ZDNET's key takeaways Both of these Blackview smartphones retail for under $100
Both handsets have what it takes for tasks such as messaging, taking photos and video, social media, and browsing the web
Both benefit form bumping up the virtual RAM to the max. $94.99 at Amazon
It's easy to think that you have to drop hundreds – if not thousands -- of dollars to get a new smartphone. If you want a flagship smartphone from the big brands, then yes, you're going to experience some serious weight reduction in the wallet or purse.
But fear not, because if what you're after is a cheap and cheerful smartphone to handle things like calling, messaging, social media and browsing the web, then you have options for handsets that you can pick up for under $100.
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I've been testing two of them, the Wave 8 and Wave 8C, both from Blackview, a company better known for building rugged handset.
Looking at the spec sheet, these handsets have a lot in common.
They both have a 6.56 inch IPS LCD display with 720 by 1,612 screen resolution and 450 nits of brightness, they both run Android 14 Go edition with DokeOS 4.0, both have a 13-megapixel main camera and 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, both have a 5,000 mAh battery that's up to 18 hours of continuous calls or 26 days of standby, a microSD card slot to boost storage, and both even have a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
There's not much to separate these two handsets -- but the differences are important. Blackview Wave 8 (left) and Wave 8C (right) Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
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