Amazon has kickstarted its ‘Great Indian Fesival Sale’ today morning and is offering some decent deals on mobile phones, especially smartphones, for those on the lookout for value.
The most interesting offers are on the Moto range, followed by Samsung, Xiaomi and LeEco.
And unlike earlier years, most of the deals this Diwali are focused on the entry level and mid-range segments.
MOTOROLA OFFERS ON AMAZON
Leading the charge is the range of Motorola phones, and among them, the latest Moto G (4th Generation).
The devices, launched three months ago, are selling with a discount of Rs 1,500.
The main advantage of the Moto G4 is that unlike previous generations, this one doesn’t cut corners as far as specifications are concerned, and is a good alternative to those who are looking for a VoLTE-supporting alternative to Xiaomi Redmi Note 3.
The Redmi Note 3 itself is coming with a slight discount of Rs 1,000 at Rs 10,999.
However, given the rising popularity of VoLTE, it might make more sense for someone to spend an extra Rs 2,500 and buy the Moto G4 Plus at Rs 13,499.
Both phones come with 5.5-inch full-HD displays and 3GB RAM, 32 GB of in-built storage, fingerprint reader and turbo charging support.
In addition, the Moto G4 comes with a better camera.
In terms of processor, the Redmi Note 3 may have a slight edge, though the Snapdragon 617 inside the Moto G Plus (4th Generation) is no slouch and can live up to most challenges thrown by a regular user. Battery is 3 Ah vs 4 Ah on the Redmi model.
If you’re happy with 2GB of RAM, you can get the Moto G at Rs 10,999 — the same price as the Xiaomi model.
Again, if you want to save another Rs 1,000 (at the cost of specifications), you can also go for the Moto G Turbo at Rs 9,999. However, with an HD screen (instead of full HD on the others) and only 2 GB of RAM and an inferior camera and battery, we’d suggest that you should look elsewhere to save that Rs 1,000.
SAMSUNG OFFERS
Unlike earlier years, Samsung seems to have decided to make its presence felt in the online discount festival in 2016. The company is offer two models, the On5 Pro and the On7 Pro, at reduced prices.
As is typical with entry-level Samsung phones, these are not the best in terms of specifications.
Unlike the J series, these phones do not come with AMOLED displays, but regular TFT screens.
In addition, both have only HD screens (not FHD).
However, on the plus side, both On5 and On7 support VoLTE as well as all three 4G bands in operation in the country.
Both models come with only 2 GB of RAM. The 5-inch model has a 2.6 Ah battery and the 5.5-inch On7 has a 3 Ah battery.
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XIAOMI
Finally we have Xiaomi, which is offering a deep discount of Rs 5,000 on its Mi5 model — but only on Flipkart and that too only on Monday.
On Amazon, the company is offering Rs 1,500 off on the humongous Mi Max, which brings the price of recently launched phone to Rs 13,999. The discounted price is also available on Snapdeal.
The phone comes with a 6.44 inch full-HD display and a 4.9 Ah battery.
As already noted, Xiaomi is also giving a Rs 1,000 discount with the Redmi Note 3.
MICROMAX, LEECO
There are some discounts on various other brands as well, including Panasonic, Micromax, Yu, LeEco and so on.
Three models deserve mention among these.
One is Micromax Canvas 5. The phone is available at just Rs 7,500 on Amazon’s Diwali sale, making it an irresistible deal for those on the look out for value. However, it does suffer from a limitation — there is no VoLTE support. However, for Rs 6,000 (after HDFC card discounts), the phone offers tremendous value for money, including 3 GB of RAM, a 5.2-inch full-HD display and a decent 2.9 Ah battery.
It comes with a moderately powerful chipset (MT6753 octa) and compared to similar priced models such as Lenovo K5, this is a vastly superior package at this price range.
Micromax’s sister concern Yu is offering Yuphoria, which comes with support for two bands of 4G (out of 3 in India), but does not have VoLTE capability. The phone, which has a brilliant HD display and good looks, is listed at a discount of 10% at Rs 4,999 on Amazon’s Diwali sale.
Finally, at the higher end, you have the LeEco Le Max2, which is being offered at Rs 17,999 — in line with the price of the Mi5 on Flipkart on Monday. The LeEco Le Max has clearly superior specifications, including twice the screen resolution, 25% more RAM and 23% more screen area, when compared with the Mi5.
To check out mobile deals on Flipkart, see our earlier story.