Gossips Products Review

Flagship phones these days cost the best part of £500, but they aren’t the only phones available.

Asda has just announced the Alcatel 1010 for £5, so skip lunch for the day and you can afford yourself an emergency phone.

Whether you have a reduced budget, just want a spare phone to keep in the drawer, or want to introduce technology to your grandparents, here are six SIM-free phones under £70.

Alcatel 1010 – £5

The Alcatel 1010 comes with a 400mAh battery, which promises 2 hours of talk time and up to 333 hours of standby time.

It’s lightweight so won’t drag down your jeans hitting the scales at 59g and comes with a 1.45-inch LCD display sporting a 128 x 128 resolution with 121ppi.

Running on a single core processor with 4MB RAM under the hood, the Alcatel 1010 has a music player and built-in radio so you won’t miss out on the latest news and tunes.

Samsung E1200 – £19.95

Samsung’s E1200 comes with a 800MHz battery giving you up to 720 hours on standby and up to 7 hours talk time.

It runs on a single core processor and has a 1.52-inch display with a 128 x 128 resolution giving you a pixel density of 119ppi, making the Alcatel’s image slightly sharper.

You’ll get Samsung feature software and it has a SOS message feature lets you send a message to pre-programmed contacts at the touch of a button if you are in trouble.

Samsung E2121B – £29.95

The Samsung E2121B takes it up a notch with a 1000MHz battery promising up to 10 hours talk time so you can chat for longer.

It weighs 83g and comes with a 1.52-inch display with the same resolution as the E1200, but you’ll also get a music player and built-in radio with this handset.

In addition, the E2121B comes with a built-in camera and video recorder for taking snaps or making mini movies, which you can then share via Bluetooth or MMS.

Nokia 206 – £49.95

Nokia’s 206 can manage 680 hours on standby and up to 20 hours talk time with its 1100mAh battery so if you are a chatterbox this isn’t a bad option.

It comes with a larger display than the others, sporting 2.4-inches and a 240 x 320 resolution with 167ppi, plus it has a 1.3-megapixel camera and 64MB of storage for all your snaps.

The 206 has a microSD slot for expanding the memory up to 32GB if you get snapper happy and it has a Slam feature for simple sharing of photos and other content.

The Brick – £49.95

The Brick from Carphone Warehouse has a 1000mAh battery and will give you slightly less talk time than the Nokia 206 at 14 hours.

It comes with a 1.8-inch LCD screen featuring a 128 x 160 resolution, no camera, but you do get a microSD slot for up to 32GB memory expansion.

The Brick is great if you have a grandparent who wants a mobile but one that resembles their time and you’ll even get Bluetooth, a radio and a music player.

JCB Toughphone Sitemaster – £69.95

If you have a tendancy to drop your phone, this one is a great option as a spare. The JCB Toughphone Sitemaster will give you up to 4 hours 30 minutes talk time or up to 450 hours standby with its battery.

It has a 2-inch display that comes with a 128 x 160 resolution providing a pixel density of 116ppi, and it weighs 130.3g.

You won’t be able to take snaps with this phone but it does have a radio and music player, plus it is drop tested up to 2 metres and can withstand 1 tonne of pressure so it’s pretty sturdy.

All these phones have a reasonable price and whether it is for a spare phone or an every day phone, they each offer some reasonable features considering.

© copyright Pocket-lint 2013