The heading was meant to be 'budget smart phones', but on this side of the world 'budget' cannot be used together with iPhone, Blackberry or Windows Mobile. Symbian, which Nokia smart phones use is on its death bed soon to be replace by Windows Mobile - Nokia is dead, long live Nokia. For this article, lets just say Samsung's Bada isn't quite up for the race yet.
That leaves us with Android (hence the title). What's even better is there are many inexpensive options one can work around.
Huawei Ideos offers the ideal entry level Android phone which is the cheapest I've seen around. By cheap I mean cost, not quality. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to enjoy the Android experience and will not spend over Ksh. 10,000 on a phone.
In the Ksh. 12,000 range is the Samsung Galaxy Mini and ZTE Blade (aka Orange San Francisco). Interestingly, the Galaxy Mini is a lower priced improvement of the Samsung Galaxy 5, so don't consider the latter for purchase. The ZTE blade seems to have better specs than the Samsung Galaxy Mini but its battery life doesn't appear to be as good. See a comparison chart here.
Coming into the Ksh. 15,000 - 25,000 range provides more options on the local scene. For the adventurous types, this price range also gives you the option to import Android phones from China, shipped affordably by EMS. The range is wide with a bunch of dual sim Android phones. Check out www.ankaka.com and www.chinabuye.com.
I guess over Ksh. 20,000 doesn't qualify as a budget phone but mobile operators have been coming up with attractive offers. Orange for example have a range of high end Android phones where you get into a contract to spend at least Ksh. 3,000 a month on their network. If your calls amount to about Ksh. 2,000 a month, the extra thousand could be spent on internet connectivity on the move and at home. If the math fits your budget, the extra cool phone should be a good motivator.
So what's the hype with Android anyway? Is the poor battery life worth the investment? Well, even with the cheapest Android phone, you can check and reply email easily, use your social media, get online and even enjoy YouTube videos on the go. Further, you can use the phone as a wifi hotspot and connect your laptop for large screen surfing and internet activities. Then come the applications - there's a whole bunch of (free) apps for games, information, entertainment, education, etc.