Traditionally, the price barrier for smartphones was £100. Even Nokia's lowest end Symbian handsets only strayed a little way below this, yet with feature phones all but dying out in many countries, there's now a battle on to provide a 'first smartphone' for a buyer at as far below £100 as can be managed. There have been numerous ultra-budget Android handsets at rock bottom prices, but with legendarily poor performance and specs. So let's take something modern, like the Moto E, and see how it compares against the latest Windows Phone budget launch. And, for the sake of interest and further comment, against the older, existing Lumia 520.

NB. We KNOW that it's hard to view table-based articles like these on Windows Phones. We're working on a solution.

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Head to head then. As usual, I pick out winning categories in green, for interest sake - though don't take these too seriously. And note that many categories simply don't HAVE a winner, either because the differences are subjective or because the devices are roughly equal overall:

	Nokia Lumia 520	Nokia Lumia 530	Motorola Moto E
Date launched	April 2013	July 2014	November 2013
Cheapest price on pay-as-you-go in the UK, as at July 2014	£70	Estimated £70 (yet to be seen on retail)	£80
Dimensions	120 x 65 x 10mm	120 x 62 x 12mm	125 x 65 x 12mm
Form factor, weight	Plastic, replaceable backs, 124g	Plastic, replaceable backs, 129g	Plastic, replaceable backs, 142g
Operating system, interface	Windows Phone 8.0, about to get 8.1 over the air update	Windows Phone 8.1	Android 4.4.2
Display	4.0" LCD, WVGA resolution	4.0" LCD, WVGA+ resolution	4.3" LCD, qHD resolution, Gorilla Glass 3
Connectivity	Quad band GSM, Quad band 3G, Bluetooth 4, Wi-fi b/g/n	Quad band GSM, Quad band 3G, Bluetooth 4, Wi-fi b/g/n	Quad band GSM, Quad band 3G, Bluetooth 4, Wi-fi b/g/n
Processor, performance	1.0GHz Snapdragon S4	1.2GHz Snapdragon 200, 512MB RAM	1.2GHz Snapdragon 200, 1GB RAM
Capacity	8GB plus microSD up to 64GB	4GB plus microSD up to 128GB	4GB, plus microSD up to 32GB
Imaging	5MP autofocus, 720p video capture	Fixed focus, 5MP, WVGA video capture	5MP autofocus, WVGA video capture
Music and Multimedia	Mono speaker,  3.5mm headphones	Mono speaker,  3.5mm headphones	Mono speaker,  3.5mm headphones
Gaming	As right, ditto-->	Some decent games for Windows Phone 8, though not all run on the 512MB RAM devices like this. Still, plenty for the casual user.	A bigger games catalog to choose from. Almost all Android games will run.
Navigation	As right, ditto-->	Nokia's HERE Maps/Drive suite is unrivalled, with the offline routing and maps. Plus good public transport advice.	Google Navigation is very comprehensive, but aside from time-limited caching of small areas, struggles mightily when out of data coverage.
Battery, life	As right, ditto-->	Replaceable 1430mAh battery	Sealed 1980mAh
Applications and ecosystem	As right, ditto-->	Windows Phone now has just about every mainstream app and service covered, with great strides in the last six months. Niche/boutique apps are sometimes an issue if you're being picky. Also anything to do with Google services!	Android's Play Store is very fully stocked, second only to the iPhone Store for depth. Everything mainstream is here, plus some boutique/niche apps.
Upgrades and future	The 520 will get Lumia Cyan in the next few days/weeks, but it's not 100% certain that 8.1 Update 1 will follow.	Lumia Cyan is on board, and the 530 should also get the next update to Windows Phone 8.1, though unlikely after that, in 2015.	It's not certain whether this will get Android 5.0 next year. 4.4 is pretty smooth though.

It's somewhat telling that last year's 52x model, the 520, outguns the new 530 overall. The latter is certainly not an upgrade from the former. The 530 is simply the new budget model with the latest chipsets - any canny buyer will do their research. 

The match-up with the Moto E, the best budget handset in the Android world, is pretty exact in terms of specs, so ultimately it all comes down to application and ecosystem requirements. Interestingly, the year old 520 even arguably outguns the 2014 Moto E, in terms of raw functionality, showing what a bargain it is/was.

And anyone remember when the Lumia 620, with mugh higher specs (though smaller screen), was down near the £100 mark? Bargain of the century, etc. Even today, it's easy to find the 4.7"-screened, LTE, FFC-equipped Lumia 625 at £100 on pay-as-you-go in the UK, which I'd argue is much better value than any of the three handsets above.

Comments? If you had to advise a teenager or other smartphone beginner on a first smartphone to buy on a budget of £100 max, which way would you go?