There's been a lot of talk nowadays about not spending a bomb on a full-fledged smartphone, and buying a budget Android instead. There have been a stream of many such budget smarties in the market recently, and the Huawei Ideos U8300 landed on our test bench just in time to give us an answer.

In terms of looks, the Ideos U8300 is more like a squashed BlackBerry, with an awkward cut between the screen and keyboard. The grey plastic casing feels tacky and cheap – definitely not something you'd want to show off. It's alright in the connectivity department, with a 3.5mm headphone jack, mini USB port, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The screen is of a really low-resolution – just 320x240 pixels. There's a constant grid that shows up on it, which disrupts view. Huawei tries to get it right feature wise, with a touch screen-keyboard combo, but unfortunately it's chosen a resistive touch screen, a technology that's way to obsolete for smartphones right now. Even though there is a trackball on the keypad for navigation, you do require the touchscreen for many functions, and it's unresponsive to the point of being frustrating. The Nokia X3-02 also had a resistive screen, but way more efficient. The keyboard itself feels cheap and flimsy, with no dedicated apostrophe key and an inconveniently spaced-out layout.

Operating system wise, you'll have to settle for Android 2.1, which is, by now, outdated as far as smartphones go. You can set up Facebook and Google accounts easily, as well as download apps from the Market. The phone does support mp4 playback, but because of the screen's quality you'd be better off watching a shorter video rather than a full fledged movie. The mono speaker was loud and clear, so it's a plus for music lovers. The 2-meg camera produced pictures with very poor image quality, with blurred images even in bright lighting.

The Ideos U8300 gives you about a day of battery charge, with a couple of hours of talktime and browsing using Wi-Fi. Call quality was good on the phone, and we were able to have conversations even while travelling. The screen has an accelerometer, but it's really not required considering there's only a physical keyboard. There's a proximity sensor and an accelerometer which worked fine.

Even though the pricing is attractive, there's no point in getting an Android if you're going to compromise on phone quality. You'd be much better off opting for a Nokia or Samsung phone in the same price range.

Love: Good call quality

Hate: Resistive screen, flimsy keyboard

Rs 8,199

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