Alcatel One Touch POP 7

The Alcatel One Touch POP 7 price in Malaysia starts from RM299, putting it firmly in budget tablet-phone territory. It runs a dual-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 chip on the Mediatek MT8312 platform, paired with just 1 GB of RAM and 4 GB of storage, though a microSD slot lets you add up to 32 GB more. The 7-inch TFT screen runs at 600 x 1024 pixels, which works out to around 170 ppi, so text and images won't look particularly sharp up close.

Camera specs are modest too: a 2 MP rear shooter and a VGA front camera, fine for casual snaps but not much else. Android 4.2 Jelly Bean handles the software side, which is dated by today's standards but was current when this launched in 2014.

Where it does better is battery life, with a 3240 mAh cell that should carry a low-power setup like this through a full day without much strain. At 285g, it's noticeably heavier than most phones, closer to a small tablet in hand.