Review: Kogan Agora 9 – The ultra-budget smartphone answer

From mobile phone plans to budget tv’s, Kogan are a company known for doing the affordable incredibly well. So why would their smartphones be any different? The Agora 9 is the latest in the Kogan Agora series that focuses on delivering a usable, accessible and cheap Android phone.

For a whole $188 you’re getting a great little phone, but the target market is by no means the masses. There’s no pretending that the Agora 9 is anything but a budget phone, which makes it great for those who want something simple and effective – think kids, the elderly, etc.

The good

• Massive 4000mAh battery
• Solid physical build (likely to withstand a drop)
• Nice 18:9 IPS screen

The bad

• The lock and volume buttons are in the ‘wrong’ position. That’s really all I have…

Now I don’t want to oversell the Agora 9, you have to keep the price tag in mind and understand that it’s more about owning an Android phone with great battery life and basic functionality than trying to be anything special. The camera quality is marginal and with only 2GB of RAM, if you’re trying to multi-task you will notice the phone slow down quite a bit.

As far as the design is concerned, solid would easily be the best way to describe the Kogan Agora 9. It’s thicker, a little heavier and a little less polished than other phones in the budget/mid-range phone market. However those apparent criticisms are all to the Agora’s advantage. As I said this is the phone for your kid, the less technically capable, etc – you don’t want a slippery glass backed phone, however you do want it to be more resistant to drops and to have a little weight.

Setup was as simple as any other Android phone and I was up and running within two minutes. The Agora 9 runs Android 8.1 and boots up in about 15 seconds.

The 5.45-inch screen is an appropriate size to fit in a small pocket or purse without looking like a budget phone. With the fingerprint sensor on the back, headphone jack as well as front and rear cameras – the Agora 9 has all of the base functionality you could want.

Ultimately, for $188 the Kogan Agora 9 is a great little phone to get the job done. You can pick one up online from the Kogan store.