The Galaxy Music Duos S6012 is a new comer with nothing particularly fuzzy beyond its dual sim capability and an impressive 4GB internal storage memory, it’s not the kind of phone you’d sell off your current droid to own but it might appeal to smart phone starters. The phone is secretly retailing in Kenya for a round Kshs.16000 though expected to cost lesser upon availability in major stores, it’s not the price you’d call cheap neither is it near that of close rivals such as Techno N3 which’s going for half that price despite resembling in most features. A 3inh display screen is not something I’d call impressive especially for a device in this price bracket, Techno N3 is 0.5inches larger but costs half the price, and the screen resolution is a total mess, that’s if you’ve played around with a couple of droids. For a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels translating to 133ppi (pixels per inch), you’d better expect small text to look blurry and a pixilated photo gallery.

The Asha 308 has been retailing in Kenya for a while since it was officially unleashed a few months back, so it’s not a new comer but only a few potential buyers have the right facts about it. Like some of the Asha siblings, it’s a dual sim device with a 3.0inch capacitive display instead of a Qwerty key-pad. For those who’ve had or are familiar with the asha lineup, Nokia has been keen to separate dual sim and Qwerty keypad features on these devices, so it’s not unexpected to see the same scenario repeated on Asha 308. There’s not much underneath just like the rest of asha siblings, so don’t expect the same experience as you’d on pricier devices; instead, if you’re looking for an exceptional device, be ready to pay more for a windows, iOS, Blackberry or an android handset. The phone doesn’t have a lot to offer, but that doesn’t mean it’s entirely worthless, for a retail price of around Ksh.10500 in Kenya, I’d say asha 308 deserves unbiased consideration.

‘Pessimism’ is a condition I’ve fought hard to avoid, I honestly can’t recall instances it has weighed down my better judgment but one thing is for sure, my reservations on Nokia’s progress before the first Lumia was introduced were alive and kicking. The Lumia 620 is not by any chance a high-end device and doesn’t cost as much, so you’d better keep expectations realistic to get a fair impression; compromises here were inevitable to keep prices under, but a few tweaks here and there still keep this phone beyond close rivals. I don’t intent to impose any preferences here neither is it my job, everyone has a right to decide but I’d say, the love we’ve adopted for a MicroSD card slot on modern handsets can’t be ignored. These types of slots essentially aids in expanding the internal memory by using an external MicroSD card, it’s a feature you’d not expected on every smart phone including top brands like the iPhones but necessary if you’ve a couple of mp4 files you’d rather carry around on your handset.

LG E512 is not the type of phone you’d give up everything for, but of course not everything on it is crap; it has a whooping 4inch display screen which’s bigger than close rivals, most of which are 0.5inches lesser. The phone definitely has some class, but painful compromises were made on areas that count, I assume to keep prices under; it has the worst resolution (320x480p to be precise) you’d get on a phone with a display panel that large, so don’t expect a pleasant experience scrolling through your photo gallery or reading small text. Photos won’t look as brilliant as they would on pricier devices and blurry small text will occasionally piss you off. I remember back in time when the first droids ideos and galaxy mini were unveiled in Kenya, everything looked awesome until we had a closer look and did a one on one comparison with then killer device galaxy s, the differences were clear as dark and night; the screen sizes were not a factor, but the technology underneath and their resolution is what defined a cool smart phone.

It’s rare to get a budget handset with a 4.0inch screen, but that’s quantity and I would rather go for quality in this case a decent resolution. LG Optimus L5 E612’s display unfortunately doesn’t score well on quality, but it’s cheap and that’s a reasonable consolation. A glimpse at the mid-range genre quickly reveals close rivals such as Galaxy Ace, it has the same screen resolution you’d say, but a 0.5inch lesser screen works on its advantage. Pixel density is higher on Galaxy Ace 165ppi compared to L5’s 144ppi; which essentially means, Ace renders sharper text than L5 and you don’t have to scroll longer while accessing web pages. On the other hand, LG Optimus L5 E612’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS is pretty impressive considering it’s only a few months old even though Jelly Bean is here already. The front panel is almost entirely taken by the 4inch panel except for the physical button below and LG’s logo at its top, the design isn’t sophisticated, it looks very cheap with square corners that are typical to L series. The back cover is slightly curved on edges, effectively eliminating the square design notion.

There’s a 5.0Megapixel camera around the back panel, it’s not the best we’ve seen but I’ll give it here, especially for a phone in its category. Sitting below is an LED flash, the kind you’ll find on handful devices in the same category, and far below is a loud speaker which’s not unusual. It’s a decent camera, better than those found on cheaper devices; you can actually get great shots with it, in fact, there are a couple of features such as Panorama, Landscape, Geo-Tagging, Portrait, Sports, Night, Sunset  that go with it.

LG Optimus L5 E612/E610 Features/Specifications;

• Operating System: Android v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Processor: 800 MHz Cortex-A5 Processor
• Display : 4.0inch (320 x 480p) (144ppi) Capacitive touch screen, 16m colors
• Camera: Pri: 5.0Megapixel (2560 x 1920p), Auto-focus, LED flash
• Storage: Up to 32GB MicroSD, 4GB ROM / 512MB RAM
• Connectivity: MicroUSB v2.0, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP
• Internet: 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 802.11b/g/n WiFi/WiFi hotspot
• Other ft: FM Radio, GPS, A-GPS
• Battery: Standard Lithium ion 1500mAh

LG Optimus L5 E612/E610Price in Kenya: Kshs.14999 at Safaricom Plus 200mb data

You’d be mistaken to think I have any preference for Tecno products, it’s not a household name like South Korean rivals and its association with China products doesn’t help either; personally, I haven’t touched any of their products and I may not have to, but the relentless efforts they’ve put in, might just as well turn my weird perception the other way round, I reckon. By launching Tecno N3, an android powered handset, I’d honestly acknowledge Tecno almost had my full attention; I am an android veteran you’d say, but that doesn’t imply I like every device that has it installed. Techno N3 doesn’t look classy like pricier devices, but that doesn’t mean it’s entirely crap; it’s a dual-sim handset, something you’d unsuccessfully long for on those killer devices like Galaxy S3. It’s not only in headlines as their first droid phone, but the first Qualcomm reference design smart phone I n Africa, thanks to the partnership between these two firms.

 Qualcomm reference design essentially aids device makers get 3G smart phone devices developed faster saving for research, development, product engineering and architecture costs. For a price of Kshs.8000 here in Kenya, I can easily list more than a dozen cool devices within the same price range I’d choose instead of Tecno N3; however, almost all of them don’t support two networks, so I’ll give it here. Last time I checked, Orange San Francisco was retailing at the same price, but the phone is a monster in comparison except for dual-sim feature. Techno N3 supports 2 sim cards, but you’d only connect to 3G on one and 2G on the other, it doesn’t make that much difference but I’d prefer all sim cards connect via 3G. Beyond its dual-sim capability, I’d say a 3.5inch display screen was well thought, most devices within the price range have smaller display panels such as a 2.8inch found on ideos. In theory, the phones internal memory is capped at 512mb, we all know you’ll get lesser, but you can expand up to 32GB with a MicroSD card though there’s an 8GB memory card already included.   

Techno N3 is a dual-sim device but that’s the least of my excitement, there’s lots of cheaper dual-sim handsets in Kenyan stores now, it runs on Google’s android software with minimal pre-loaded apps so you’d easily choose your preferred ones from Google play instead without having to uninstall unwanted apps first. Android is by far the fastest growing mobile OS , N3 has v2.3.5 Gingerbread installed which’s unfortunately not the latest release but it’s a good start if you ask me, there are rumors of several android based devices coming out of Techno such as N5 and N7.  

Tecno N3 Features/Specifications

• Operating System: Android v2.3.5 Gingerbread
• Processor: 1GHz Snapdragon S1 Processor
• Display : 3.5inch (320x480p) TFT capacitive touch screen
• Primary Camera: 3.0Megapixels primary camera
• Storage: Up to 32GB MicroSD, 512MB internal storage
• Connectivity: MicroUSB v2.0, Bluetooth v3.0, WiFi, WiFi hotspot
• Internet: 3G, 2G, HSDPA
• Other features: Dual-SIM, Palm chat
• Battery: Standard Lithium ion 1400mAh

Tecno N3Price in Kenya: Kshs.8000.