Well, we received an Infinix Note 8 review unit a few days back, and by unboxing, the Smartphone ships a midrange packaging style tagged to a minimal box contents lineup.

Inside the box, a single Infinix Note 8 unit is accompanied by a Charging brick, a USB C cable, pair of headsets, a rubber phone cover, Xclub leaflets, and a SIM extractor PIN.

Infinix Note 8 Box Contents

• Single Infinix Note 8 unit
• Charging Brick
• USB C Cable
• Pair of headsets
• Rubber Phone cover
• SIM Extractor PIN
• XClub Leaflets

Infinix Note 8 Specifications

As per the Note 8 Specifications sheet, a total of 6 cameras headline the smartphone features array, a quad rear camera setup ( 4 Cameras), and a dual front camera setup (2 Cameras) finish the overall camera grade.

Much more like a standard, a dual punch hole notch houses the dual front camera setup sported on a 6.95-inch IPS LCD Screen with an HD+ 720*1640 resolution. On top of that, the smartphone sports lesser bezels tipping a full display standard.

Picking a leaf from the Infinix Hot series, the smartphone equips a 5200mAh battery juiced through a USB C Port which is the first for a Note series release.

However, the XPEN doesn’t ship as an in-box accessory, but as a newer feature to substitute the point PEN, a fingerprint is housed under the power button for swift accessibility as a signal of less is more.

By Performance, the Note 8 equips a gaming processor to its chipset board, a MediaTek G80 processor ranks as one of the best chipsets produced in 2020. More so, a budget-friendly price tag is tagged to the Smartphone with a regular Note series price tag.

Infinix Note 8 Price in Uganda

You can buy a new boxed Infinix Note 8 smartphone in Uganda at UGX 780,000 in authorized Infinix Mobile shops and online on Jumia. By Price, you can consider buying the smartphone if you love close to high-end functionality, but with a mid-range standard.

Based on the specifications sheet, we shall uncover what the Infinix Note 8 has to offer through our impressions and review articles to be published soon. For now, this is a great smartphone to consider adding on your budget list.

In the light of the current COVID19 Pandemic that has not only hit businesses hard, but also disrupted consumer budgets and savings culture. So, setting aside a high budget for Smartphones amidst day to day requirements becomes hard.

Well, the good news is that the competitive scale between device manufacturers has forced the general pricing scale to flip in favour of the final consumer (owners).

Currently, high-end manufacturers like Samsung, Huawei, and Apple produce midrange variants to compliment flagship releases with affordability in mind.

The trend can be seen with Apple’s 2020 iPhone SE that was launched with a $399 price tag, then Samsung’s A-series, and Huawei’s Honor Series becoming readily available across the globe.

However, midrange players like TECNO Mobile, Infinix, and Xiaomi have shown no signs of slowing down, and so, here is a list of the best budget-friendly Smartphones you can opt to add on your shopping list in 2020.

Budget-Friendly Smartphones you can Buy in Uganda below UGX 500,000

Itel P36 PRO LTE

Itel P36 PRO LTE is a 2020 release that was launched as a successor to the Itel P35 with new features blended into play. Its priced between UGX 390,000 – UGX 420,000 and serves as the PRO (superior) model to the base P36 which is priced between UGX 280,000-UGX 320,000

Notable device features off the Specs sheet include an iPhone 11 like rear camera design. A waterdrop display notch, and a big 5000mAh battery with fast charging headline what you’d love about the latest P-Series release.

Quick Itel P36 PRO Specs

TECNO Spark 5

TECNO Spark 5 is the latest Spark Series release that succeeded the TECNO Spark 4 with new features coping with a 2020 trend and will be succeeded by the TECNO Spark 6 which is expected to launch in Uganda by late 2020.

Picking a Glory streak from the Spark K7 and Spark 2, the TECNO Spark costs UGX 440,000 with great features and routes in a budget-friendly lane with a quad-rear camera setup, punch-hole display notch as its top specs shining with Android 10 as the base operating system.

Quick Tecno Spark 5 Specs

Infinix Hot 9

Infinix Hot 9 has not shared the same market value as the Infinix Hot 8 in Uganda, but still, it serves as the latest hot series release and raves at a friendly price tag between UGX 470,000 – UGX 500,000. Though the Infinix Hot 9 is set to be replaced by the Hot 10, it still rocks as one of the best budget-friendly releases you can consider.

Out of the box, the device’s top features include a punch-hole display notch, storage at 64GB ROM/3GB RAM, then a quad rear camera setup (4 cameras) and a single front-facing selfie camera.

As a tradition, a fingerprint sensor exists on the rear plate as Face Unlock is also supported as per the device’s specs sheet.

Quick Infinix Hot 9 Specs

Samsung Galaxy A11

Galaxy A-series are probably Samsung’s replacement for its popular J-series releases. The Galaxy A11 as a midrange entrant brings to play lesser bezels, a triple rear camera setup with lowlight f1.8 support, then a front selfie companion housed under the punch hole notch.

By price, the Samsung Galaxy A11 costs between UGX 490,000 – UGX 540,000 as listed on Jumia. Well, if you’re a fan of Samsung Smartphones, but want the best version on a budget, then the Galaxy A11 should be your perfect fit.

Quick Samsung Galaxy A11 Specs

Xiaomi Redmi 9

Redmi 9 is probably the cheapest Xiaomi Smartphone you can buy, the Smartphone costs between UGX 500,000 to UGX 525,000. By features, it sports a waterdrop display notch and equips 32GB + 3GB on a Media Tek processor supporting Android 10 as the base Operating system.

Quick Redmi 9 Specs

Bonus: The Best Cheapest Smartphone you can buy in Uganda at the moment

Realme C2

Realme is slowly making its presence in Africa known, the brand recently opened its availability window in Kenya as its East African center for dominance. The brand is known for having great midrange releases with its bullish market in India, and among its releases to consider is the Realme C2.

Realme C2 is available in Uganda and costs approximately UGX 340,000. By Specs, the Smartphone sports a 6.1 Inch Screen with a waterdrop display notch, then a dual-rear Camera and Single Selfie Camera pitch the device’s mobile photography standards.

Quick Realme C2 Specs

Succeeding the Itel S15 which came out late last year, Itel S16 brings to play upgraded features headlined by a new notch style––a punch-hole display notch. By standard, this makes the S16 the 2nd ever S-series release with not just a notch, but multi-camera support.

A triple rear camera setup is shipped by the Itel S16, of the 3 Sensors, a 13MP main snapper, a 2MP sensor, and a depth sensor are capable of shooting in low light conditions with an adjustable focal aperture of f1.8.

Teasing the front under a punch hole notch, a lone 8MP Selfie Camera is powered by on-screen brighteness capable of beaming right to your face for well-exposed selfies.

Much more like a recap, the device sports a 6.6 Inch Screen, this is bigger than any of its predecessors, but comparable to sister series releases like the Itel P36 designed to deliver wide display in-app actions like Gaming.

Supporting an HD+ standard with a resolution of 720*1600 pixels, the Itel S16 display is one to watch. Internally, the Smartphone equips a quad-core MediaTek 1.3Ghz processor hosting Android 10 (Go edition) as the base supported operating system.

Furthermore, 16GB Internal memory routes the device’s storage needs with an upgradable slot by up to 32GB for the base S16, then 32GB expandable by 128GB for the S16 Pro and PRO LTE.

Likely, 1GB RAM delivers the Smartphone’s best perfomance speeds for the base S16, then 2GB RAM for the S16 Pro and PRO LTE as listed on the specifications sheet.

Itel S16 Specifications

Itel S16 Pro/ Pro LTE Specs

Itel S16 Price and Availability in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya

Itel S16 comes in 3 variants, a base model that is expected to be cheaper than the rest of the duo, the S16 Pro, and S16 PRO LTE (4G enabled). As listed, the major difference between the releases is RAM, Storage, and 4G network support.

By price, all 3 Smartphones cost differently with the base S16 costing lower than the rest of the pack. As a premium flagship in the lane, the S16 PRO LTE is slightly expensive than the rest with 4G as its main pricing feature. Nonetheless, here is the estimated pricing structure.

Itel S16 Price in Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya

• Itel S16 Price in Nigeria : NGN 31,490 (Jumia)
• Itel S16 Price in Uganda : UGX 310,000 (Estimated)
• Itel S16 Price in Kenya : KES 7,199 (Kilimall)

At the moment, Itel Mobile has not revealed its official pricing structure in Uganda. But based on the pricing attached to the S16 predecessors like the S15 and S13, we expect the base smartphone model to bezel between our estimates.

Though Apple recently released the rumored iPhone 9 with an iPhone SE codename, Huawei’s continuous launches and custom Hong Meng operating system so far put it on top of its game to beat Apple even without Google’s support.

Huawei keeps its podium position with over 48.5 Smartphone shipments with a 17.6% market share inking a decline from its 2019 Q1 results. Last year, Huawei registered 59.1 million shipments with a 17.9% market share, meaning the brand’s growth has run short by 18% as compared to 2019.

According to strategic analytics__the publisher of the report__Huawei has managed to stick to its podium position irrespective of its current relations with the US, because its major sales muscle is China.

Current Market Share Statistics

Samsung remains the World’s leading Smartphone brand with a total of 58.3 shipments in the first quarter and a 21.2 Market share. Just like Huawei, Samsung has registered a 19% decline from last year where it registered over 71.8 shipments in Q1.

Apple on the other hand also has a short of 9% from last year’s growth with 39.2 in 2020 compared to 43.1 in Q1 2019. This means, the fate of the current Corona Virus pandemic has shrunk the market share of all 3 top brands worldwide.

So, with Huawei keeping its 2^nd position slot amidst its presence on the US’s entity list, It’s peak can be attributed to the custom HongMeng system, and continued Android compatibility since over 8 million 5G smartphones have so far been shipped by the brand.

Initially, the Itel A56 was rumored to have a bigger display and long-lasting battery, a tagline that welcomes you by its packaging box. Inside the box, its contents don’t differ much with what earlier releases brought to play with a charging brick, USB cable, protector and phone cover.

ITEL A56 Box Contents

• A single Itel A56 unit
• Charging Brick
• Headsets (Earphones)
• USB Cable
• Phone Cover

First Impressions

The Itel A56 bigger is better slogan is a perfect match for the Smartphone since it packs a bigger and lesser bezels display out of the box. Infact, the device screen teases a full display standard with its top edge clocking to the Front camera scale.

However, the device weighs heavier than its predecessors like the A32 that weighed on a light scale, but this is due to its 4000mAh battery which is the first in the A-series range teasing a maximum phone usage duration.

Design-wise, the A56 packs a dual rear camera finish and a lone selfie camera promising quality mobile photography way from the trio setup trend.

The rear back plate features a solid finish as the phone’s fingerprint sensor further standout loud with curved edges making the device a perfect companion, away from the sharp boxed edges trend.

Adoptively, the phone packs facial recognition granting an extra security layer in addition to the fingerprint sensor. This means, you choose to either unlock your phone with your face or swiping your finger to the back.

Either way, Android 9 Go is a great finish for the limited feature Smartphone, It’s the latest Go release optimized for low space usage and full feature benefits for low-end releases. This means, the device’s specifications sheet is fully trimmed to avail more value for its base Go edition.

ITEL A56 Specifications

The Price Tag and Where to Buy from

At UGX 235,000 only, you get yourself a boxed Itel A56 from any Airtel shop after Itel mobile stricked yet another partnership with the red telco. However, the Smartphone also retails at the same amount in Itel mobile branded shops countrywide and online on sites like Jumia.

WhatsApp Beta users are early testers of the App’s new features before an official release is rolled out through an update on the Applestore. Interestingly, being a Beta tester is free if you wish to join.

However, the new WhatsApp dark mode feature is limited to only IOS 13 users. In simple terms, only available to iPhone 6,7,8,10 and 11 owners as revealed by WABetaInfo__A WhatsApp Beta Twitter channel.

To Update to the new WhatsApp Beta version with dark mode (version 2.20.3025), all you need to do is visit the Apple store and update your App to get the latest version that ships with a dark mode toggle.

Once updated, kill any running WhatsApp processes by manually closing the App, then restart it to have a taste of the new dark mode texture evidenced from the App’s splash screen to the chats dashboard and bubbles.

Unlike Instagram for IOS which accepts system-wide dark mode settings to be applied to its layout, WhatsApp’s dark mode feature can only be enabled/applied through the App.

We’ve had the Camon 12 Smartphone for a period of 3-weeks by the time of writing and our preview lane features a tale of interesting features that give it a must-buy score aside its lows we shall entail in our upcoming review article

Though the TECNO Camon 11 still rocks the market as a budget-friendly choice, here are 5 features that make its successor the perfect Smartphone to add on your festive budget list.

Low light Camera performance

Low light camera performance is a key mobile photography aspect that brings to book the function of an LED flashlight. However, not so many Smartphones cope with low light conditions when it comes to taking selfies/rear photos in the dark

But for the TECNO Camon 12, the front dual LED flashlights make quality selfies achievable in low light as the rear quad LED flash further crafts crisp quality images from an f2.8 triple Lens Iris rating.

Amazingly, both the front and rear cameras support the f2.8 Iris rating meaning you can still take quality low light photos by triggering the HDR option without using the LED flashlights for low battery usage.

Battery life

The Camon 12 is gifted with a 4000mAh battery, but with a couple of optimisation tweaks, the battery performs like one with a 5000mah capacity. In fact, with less full network usage, the Camon 12 can have a 3-day uptime without flipping for a charge.

Improved screen and Display ratio

The Phablets trend exploded with the introduction of 6.0-inch Smartphones a few years back, but the Camonn 12 re-imagines the beauty of owning a big-screen smartphone with a standard body size.

With a 6.6 Screen size riding on a 720*1600 resolution and a new waterdrop notch display standard, the device body attracts minimal bezels and a sleek backplate making the Camon 12 lightweight with a wide-view screen in the same loop.

Extra Storage to Keep you on the Go

What files can you store on a 64GB memory stick? Well, the Camon 12 gives you the standard as an Internal memory companion and not just for the expandable memory card slot that accepts up to 128GB.

This means you can store your device’s photos/videos and other files without worrying about the full storage notification depending on your storage streak. However, with 4GB RAM coupled to the device, this means fast performance with enough storage cores for no sluggish apps performance

Upgradable Operating System & HiOs

Android 9 Pie is the default TECNO Camon 12 operation system, but the Smartphone allows an upgrade path to newer versions like Android 10 once a new release is compatible with the device.

On the other hand, HiOS 5.5 (TECNO’s custom firmware) pre-installed on the device supports major app upgrades enhancing support for almost all latest apps ion the Google Playstore.

All in all, the Camon 11 is a major 2018 release that we reviewed as perfect buyers choice, but with the Camon 12 as its successor, it’s new display ratios and fully optimized performance standards grant it the must-have pin for as low as UGX 580,000.

Marked as the first Smartphone to pack a big battery status, the Infinix Hot 8 seems to be a pack of impressive modules in 1 complete solution for the Hot series tier.

Surprisingly, the device differs from its Hot 7 predecessor from the box packaging style to the contents housed together with the single Smartphone Unit.

Unboxing the Infinix Hot 8 Smartphone

Straight out of the box, the Infinix Hot 8 box has an elegant design with a green to black gradient finish. However, the Box contents don’t differ from what other Hot series have always brought to book and here is a scent of its contents.

• 1 Infinix Hot 8 unit
• a Pair of Headsets (EarPhones)
• Charging Brick
• USB/Data Cable
• SIM Injector/ PIN
• Light Phone cover
• 1 Temporary Screen protector
• 4 user Manuals

With a couple of Box contents to notice, The Infinix Hot 8 maintains a Micro USB code though we expected to see a USB C kit given its battery status clocking at 5000mAh and the current industry standards.

Amazingly, the device comes in a well sealed mid-size box type as the device sits right on top of the box with its accessories occupying well-designed slots underneath the device back plate.

The Infinix Hot 8 Price tag

After a successful launch in Uganda last week, the Infinix Hot 8 was introduced at a price tag of UGX 400,000 (KES 11,248) as the Hot 8 Lite retails for UGX 360,000 (10,123) marking the device as another affordable mid-range release.

At the Moment, the Infinix Hot 8 can be purchased from all Infinix branded shops and online through popular shopping websites like Jumia, Kilimall and the recently rebranded Buyer to Buyer platform Jiji.

All in all, the Infinix Hot 8 Smartphone has a semi-premium finish promising perfect performance levels as per its teaser sheet. But, we shall trail the device’s performance ratio and first boot experience in our upcoming first impressions and review series.

Apparently, 5G phones are very expensive as we saw with Samsung’s latest S10 and Note 10 + 5G planted flagships retailing with lows of $1,300. But Nokia is planning to pump an entry to the so far high-end limit as HMD’s Juho confirmed in an hang out with digital trends.

We see a particular opportunity for us in bringing 5G to a more affordable segment as we enter the market,I would love to see us at half of the price where you have 5G today.

Huyo Sarvikas – HMD Global (Nokia Manufacturers)

With manufacturers like TECNO Mobile yet to make 5G entries when the time is right, Nokia’s attempt to juggle with the trend might see its 5G Smartphone roll out trailing in an expensive league for a country like Uganda.

Though the price is unlikely to scare top tier revelers, we expect the affordable Nokia 5G Smartphone to at least pass the $600 mark in a range slightly higher than the iPhone Xr

However, with 5G slowly pumping its heights in select countries like UK, we expect to see Nokia’s cheap 5G attempt rolled out to only these 5G blessed regions with later roll outs to Africa where companies like Huawei are the trend movers, but still have to clear their public image.

The Smartphone is currently available in UK and other Huawei operating countries with a sample roll out to Africa anytime soon. At $900, the Mate 20X 5G is a variant that will be a perfect choice for all users in counties above the 4G LTE mark.

However, the Mate 20X 5G didn’t come to pass through the launch veil as a lone device, it’s accompanied to the market by the Mate 20X which lacks the 5G connectivity modules like its superior pro version.

So, the same way, the Huawei Mate 20 had a Mate 20 Pro as its superior model, its the same drive that the Mate X brings into play and here are some of the exciting specs shipped to the device.

Huawei Mate 20X 5G mini Specs

• Launched: 25th July 2019
• Camera: 40MP + 8MP + 20MP (Rear) Leica optics, 24MP front
• Memory: 8GB RAM / 256GB ROM
• Display: 7.2 Inch OLED display,
• Connectivity: 3G/45/5G , Bluetooth 5.0
• Battery: 4200mAh
• Price: $900 ( Approx UGX 3.4 million)