Consumers nowadays are looking to buy smartphones that offer greater value for their money. Seeing this trend, phone manufacturers have created their own low-budget flagships to cater to the budget-sensitive market. Such devices are Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, Motorola Moto G (3^rd gen), and Asus Zenfone 2, with Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 considered a better bet among the three handsets.

Below is a comprehensive comparison of the Redmi Note 2, Moto G (3^rd gen), and Zenfone 2. The criteria for evaluation will be based on device display, hardware, camera, battery, memory, software, and price and availability.

Display

Both Xiaomi's Redmi Note 2 and Asus' Zenfone 2 have similar display qualities: a 5.5" full HD screen with 1080 x 1920 resolution and 401 ppi density. The Moto G sports a smaller 5" screen with 720 x 1280 pixels and 294 ppi density. All of them offer multitouch and 16 million colours.

Hardware

Zenfone 2 with its 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor.is considered to perform faster than Redmi Note 2, which runs on a MediaTek MT6795 chipset. On the other hand, Moto G is powered by a Snapdragon 410 which contains a quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU at 1.4GHz.

Camera

Xiaomi Redmi Note features a 13MP rear camera with LED flash that can record a 1080p video at 30 fps. It has a 5MP front shooter that supports 720p video capture. Zenfone 2 shares the same camera features, without the 720p video capture ability of the front camera. Moto G also has a similar rear camera but its front camera supports auto-HDR recording, as per International Business Times.

Battery

Zenfone 2 and Redmi Note 2 have nearly identical batteries, a 3,000 mAh lithum-polymer battery and a 3,060 mAh battery respectively. Yahoo! News reported that both phones can offer approximately 11 hours of talktime. Moto G is powered by a 2470 mAh lithium-ion cell.

Memory

Moto G comes with 8GB and 16GB internal storage variants and 2GB and 16GB RAM. Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 also has two variants for 16GB and 32GB, with microSD card slot expansion available only for its Chinese variant. Meanwhile, Asus Zenfone 2 comes in three variants: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. The 16GB and 32GB variants can be expanded to 64GB via a microSD card slot.

Software

Both Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 and Asus Zenfone 2 run a customized version of Android Lollipop. Moto G runs the latest Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS.

Price and availability

Out of the three, Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is the least expensive at only $125, available in China via online sales. Moto G comes in second at $180 and is sold in the US and UK. Asus Zenfone 2 is the most costly among the lot at $219 and is available in many countries.

GSMArena reported that Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is currently enjoying popularity among consumers in both domestic and international markets. The Redmi Note 2 has made headlines as it reached more than 13 million sales.

Based on the above comparison, Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 can be considered the best among the three budget phones with its cheaper price. Considering the features of Redmi Note 2, the handset is already a bargain for the price-conscious consumer.