14 DAY TRIAL // French OEM Archos has just announced the upcoming availability of two new budget-friendly Android smartphones with more than decent specs.
The Archos 50 Helium Plus will be available for purchase beginning next month (July) for only $109, while the 55 Helium Plus will cost $139, but it will come with a 16GB microSD card in the sales package.
These are really cheap smartphones, but as mentioned earlier, they do offer some good features for the price you pay.
For example, they both come with dual-SIM support and ship with Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system right out of the box.
However, if you expect that Archos will provide 50 Helium Plus and 55 Helium Plus with an Android M upgrade, then you should know that there's a very slim chance that will happen. Still, at that price, a Lollipop smartphone is still bang for the buck.
Only display and battery are different
Moving on to their actual specs, it's worth mentioning that both Archos smartphones come with similar features with two exceptions: display and battery.
Archos 50 Helium Plus sports a 5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display that supports HD (720p) resolution, while the 55 Helium Plus packs a slightly larger 5.5-inch screen with the same resolution.
On the inside, both smartphones are equipped with a 64-bit 1GHz MediaTek MT6735P processors, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory.
As expected, they are packed with microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB), but the Archos 55 Helium Plus comes with a 16GB microSD memory card in the box.
There's also a 13-megapixel photo snapper on the back, which features autofocus, LED flash and full HD (1080p) video recording, as well as a secondary 5-megapixel camera in the front for video calls and selfies.
Both Archos smartphones offer multiple connectivity options, including 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, microUSB 2.0 and GPS with AGPS.
Last but not least, Archos 50 Helium Plus is powered by a 2,000 mAh battery, while the 55 Helium Plus drains energy from a slightly larger 2,400 mAh battery.
