popular and successful models of this segment (smart phones with a small screen diagonal). And although the list does not differ in the variety of manufacturers and OEM brands, there is still plenty to choose from.

Philips S307

In September last year, the Philips brand introduced a compact model S307 with a completely democratic price tag (about $ 60). This budget device is endowed with a modest but more or less modern stuffing.

Smartphones with a small screen from Philips this series have a small diagonal of 4 inches and a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels. The chipset Spreadtrum SC7731, which runs on four cores, is responsible for the performance, which is very good for a budget model.

Gadget weaknesses are RAM (only 512 MB), built-in (for the user less than 2 GB) and a mediocre camera at 2 megapixels. If you can somehow expand the space for storing files with CD-cards (up to 32 GB), then with everything else, alas, you can not do anything - you just have to accept it.

During the battery life of the gadget meets a very modest battery for 1600 mAh. Despite such a small capacity, the device can safely "live" in an intensive mode of the order of 4-5 hours, in a moderate - 8-10, or a day with energy-saving settings. In general, a smartphone with a small screen and a good battery is a big rarity in this segment, so it's not necessary to touch especially.

Product from Alcatel: PIXI 3 (3.5 inches) 4009D

This model is more modest in its characteristics than the previous one. The Petersburg "Alkatelovtsy" turned out to be quite good and, most importantly, a small smartphone with a screen up to 4 inches. Of course, there is in this and the obvious minus - the resolution of the gadget's screen is only 320 by 480 pixels. In defense of the device, we can say that this permission was possessed by the first "iPhone" (that was just nine years ago).

Naturally, this permission is not enough for full-fledged multimedia work, but it is almost impossible to find other devices with such a small display and more or less qualitative ones this year.

The smartphone with the smallest screen from Alcatel has on board a dual-core processor with a clock speed of 1 GHz, half a gigabyte of RAM and 2 GB of built-in with expandability up to 32 GB (CD-cards). Also there is a simple 2 MP camera without autofocus and flash. During the battery life is responsible for a very mediocre battery for 1300 mAh, which is enough for a maximum of one day in standby mode.

And again, Alcatel: PIXI 3 (4 inches) 4013D

Model 4013D is, in fact, the "older brother" of the previous gadget with a quite democratic price tag of $ 60. The device can be fully attributed to the group of "smart phones with a small screen": 4 inches and a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels.

Performance is similar to the 4009 model filling. Of course, such characteristics for 2016 are very modest, but if compared with other competing models of the segment, then things are not so bad.

The device is equipped with a simple 3 Mp camera and the same uncommon battery for 1400 mAh, which is quite natural for such devices. In standby mode, "Alcatel" smartphones with a small screen series 4013 more than a half day "do not live."

Philips S309

A later model "Philips" costs a little more than the S307 gadget - about $ 70. With similar looks and equal display sizes, smartphones with a small screen series S309 have very significant technical differences.

The dual-core processor works in tandem with a gigabyte of RAM. Also, the storage capacity for the user increased to 4 GB, which can easily be expanded by a CD-card. Significantly increased and the main camera: it is equipped with autofocus with a resolution of 5 megapixels.

As for battery life, the battery characteristics remained unchanged - 1600 mAh, that is, similar to a colleague.

And again, "Alcatel": "One Touch Pixie First 4024D"

Model 4024D for the above series is almost the same, but in a different wrapper. At a price the gadget also went a short distance - about $ 65. The smartphone is equipped with a 4-inch screen with a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels.

For the speed corresponds to the quad-core processor SC7731 and RAM in the amount of 512 MB. Also, about 2 GB of internal memory is available to the user, which, if desired, can be expanded to 32 GB using CD-cards.

The main camera with a modest 5Mp matrix is unlikely to be able to make high-quality pictures, but with a quick photo for the "Instagram" will cope completely. The battery, as expected, has very modest characteristics - only 1450 mAh and up to a day and a half work in standby mode.

What attracts in this smartphone, so it's the appearance: "Alcatel" well tightened the design, and the gadget looks quite presentable and solid.

Samsung Galaxy J1 Mini

In the company of the "first echelon" the venerable brand managed to bring the universal functional of the budget class to a higher level. At many exhibitions, the Samsung models were recognized as the best smartphones with a small screen in their segment.

The device received a classic compact screen by 4 inches and the corresponding resolution - 800 by 480 pixels. The quad-core processor is clocked at 1.2 GHz. The characteristics, maybe not so expressive, but 750 MB of RAM on board allow you to run and quite comfortable working with most modern applications. Out of 8 GB of "hard" memory, only 4 are available for the user, and you can expand it not as usual - up to 32 GB, but to a very impressive 128.

The main camera at 5 megapixel operates without a flash, but the photographs are of very good quality, unlike the unknown Chinese matrices. The battery for 1500 mAh does not need to wait for something supernatural - for a day of moderate operation the device is enough.

Particularly pleased with the operating system running the new "Android 5.1", while the above respondents did not rise above version 4.4. Also, it is not superfluous to note the democratic price of the model - only $ 80.

Microsoft Lumia 430

The company "Microsoft" introduced last year a few compact lines of smartphones. One of the first appeared "Lumia 430" with a very affordable price tag of $ 80. The gadget's screen is quite typical for its segment: 4 inches with a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels.

For the performance of the smartphone meet a good dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM. To store user data is available about 5 GB of 8 (3 GB reserved for system files). Expand the volume can be using CD-cards, and it is quite decent - up to 128 GB.

We can say that the camera in the device is implemented "for a tick". The 2-megapixel matrix is simply not physically able to take a good photo, but for avatars and "Instagram" it will do.

The battery life also has a modest performance with a 1500 mAh battery. If you do not heavily load the gadget, then it should be enough for about one day.

Microsoft Lumia 532

The model turned out to be much faster than its predecessor and more expensive (about $ 80). From the 430 series device differs by double the number of processor cores (4 instead of 2) and a significantly improved matrix (up to 5 Mp) of the main camera.

The amount of RAM has not changed - 1 GB, as well as the place for storing user data (5 GB out of 8). The model also supports CD-cards up to 128 GB and has a specific appearance for "Lumiya".

The screen diagonal along with the resolution remained unchanged: a 4-inch display with a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels. The battery, though added to the capacity, but slightly - only 1560 mAh, so the gadget also does not have a high battery life time and is roughly on par with other state employees.

Apple iPhone SE

The model can be called a kind of reincarnation of the famous "iPhone" of the fifth series with the prefix S. Devays SE (special edition / Special Edition) became the cheapest gadget with an apple on the case. The price tag for the base model starts at about $ 400. Naturally, against the background of other respondents in our review, this is a very significant amount. But the cost includes not only the chic and the name of the brand: the device can quite claim the title "the most powerful smartphone with a small screen."

Its appearance looks like a small copy of the "iPhone 5S", while the filling of the gadget came from the 6 series, which can not but rejoice. In fact, the SE model is a small smartphone with a large screen (4 inches with a resolution of 1136 by 640 pixels).

Features of the device

For performance meets the top-end chipset A9, instead of the morally outdated A7, which automatically adds a couple of points to the smartphone speed. The amount of RAM has been increased to 2 GB, and the storage space for user data varies from 16 to 64 GB depending on the specific model (of course, without any CD-lotions).

The main camera has very attractive characteristics: 12 megapixel, autofocus, smart screen and much more. The main thing is that it does pictures, if not exceptional, then close to this indicator. Also there is the possibility of shooting video in high resolution with the imposition of all sorts of filters and other entourage.

Despite the small capacity of the battery in 1600 mAh, the autonomy indicator of the "iPhone" SE is noticeably higher than the devices on the "Android" platform.

Summarizing

To my great regret, almost all of the above compact models refer to the initial level. An exception can be made only for the "apple" gadget, where the manufacturer not only created a compact in all respects apparatus, but also provided it with a powerful and high-performance stuffing. Of course, Apple's price tags never differed democratically, but the owner, at least, was sure that the device was executed at a very high level without the share of marriage and critical shortcomings.

The rest of the reviewers can only satisfy those users who do not make serious claims to advanced functionality and do not work with "heavy" applications. Such devices are quite suitable for those who are just beginning to get acquainted with mobile gadgets and want to keep in hand a relatively modern entry-level device. Fans of a powerful "hardware" such devices are unlikely to be interested, so they better pass by.

Of course, you can find more or less compact smartphones with better characteristics, but they all have a diagonal of more than 4.7 inches, and this is not our case.

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