Archos will showcase four new smartphones at MWC

Most of the excitement surrounding MWC 2015 has to do with anticipated devices from Samsung, HTCand other big names. Of course, there’s tons of smaller players that will be on scene as well, including budget-phone maker Archos. Archos has now revealed it will be showing off four budget devices next week, all packing MediaTek processors and all with price tags starting at $199 or below.

At the top of the pile is the Archos 50 Oxygen Plus, a 5-inch handset with a 720p dislay, a MediaTek MT6592 octa-core GPU, 1GB RAM, an 8MP rear cam, 5MP front cam, a 2000 mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat. The 3G model will be priced at $199 and will be available in March, with a 4G LTE model coming in June at an unspecified price point.

Moving down the ladder, we have the Archos 52 Platinum, Archos 59 Xenon and Archos 62 Xenon. All three devices are powered by the same MediaTek MT6582 quad-core CPU and have 1GB RAM, 8GB storage with microSD, dual-SIM slots, 8MP rear cams and 2MP front cams. Where they differ is in battery, price and screen size — though all three do pack 720p resolutions.

The Archos 59 Xenon is the cheapest of the bunch, with a price of $145 and a 5.9-inch screen with a 2500mAh battery. The Archos 52 Platinum is slightly higher priced at $158, though it packs a smaller 5.25-inch display with a 1750mAh battery. Lastly, the 62 Xenon has a 6.2-inch display, a 2300 mAh battery and costs $170.

Let’s be honest, none of these devices are dressed to impress — inside or out. Still, for those with only so much coin to spend, it’s nice to have low end options. Of course, we can’t help but think you’d be better off with a device like the Moto E (2nd gen) or the Moto G (2nd gen), which aren’t priced too differently and yet come from a more reputable OEM and are powered by Snapdragon processors.