Here in the West, we think of BenQ as those guys that make good monitors, which is of course true everywhere but in Taiwan they’re also becoming known for their smartphones, along with pretty much everyone else. This new pair of smartphones aren’t the first to come from BenQ, and this time around they’re bringing 4G to the table, which is starting to take off in China a lot more now. Both devices are designed to be fairly affordable, so there’s no Snapdragon 805 action here, but they’re not going to lag behind too much either.
The BenQ F5 is supposed to be the more “high-end” of the pairing and is powered by a Snapdragon 400 CPU, features a 5-inch 720p display, 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, 1GB of RAM and Android 4.4 KitKat. There are 8 and 16GB models available in either black or white and features expandable storage as well. Interestingly enough, the T3 features the same Snapdragon 400 and 1GB of RAM, but only runs a 4.5-inch qHD display at 960 x 540 with an 8-megapixel camera and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Both devices are indeed running Android 4.4.2 KitKat, with something dubbed Q Home, which is a set of ‘enhancements’ from BenQ.
Both the F5 and T3 aren’t going to blow anyone away, but with 4G included and a funky yellow color available for the T3, these could be a whole lot worse. Besides, it’s nice to see someone else get in the Chinese smartphone game. Running Android 4.4.2 KitKat should finally be a reminder to manufacturers like Xiaomi that budget doesn’t have to mean outdated. These devices should be available to get your hands on soon, with the T3 coming in at $6,990 Taiwan and the F5 at 7,990 which isn’t too expensive, but we’d have liked to see a Snapdragon 600 or something similar for that sort of price. You can take a look at these two phones from BenQ in the gallery below.
