If the Samsung Galaxy S24 phones are too pricey, the A-series is the one to look at. Two weeks ago the Galaxy A55 was £440 for the 8/128GB model, the A35 was £340 for a 6/128GB phone, now they are £50-£80 cheaper. To be fair, the old offer included a free pair of Galaxy Buds FE, but not everyone needs new TWS buds.
The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a fairly premium device with an aluminum frame and dual Gorilla Glass (Victus+ on the front). The Exynos 1480 is efficient and powerful enough to drive the 6.6” FHD+ 120Hz OLED display. The A-phones have microSD slots for easy storage expansion, unlike the S-line models, but they lack wireless charging and their water resistance is IP67 instead of IP68 (not that it should make a difference in practice).
The A55 at £364 seems like a great deal, but the Galaxy A35 is under £300 if you go for the base model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage (the latter is easily expandable, the former is not). This one has the same display as the A55 (with GG Victus+), though the frame is plastic and you get the older and not quite as good Exynos 1380.
If you are on the lookout for a cheap Android tablet, the Amazon Fire Max 11 punches above its weight as the 11” IPS LCD (2,000 x 1,200px) offers a great image quality for a £165 slate. The chipset is better than most Fire tablets and okay for the class. You can get the 128GB model, but we don’t think it’s worth the extra £40, especially when there is a perfectly good microSD slot available.
If you need something cheap for streaming – be it video or game streaming – the Amazon Fire HD 10 is even cheaper at £118. The 10.1” LCD offers comparable pixel density (224ppi), but the hardware inside is weaker and the difference in price between this and the Max isn’t as big as it is in other regions.
Another cheap tablet option is the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9. The non-plus variant is a small 8.7” slate with a 1,340 x 800px LCD and a Helio G99. The £140 price doesn’t compare favorably with the Fire HD 10, but at least you get a mainline Android (not that getting the Google Play Store on a Fire tablet is difficult, but they run older, customized Android).
The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is another kind of tablet – it’s a Windows 11 2-in-1 device. It has a 13” display with 2,880 x 1,920px resolution (3:2) and 120Hz refresh rate that is a touchscreen, of course. It is powered by a 12th gen Core i5 and a battery that promises over 15 hours of endurance.
A more traditional take on the Windows laptop is the Samsung Galaxy Book3. This is the previous generation (before the Book4 series with Core Ultra processors and focus on AI), but it’s cheaper than the Surface while bringing a more powerful 13th gen Core i7. It’s still quite portable at 1.6kg for a 15” laptop.
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