A Week With A 100 Euro Cell Phone: That's My Experience

In our technical department, we always have access to the latest mobile phones, such as the OnePlus 7T, the iPhone 11 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus. All absolute top smartphones, but they are not exactly cheap. But not everyone can afford a flagship smartphone and even current mid-range smartphones are still too expensive for many. That's exactly why I wanted to find out how much smartphone you can get for just 100 euros.

Luckily for me, Wiko recently sent us a new smartphone: the Y80. The price of the cell phone is just as minimalist as the name. You currently pay 99.90 euros for the Wiko Y80 - a perfect candidate for my little everyday test. For a week I exchanged the OnePlus 6 of the editors for Wiko's 100 euro cell phone - that's my experience.

A week with a 100-euro cell phone: a promising start

"The part costs 100 euros? This is definitely the purest cucumber!”That was at least my first thought. The last time I was able to deal with such affordable smartphones was a few years ago. I was all the more astonished when I unpacked the smartphone.

I had expected a cheap and poorly made plastic bomber - instead I had a device in my hands that I would have classified as middle class at first glance. Reasonably rounded corners, no nasty gaps, a very robust feel and an elegant appearance. Not bad.

This impression persisted shortly after switching on. Within a very short time, I was greeted by the setup screen. The majority of the commissioning was very familiar and smooth - I noticed no slowdowns or stutters during operation. Set up WiFi, synchronize Google account, done. Even Android 9 Pie is already preinstalled on the device - great!

A week with a 100-euro cell phone: the first problems

But shortly after the start there was the first problem: the limited internal memory of the smartphone. The Wiko Y80 only offers 16 GB of internal storage, my OnePlus 6, on the other hand, a whopping 128 GB. No wonder that not all of my apps and files stored in the cloud found their way onto my smartphone. Since the memory can be expanded via a microSD card, this problem was very easy to solve.

Look at the appropriate memory card on Amazon

But as soon as this topic was off the table, there was already the next obstacle: Google Pay. Since the possibility of contactless payment with my smartphone, I hardly do anything else. No matter if in the supermarket, in the clothes shop or at the fast food store of my trust - everywhere the smartphone is pulled out to pay. Since the Wiko Y80 did not have an NFC chip, this type of payment fell flat for me during my test. A limitation that I had not expected and therefore caught me cold. Well, then I had to pull out my wallet for the next seven days. There are worse.

I felt similarly when using my home WLAN. With the OnePlus 6, I was able to sit comfortably in the kitchen early on, watch a YouTube video and update myself with the latest news. The Wiko Y80, however, didn't even want to connect to my wifi anymore - the connection was too weak. Now I had the choice: either have breakfast in the hallway, do without the smartphone at the breakfast table or tap into my data volume. Since I'm a damn lazy sock, I chose the latter.

A week with a 100-euro cell phone: more useful than expected

In addition to these minor restrictions, I was still amazed at how little I missed my OnePlus 6 in everyday life. Watching YouTube videos or Netflix, listening to podcasts and surfing at the same time, chatting with colleagues, friends and family via Slack and WhatsApp, everything worked relatively easily - and that's exactly what I use my smartphone for 99 percent of the time.

As I said, "relatively easy". As soon as I tried to have a few apps open at the same time, the smartphone put a spanner in the works. At some point the device's 2 GB of RAM will be full. Then the Wiko Y80's app management system begins to rigorously kill processes. Every now and then, Spotify or my podcast app just ended when another app opened.

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Good to know: Wiko has also installed a jack socket in the Y80, which I have personally used very often - albeit involuntarily. Since the Bluetooth connection to my Bose QC 35 II broke off or got stuck at regular intervals, I got fed up at some point and dodged the jack.

The battery life of the Wiko Y80 deserves special mention. Thanks to the rather low-performance hardware and the 4,000 mAh battery, I almost always came back home with over 60 percent. For comparison: my OnePlus 6 was usually beating around 30-40 percent battery charge at that time.

Watch Wiko Y80 at MediaMarkt

A week with a 100-euro cell phone: You have to cut corners here

But in some situations, this large battery was used to the utmost. Because I am one of those people who like to forget to hang their cell phone on the charging cable in the evening. With the OnePlus 6, that's no problem either. Thanks to Quickcharge, I had enough electricity within 30 minutes to get through the day. But the Wiko Y80 does not support fast charging. Refuel the battery briefly before going out with friends? Nothing! Oh yes, by the way, charging is via micro USB.

In addition to the rather moderate performance and lack of NFC, you also have to accept some minus points in other areas - especially the camera. The Wiko Y80 uses a dual camera system, but nice words cannot be said about the quality of the recordings. I was not able to capture even well-lit subjects with the smartphone without noise.

The Wiko couldn't keep up with the camera of a current flagship smartphone like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10:

Start photo gallery (18 photos)

I also looked in vain for image stabilization. A big annoyance for me, because I don't have the steadiest hand. In addition, all pictures lacked detail, sharpness and rich colors. The quality was sufficient for a quick snapshot, but I would never post the photos.

I also had to do without the fingerprint sensor, which I really appreciated. But the Wiko Y80 offered facial recognition. While it worked halfway during my test, I would not really rely on this unlocking method for the quality of the snaps.

Wiko also saved on the display. The almost 6-inch display only offers a resolution of 1,440 x 720 pixels. Of course, you can still look at the whole thing, but in direct comparison to the FHD + resolution of the OnePlus 6, the difference is quite clear. The same applies to the viewing angle stability and the color accuracy of the display. I'm probably spoiled by the OnePlus 6's OLED displays, but everything on the Wiko Y80 just looked pale and unspectacular.

A week with a 100 euro cell phone: my conclusion

My report of my experience sounds quite devastating in some places, but I'm still very surprised at how much smartphone you can get for just 100 euros. I had expected to spend a week walking around with a paperweight that I would like to flicker against the nearest wall.

Instead, I got a device with which I could do my everyday life very well. Personally, I don't want to do without functions such as a fingerprint sensor, NFC, quick charging and an OLED display - but to be honest, these are all features that you don't necessarily need. Since I only take a few photos with my smartphone, the rather moderate quality of the camera didn't bother me. On the other hand, this should be a knockout criterion for many others.

If you are looking for a smartphone with particularly brilliant buttons, you will find it here:

Start photo gallery (17 photos)

If any of you are wondering whether my friends or acquaintances asked me about my "cheap cell phone" - no, I didn't. Nobody noticed that the smartphone is such a cheap model. So I didn't have to listen to any negative comments. Maybe that is also because I am now out of the age when the cell phone is still considered a status symbol.

Watch Wiko Y80 at MediaMarkt

Would I prefer the Wiko Y80 to my OnePlus 6? Not in life! But I could imagine the smartphone as a second or festival cell phone - especially because of the long battery life. Concluding conclusion: If you have little money available, you can now get a usable smartphone for 100 euros.

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