What's the best mid-range phone under $400/£400?

 

(Pocket-lint) - It's not as easy as it used to be to select a new smartphone. They come in lots of different types, with lots of different characteristics and at several different price points, critically.

The camera is critical for some, battery life for others, or maybe biometric login. However, it's not just the very best flagship smartphones these days that offer these features. There's another breed of smartphones that deliver better specs at a lower price - the mid-rangers.

Here, as thoroughly reviewed here on Pocket-lint, we have rounded up the best devices that fall between the £/€/$200-400 mark - yes, our European and American readers, we have you covered. Want an even cheaper thing? Then search our features for the best budget phones.

Google Pixel 4a

The Google Pixel 4a, together with the excellent Pixel camera, has a clean and smooth user interface, offering a great point-and-shoot experience.

There is plenty of power in the Pixel 4a, a decent show, a compact shape and some great speakers. It may be too tiny for some and it doesn't have the latest hardware, but we can't really see why you'd have to look any further for those looking for a portable phone.

OnePlus Nord

An outstanding mid-range system is the OnePlus Nord. It provides a wide monitor, refresh rates of 90Hz, 5G connectivity and a great battery life.

There are more cameras than there need to be, it's not usable everywhere and the edges are a little plasticky, but what OnePlus has done quite expertly is to make a phone that doesn't leave you pining for a bigger experience.

OnePlus Nord N10 5G

For the markets where the Nord (above) does not exist, the OnePlus Nord N10 5G is a great Android computer.

It provides an affordable price point, smooth and reliable output, headphone jack and physical fingerprint sensor and it comes with expandable storage.

The camera isn't the best and the original Nord is stronger in most departments, but it's a well-priced, inexpensive Android smartphone with few big negatives in the markets where this device is the only Nord-branded product.

Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro

For its price, the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro is a terrific phone. It has enormous performance, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a powerful battery and a lovely OLED monitor, not to mention, for the most part, good camera performance.

The MIUI software which put some off, the performance of the low light camera is not brilliant and it has a fairly chunky build without water or dust resistance, but for its price, this system has unrivalled specs. Actually, it's absolutely bonkers that this phone sells for the money it makes.

Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite

For its price, a smooth experience, great OLED display and a good battery life, as well as a very capable main camera, the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite offers class-leading specs.

The quad cameras are an oversell, there's some app bloat and the notch looks a little dated, but this Xiaomi offering is high up the scale as the demand heats up to produce a more affordable 5G handset.

Motorola Moto G 5G Plus

The Motorola Moto G 5G Plus is not just a perfect smartphone but it provides future proofing for 5G. For all that it offers, from the excellent battery life, the large screen view, power and super smooth hardware, it's a fantastic handset.

It's a little plasticky, the cameras are an oversell and there's no fingerprint sensor on board, but otherwise there's nothing that can touch this Moto inside this class.

Motorolal Moto G8 Power

This phone is all about battery life - that's why in its name it has 'Power.' It lasts for an absolute lifetime, comes in at our budget's lower end, and is also a remarkably smooth handler.

You won't have the best cameras going at this price point, but if you want longevity and as little outlay as possible, it's absolutely superb.

Oppo Reno 2 Z

There is a bright and crisp monitor, a premium look and feel and a fantastic battery life for the Oppo Reno 2 Z. It's not a flagship phone, but for an astoundingly good price, it gets you most of the way there.

The finish is a little slippery and the photos with low light are not as good as the Google Pixel 4a, but the Oppo Reno 2 Z provides super fast charging and you get a terrific amount of money, making it easily recommended.

Motorola Moto G8 Plus

Compared with its predecessor, the Motorola Moto G8 Plus has a refined design with a graduated back, a great price proposition, a sensitive fingerprint sensor and an outstanding battery life.

The camera is a bit simple, but capable, and in this market there is some severe competition, but the Moto G8 Plus offers sufficient output for its price, and its problems are few and far between.

Honor 9X

The 9X is in many ways one of the last Huawei-made phones to come with Google Services - so no restrictions on access there - one of the unsung heroes on this list.

The lack of a notch on that big screen, the reflective eye-catching style, and decent battery life all make for a good smartphone. The processor is not a bump over last year's, though, and the cameras are not all of that. It is a strong contender at this price, though.

Motorola Moto G Pro

The Motorola Moto G Pro offers a stylus, clean user experience, good battery inputs, sufficient power and a capable main camera without the usual associated cost.

For the stylus, there is no good palm rejection or pressure levels and the extra cameras are of minimal value, but if you are looking for a stylus on a phone and all the features it offers, but don't have a huge budget, the Moto G Pro is just the ticket.

Samsung Galaxy A51

The flagship phones of Samsung could steal the limelight, but this whole time, with its A series the most interesting, it has also been bringing out very solid mid-range handsets. The A51 is the new lower-priced star, and we're impressed with that. Maybe its most impressive elements are in design, where you could genuinely be misled into thinking it's a premium smartphone.

The monitor is fine, and while you might not have tonnes of power under the hood, most individuals will do nicely. The battery life is also solid, and it works well for unlocking an under-display fingerprint scanner. To ensure that you can play with the big boys when filming, you even get a quad-camera setup.