0 5 Mobile Phones Less Than Rs 1000 That Can Be Bought In India

These phones will perform their basic duties and a bit more while avoiding the extra 5% duty levied by the government.

 At a time when smartphones dominate headlines and are the first choice for most youngsters, simple mobile phones have seemingly lost significance. Yet manufacturers haven't stopped making them. In fact, these mobile-phones are still being released by big brands such as Nokia and Samsung and constitute a sizeable chunk of phones sold in our country.

 These basic phones are usually ultra low-cost phones, targeted at people who prefer to use mobile phones for calling and SMS, rather than high-end fancy feature. Even with a smartphone in the house, you may want one of these as a second phone purely for their simplicity and battery backup. We list five mobile phones that people can buy for less than Rs 1000 in India.

 All of the below have been selected based on their brand value in India, featuring the latest model in the series. These may be boring devices for many, but feature extras like FM Radio - and are great when it comes to battery life (talktime on a single charge). Prices were drawn from online retailers, and you may be able to purchase them for even lesser at your local brick-and-mortar stores.

 Nokia 1280

Good old Nokia, which gained a lot of popularity with its basic-phone range, has the Nokia 1280 phone which is sold for a price of Rs 999. Its key features are:

•  1.4" screen
•  alphanumeric keypad
•  built-in FM radio
•  speaking Alarm clock
•  flashlight present
•  8 hours of talktime claimed

The Nokia 1280 weighs around 82 grams and comes in two colour variants, Graphite and Black. This model is meant to be replaced by the Nokia 100 (priced above 1k) in a few months.

Spice M5005n

 Spice, known for its low-cost mobile-phones has the M5005n which is priced at Rs 979. The key features that this phone provides are:

•  1.8" TFT display
• Dual-SIM support
• 0.3 MP primary camera with video recording
• built-in FM radio along with MP3 and video player
• built-in torch
• Bluetooth connectivity
• 6 hours of claimed talktime

Intex Nano Y

 Priced at Rs 949, the phone provides multimedia features like Music player (support offered: MP3, WAV), video player and built-in FM radio. Here are its key features:

•  1.8" TFT screen
•  Dual-SIM support
•  Primary VGA Camera with video recording
•  Bluetooth and USB Connectivity
•  Claimed talktime of 4 hours along with 240 hours of standby time
•  Auto call record
•  LED torch light

Karbonn K101

Priced at Rs 929, the phone has the following key features:

•  1.8" LCD display
•  Dual-SIM support
•  Built-in FM radio and MP3 player
•  Up to 4 GB microSD card support
•  Bluetooth connectivity
•  Talktime of up to 4 hours
•  LED Torch

 The Karbonn K101 is available in two colour variants, Black and Red.

Lava Arc 11

Priced at Rs 982, the Lava ARC 11 even has a 0.3MP camera along with USB and Bluetooth connectivity. Its key features are:

•  1.8" display
•  Claimed battery talktime of 4 hrs
•  Dual-SIM support
•  LED Torch
•  Built-in memory can be expanded up to 8 GB

 Here's a recap to summarize our list of sub-1k mobile-phones:

If you are specifically looking for a robust basic phone, we suggest you go in for Nokia 1280 for its build-quality and warranty. If you want one with more features (like dual-SIM, memory card support, and camera), pick the Spice M5005n instead.