Top 6 smartphones under USD 200

There are so many smartphones in the market. There are some that are really powerful hence can withstand great pressure from usage and are at really high prices but there also some that can that are also powerful and are at really low prices (below $200). In this post, we'll be looking at the top 6 budget smartphones under $200.

You can also check out the top 10 must have Android apps.

•  Motorola Moto G (2nd generation) : The moto G gen2 also known as the moto G+ is one powerful android device that gives everything an Android needs. Released in September 2014, this device is running 4.4.4 kitkat which is upgradable to lollipop and probably Android M in future. The device is running on a Qualcomm MSM8226 Snapdragon 400 Quad-core with a speed of 1.2GHz and GPU of Adreno 305. It has internal storage of 8GB, RAM of 1GB and an expandable microSD of up to 32GB. It also has a rear cam of 8MP. You can get it a price of $176 or even lower. 

  

  The Motorola Moto G (2nd Generation)

• Microsoft Lumia 640 - Single Sim: This phone which was released in March 2015 is one powerful device running the latest version of Windows, Windows 8.1 and will receive an upgrade to Windows 10 when the update is rolled out. Running on Qualcomm  MSM8926 Snapdragon 400 Chipset, CPU Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 and GPU Adreno 305, it also boasts of a Card slot microSD, of up to 128 GB and Internal 8 GB, 1 GB RAM. It also has a rear cam of 8MP. You can get it at $191 or less.

  

  The Microsoft Lumia 640

  
  
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Generation): This device is also another device that is below $200 and is manageable. I said manageable because it has few limitations. Released in February 2015, it is available in two models (the 3G and LTE model). It is also running the Android v5.0 and upgradeable to 5.1. It is running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 - 3G model and Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 - LTE model, CPU Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 - 3G model and
  Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 - LTE model and GPU Adreno 302 - 3G model
  Adreno 306 - LTE model. It has a rear cam of 5MP, an internal storage of 8GB, RAM of 1GB and expandable of up to 32GB. You can get it at $99.99 or even lower.

  

  The Motorola Moto E (2nd Generation)

• HTC Desire 510:  This HTC device which was released in September 2014 is one good device going out for a good budget price of $99.99 or less and is running Android 4.4.2. The device is performing on Chipset Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 for the EU model and Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 for the USA model, CPU of Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53for the EU model for Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 for the USA model and GPU of Adreno 306 for the EU model Adreno 305 for the USA model.

  

  The HTC Desire 510

  
  
• LG Tribute: This is also another device that is far below the USD 200 tagline. It was released in in October 2015 and hence running Android 4.4.2.  It is running with Chipset Qualcomm MSM8926 Snapdragon 400 on CPU Quad-core 1.2 GHz and GPU Adreno 305. It has a Card slot microSD, of up to 32 GB Internal 4 GB amd 1 GB RAM. It also has a primary camera of 5MP. You can get it at a price as low as $55.

  

  The LG Tribute

• Nokia Lumia 635: The Nokia Lumia 635 is one of the mobile devices running Windows 8.1 and is at a very much budgeted price. Released in June 2014, it is running on a Chipset of Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, CPU Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 and GPU of Adreno 305. It also has Card slot microSD, of up to 128 GB an Internal Storage of 8 GB and 512 MB/ 1 GB RAM. You get this for as low as $49.

  

  The Nokia Lumia 635

YouTube tips and tricks: Best 13

YouTube as we all know is solely about videos. In fact, we can say YouTube is equal to videos. With over 1 billion users, a whooping 300 hours video upload every minute and the third most visited site after Google and Facebook, it is is no hidden fact that the Internet cannot be complete without it. Some great tips and tricks will make it even fun right?

Let's check out some great tips and tricks» 

1. YouTube tricks and tips: Keyboard shortcuts:

J - rewind 10 seconds
L - fast-forward 10 seconds
M - mute
0 key - Send the video back to its beginning.
1 key- Skip to 10%

2 key - Skip to 20%. You can also press 3,4,5 through to 9 keys for their respective percentages.
Space-Play/Pause
F-Fullscreen
Esc-Exit Fullscreen
+ - make caption font bigger
- - make caption font smaller
↑-Increase Volume
↓-Decrease Volume
←-Go back 5 Seconds
→-Go forward 5 Seconds

2. Basic

Autoplay - In case you do not want to play the suggested video after the one that you are watching currently, just disable the autoplay feature found towards the right corner of the page.

Speed - You can alter the speed of the video and play it faster or slower to your like. Just click on Setting on the time slider, go to Speed and then choose the speed that you prefer.

Subtitles - You can even enable subtitles for a video in YouTube. Head to settings on the time slider and then click on Subtitles and turn them on! Although, this feature is not available for some videos.

3. Loop a complete video or part of it:

Sometimes it just happens that you want to watch a movie over and over again or just keep watching a particular part of a movie or music video that you love so much. This is where the you tube repeater becomes handy. All you need to do is add the word repeater to the end of the YouTube URL. 
For example: Consider the YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=D6DFLNa6MBA
Just change it to: https://www.youtuberepeater.com/watch?v=D6DFLNa6MBA
This will redirect you to a page where you can loop the video

4. Bypass regional blocks and restrictions:

Don't worry, you are not the first to encounter this problem. Many people have and I'm not excluded. It's so annoying when you visit YouTube to watch that video that's been trending and you are told you cannot watch it coz it's unavailable in your country. Ouch, it hurts. Let's see how we fix it. To do this, replace watch with v and also remove the ?v=
An example is change  https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=dD40FXFhuag
To: https://www.youtube.com/v/dD40FXFhuag

5. Skip to a specific time:

Sometimes you read comments and someone posts, "05:31 made me laugh so hard.. Lol" and you really want to skip to that time as soon as possible. It's no hard job. All you need to do is  add the time to the url in the format t=mmmsss. 
Look at this example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0pLbTXPHng
Now to jump to 5:31 in the video just simply add #t=05m31s to the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0pLbTXPHng#t=01m23s

6. Download YouTube video without any installation:

You cannot stream always. Sometimes you wished you could just download the video and keep watching it offline. It is not impossible. It is more than possible. You can even do it without downloading any software(app). All you need to do is add ss in the YouTube URL just after the www.
For example, Consider this YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=eisKxhjBnZ0
Just change it to: https://www.ssyoutube.com/watch?v=eisKxhjBnZ0

7. Convert YouTube videos to mp3:

Peggo has been really useful to me over some months now and I think I should introduce it to you. It is a website that converts YouTube videos and SoundCloud tracks into mp3. Just copy the YouTube URL and paste it into the website and Voila!

Q

 8. Identify the music in a video:

Watching a video on YouTube and you're so much in love with the background music? Don't wait for someone to name it in the comment. Just copy YouTube URL and paste it into MooMa.sh.

9. Test the new YouTube design:

YouTube has introduced a new transparent control bar and scales to any screen size. To get it, go to Youtube.com/testtube, scroll to the button and click get the player. 

10. Watch videos on your TV:

Do you own a smart TV or chromecast? Why don't you watch YouTube on your TV by casting from your smartphone or via WiFi? To do this, open the YouTube on your mobile or game console, then go to Youtube.com/pair make sure you are signed in. Go to Settings>Pair Device on On your TV and select Pair Device, enter the code into youtube.com/pair and you are good to go.

11. Speed up video buffering:

Your Internet speed won't be at its peak 24/7 but it doesn't mean you shouldn't watch YouTube videos when your speed is down. Go to youtube.com/account_playback and select I have slow connection. Never play higher-quality video and you are so good to go.

12. Watch tutorials in slow motion:

Of what use is a tutorial if it's speed is like that of a rocket departing from Earth. Just slow it down on YouTube and get the best out of it. Click on the gear icon>Speed>Select .5 or .25 to play the video in slow motion.

13. Create a GIF:

There are times when we stumble upon a video which no matter how much we try we can’t resist watching again and again. It could be a music video, a funny prank or perhaps an awe-inspiring stunt scene from some movie. To repeat certain portion of the video or the complete video all you need to do is to add the word ‘repeater’ after ‘youtube’ in the URL.

For example: Consider this YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6DFLNa6MBA
Just change it to: https://www.youtuberepeater.com/watch?v=D6DFLNa6MBA

It shall redirect you to a page where you can loop the required portions of the video.

Note: Before downloading or converting a video, read the publishers policy. It may be illegal to do so sometimes. 

Those were some of the most important YouTube tricks. Will love to hear from you. 

I bet you've been making this mistake for long; DID YOU KNOW THAT THE HIGHER YOUR CAMERA'S PIXEL DOES NOT NECCESSARILY MEAN YOU WILL GET A BETTER IMAGE? Check out why.

Many people tend to be deceived that the higher the pixel of their camera, the better the picture it can take. The IPhone 6's camera has 8 megapixels and the galaxy s6's has 16, but they both take pictures of the same clarity and sharpness.

So the big question is; WHY DOES THAT HAPPEN?

Theoretically, more pixels should mean a sharper and clearer image but that is never the case.
In reality, pixels rely on a camera's ability to capture light. The larger the sensor, the more pixels it can support which often leads to better, sharper pictures. But as more pixels are added to a sensor, the smaller they need to be to fit onto the sensor itself. And the smaller the pixel, the less light it can capture, which results in images with "noise," or unwanted artifacts that reduce an image's sharpness.

One way to counter this is keep the shutter open for longer to allow enough light to hit the sensor. But even the most minute movements you make when the shutter is open will result in blurriness, which then leads to poor quality images, especially in low-light situations. Apart from the new LG G4, most smartphones don't give you control over the shutter.

THIS IMAGE WAS TAKEN WITH AN LG G4

This image taken with the HTC One (M8) is still very good, but closer inspection will reveal that it's not as sharp as cameras with more megapixels.

At the same time, pictures won't be as sharp if pixels are too large. This was the case with the HTC One (M8)'s four "UltraPixel" camera, which simply means it has four megapixels with each pixel being larger than you'd normally find on a smartphone. It resulted in good bokeh (when a subject pops out against a purposefully blurry background) and relatively good low-light shots. But image clarity and sharpness was only decent because four megapixels isn't enough to capture finer details. HTC has since ditched the UltraPixels in favor of regular megapixels for the new One (M9).

THIS IMAGE WAS TAKEN WITH AN IPHONE 6

So, there's a fine balance of sensor and pixel size smartphone manufacturers need to strike to make a good camera. The iPhone 6's camera has a 1/2.2-inch sensor with 8 megapixels, while the Galaxy S6's camera has a larger 1/1.9-inch sensor with 16 megapixels. Simply put, they're both very similar cameras that use different methods and components to achieve similar results. 

THIS IMAGE WAS TAKEN WITH A GALAXY S6

So next time you want to buy a phone or just a camera, take the factors above into consideration.

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