In the budget segment, we get some good devices, but they will not give the feeling of premium device & features. If we buy a flagship phone, it will give everything premium but the pricing is also very premium. So what’s the solution? Well, it’s a ‘Mid-Range’ device. A mid-range device almost fills up the gap between a budget phone and flagship high-end phone. Not complete but yes, it fills the gap.
So today we are here with our choice of ‘Best 5 Mid-range Smartphones of 2017’. This list is going to based on smartphones priced between ₹ 15,000 to ₹ 30,000 /- . This year we didn’t saw much competition and craze in this price range, as with the launch of OnePlus 5, the price of OnePlus devices are not mid-range anymore. As this Best 5 Smartphones are based on our opinions & user feedback from various sources, we are not giving any rank to any smartphone. We will also add few smartphones in ‘Honourable Mention’ section, those which are good smartphones but can’t stand out in Best 5 list. So now let’s check out the Best 5 Mid-range Smartphones of 2017:
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Honor 8 Pro:
This year Honor launched their flagship smartphone Honor 8 Pro with turned out to be a very good smartphone, unlike last year’s Honor 8 which failed to perform well. This Honor 8 Pro is the only mid-range smartphone which can compete with OnePlus 5. It packs some flagship level specs like Kirin 960 processor and Dual Camera Setup. The 12MP + 8MP Dual Rear Camera captures some really great monochrome shots with ample amount of details.
It’s also one of those rare flagship spec phone which has 4000mAh battery with fast charging support. Also it’s the only 2017 phone which has Quad HD Display. While all others have Full HD display. The con in this device is it’s software. The EMUI is not so good as compared to it’s competitors, and software update support is also not good for Honor phones. Also there’s no portrait mode in this phone because the secondary camera has monochrome lens. But apart from these cons, it’s one of the best premium mid-range smartphone in 2017. For detailed specs, Click Here.
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Motorola Moto X4:
Motorola also did considerably well in the mid-range market this year. Last month they launched Moto X4 smartphone, which packs some really good as well as latest specs for its price. If we talk about the latest, the phone comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 630 processor which is not much seen in the market. As of now, Moto X4 is the cheapest smartphone with this processor in the market. Apart from the latest chipset, this phone also packs a very good as well as unique camera in it’s price range.
While most of the OEMs are giving telephoto lens (portrait photos) with their dual camera powered smartphone, this Moto X4 comes with wide angle lens that can capture more wider photos. Also it is one of the best designed & built device in this list. The phone is covered with glass from both front as well as back, and it feels very solid in hand. Motorola nailed it in built & design. The con with this phone is it’s portrait shots. Though the hardware is not capable of capturing portrait photos, but still Motorola implemented this feature and failed to impress. The Camera UI is laggy too. Also the built is very sensitive (story of every phone with glass back). But apart from these cons, it’s one of the best smartphone in its price range. For detailed specs, Click Here.
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Honor 9i:
Here’s another Honor phone in the Best Mid-range list, the Honor 9i. This is one of the 1st device in it’s price bracket which comes with modern 18:9 aspect ratio. The phone is very nicely built and has good looks. Also it’s the only device in this list as well. The front camera is also one of the USP of this phone. It’s the cheapest phone that comes with dual front facing camera. The secondary camera on the front can take portrait selfies, which is very unique in this price.
It is one of the best selfie camera smartphone in this list. Same is the case with rear cameras, the secondary camera takes portrait shots as well, but a bit better than the front one. The processor of this phone is also the latest Kirin 659 processor which can easily compete with processors like Snapdragon 625 & 630. But the con with this phone is again it’s software i.e. EMUI, which is flooded with bloatware. And the irregular software update is also an unwanted gift hamper. So if we consider the software part, it is a very good smartphone at this price, especially for camera lovers. For detailed specs, Click Here.
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Moto G5S Plus:
Seems like Honor & Motorola is covering the entire mid-range list of 2017. Now we have another Motorola phone here i.e. Moto G5S Plus. This is the slight upgrade of Moto G5 Plus which comes in budget segment, bur due to slight difference in price, this phone is taking it’s place in mid-range list. It’s the cheapest smartphone present in this list as well. Now coming to the USP, it has Dual Camera Setup which produces bokeh shots with it’s secondary telephoto lens. The images turns out reasonably good, but not best.
The built quality is slightly better than Moto G5 Plus. Also the stock android with fast updates is not so common here. Now coming to the drawbacks, firstly this phone has a lot of lag in it’s camera UI. It takes 4-5 seconds after taking any portrait shot. This completely ruins the user experience. Another problem with this phone is it’s time-frame for security updates. There’s no particular time-frame when this phone or any other Motorola phone will get monthly security patches. And as Motorola has given dual camera with this phone, they decreased the low light performance which is the USP of Moto G5 Plus’s camera. Also, as we are running towards 2018 and Motorola will launch Moto G6 Plus in Q1, there’s no need to launch this phone, as regular Moto G5 Plus is still a very good phone. So if you want a Motorola phone with Dual Camera Setup that gives portrait shots, then this phone is surely for you. For detailed specs, Click Here.
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Lenovo P2:
So after launching tons of smartphones in 2017. Lenovo finally made it’s stand in this list. That’s impressive because most of their phones are from budget segment & non of them stands out in our Best Budget Smartphone list. Amongst all phones which I mentioned in this list, this Lenovo P2 has best battery backup.
There’s no competition for Lenovo P2 in this list in terms of battery life. It carries a huge 5100mAh battery along with Full HD Super AMOLED display and Snapdragon 625 processor inside, which is idol hardware for power efficient smartphone. Also this one supports 24W fast charging which is claimed to be faster than OnePlus’s dash charge technology, of we compare the battery capacity. And the Super AMOLED display of this phone is also very crisp & detailed. But the con with this phone is again the software.
It comes with Lenovo’s custom UI on top which brings bloatware along. And it’s update cycle is restricted to Android Nougat only, so it’s not future proof. But if someone can install custom ROMs or don’t worry about software support, and if the priority is battery life, then it’s surely a beast for them. Also this is one of the most underrated mid-range phone of 2017. For detailed specs, Click Here.
Below are two honourable mentions which packs some very good specs, but can’t stand out in this list:
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Motorola Moto Z2 Play:
Usually many OEMs drops the idea of any new feature if they fail to impress well to the market. But Motorola is not one of them. Even if there idea of MotoMods is not working well, they are still trying a lot to make MotoMods more efficient. For this, they launched Moto Z2 Play this year. Last year though people didn’t bought those MotoMods, but they loved the Moto Z Play. But this year, the Moto Z2 Play failed to impress. Mainly because if decreased size of battery and increased price of the phone. I feel that this is purely an overpriced smartphone. But if someone likes to tryout new gadgets and innovations in smartphone, then it’s surely a good pick as overall performance is good. For detailed specs, Click Here.
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Samsung Galaxy A7 2017:
So here’s the only Samsung phone which stands out in this list. Usually Samsung launches mid-range phones that has poor specs. But this Galaxy A7 2017 is fairly decent smartphone by Samsung. Though this phone don’t have much premium internals, but it looks very elegant due to it’s glass body. The camera is also good and overall specs are also good enough. Mainly, it has all basic sensors which is not so common in Samsung mid-rangers. But as usual the con with this phone is software experience. Samsung never update their UI and it’s not sure whether this phone will get Android Oreo or not. But those who what Samsung phone in this price range, it’s surely a good phone. For detailed specs, Click Here.
So these are my choice of Best Mid-range Smartphones of 2017. It may vary with each one, and each one has his own opinion regarding this list. So what are your thoughts on my list ? Do you agree with it or you think something’s unfair here ? Do let us know in the comments below. Also stay tuned with us for more information.
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