Best Smartphones @ INR 10 - 15k

Hello Guys! Phreview is back, giving you the best of options in the smartphone world. There have been lotsa new phones been launched and there are phones with prices slashed from the last season, making it a great buy right now. Let's dive right in...!!

As always, the phones have been categorized according to the different Operating systems available at this price range.

Android:

Samsung Galaxy Ace

The Samsung Galaxy Ace enters Phreview, thanks to the slashed price from Samsung. The Ace can now be your's @ INR 11,400/- and is a great value for money phone right now considering it's decent specs on offers.

The Ace comes with a 3.5" TFT capacitive display @ a readable 165 ppi pixel density and covered by scratch proof Corning Gorilla glass display, a 800 MHz processor, 278 MB RAM, a 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, a 1350 mAh battery, 3G/WiFi/GPS and with Samsung's DNSe Souch Enhancement technology for better audio quality. The Ace ships with Android Gingerbread and Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 UI on top. There will be no official ICS upgrade on offer though.

Next up is another VFM offering, this time from Sony Ericsson -

Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman:

The Live with Walkman is Sony's budget android phone which apart from the screen size doesn't feel all that budget, with an award winning(iFA) design and rest all the specs matching it's bigger bros, the Neo V. It has got the best hardware in the price range, a 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, a 5 MP Autofocus camera, a front facing VGA camera, 3G/WiFi/GPS and with Sony's XLoud technology for music. The only specs matching the price is it's small screen real estate of 3.2" and also an average(readable) screen resolution @ 180 ppi.
The phone can be purchased at INR 13,100/- and ships with Gingerbread out of the box with a promised upgrade to Ice cream Sandwich.

Motorola Defy plus and Defy XT

The Defy XT is the Motorola's new offering in it's Defy range. The XT is life proof - IP67 certified for dust and water proof like it's predecessors (Defy and Defy +).

The Defy XT design has been slightly altered but still maintains the same clean, industrial look as the other devices in the Defy family. The XT comes with the same hardware as the Defy plus - a 3.7" LCD display @ 265 ppi, covered by a scratch proof Corning Gorilla glass, a 1 Ghz processor and a 512 MB RAM, a 5 MP autofocus camera and this time with a larger 1650 mAh (1700 mAh on Defy +) battery. The one big difference in the hardware is that the Defy XT comes with a front facing VGA camera for video calls, a much awaited feature for the Defy fans.

Motorola has replaced their MotoBlur for Android with MotoSwitch, a new UI which is more simple, less graphic intensive (transitional effects, etc.). The Defy XT can be your's at INR 14,990/- and comes with Gingerbread outta the box.

If you do not need a front facing camera or if you love the MotoBlur more than the new MotoSwitch, then Defy plus it is @ INR 13,690/-

Unfortunately, Moto has no plans for any ICS upgrade for the Defy plus and the newer XT.
Next up, is a game changer!!

Sony Xperia U

Sony has parted ways with Ericsson, it will be pure Sony hereafter. Sony have entered the mobile world with a bang - with an annoucement that they will no longer be in the feature phone business and that it will be only Smartphones from here. 

Sony has entered the Smartphone world with their NXT line up of devices, still going with their Android 'Xperia' moniker - Xperia U, Xperia P and Xperia S. The Xperia U being the budget/basic phone of the NXT series.

This time, it is enter INR 15k, enter dual-core... Sony has announced it's entry into the smartphone market with a bang! The basic phone of the all-new NXT series has got a 1 GHz dual core processor, which will be a game changer at this price point and a signal to the other manufactures still running the last year's hardware on their new phones. Though the dual core setup on the Xperia U is not the best of dual cores out there, but still bests the single core ones by a big margin.

Xperia U comes with a 3.5" LED backlit LCD display @ a super fine 280 ppi and Mobile Bravia engine technology which makes viewing multimedia content like pictures and videos a joy, a 512 MB RAM, 8 GB of inbuilt memory, 5 MP Autofocus camera with LED flash, a front facing VGA camera, 3G/WiFi/GPS, a 1320 mAh battery and with Sony's 3D surround sound audio technology. One interesting hardware feature that is sure to catch your eyes, is the transparent strip placed at the bottom end of the phone which houses the antenna but also changes it's color matching the dominant color displayed on the phone's screen. Sony has enabled more customization options like the interchangable bottom cap which is available in vibrant colors like white, yellow, magenta, etc.

The only downside to the phone does not have an expandable memory and, although it has got 8 GB of internal storage, only 4 GB of it is available to the user for one's multimedia content, the rest is reserved to the phone's content like the OS, apps, emails, etc.

The Xperia U with Gingerbread out of the box and a planned ICS upgrade can be your's @ INR 15,000/-

Symbian:

Why Symbian? You may say it is almost extinct now and Nokia will be supporting it only until 2016. Still, the Symbian OS in it's latest form (Symbian Belle) is definitely impressive. The six homescreens, shortcuts, homescreen widgets, the pull down notification bar, improved browser, flat menu structure, etc. All these improved features make the Symbian on par with established players like iOS and Android except when compared to the number of apps on offer. I would still say it would not matter much to be a deal breaker, with all the major apps available on Symbian.

Nokia 603

The 603 comes with a 1Ghz processor, a 512 MB RAM, 5MP fixed focus camera, support for HD Gaming, DivX/Xvid video codec support, 720p@30fps video recording, FM transmitter, NFC, a great 3.5" ClearBlack IPS -LCD display which is the brightest display on a phone(@ 1000 nits) and also a beautiful design similar to it's Windows Phone cousin, the Nokia Lumia 710.

Sure the specs aren't earth shattering, but when you consider the price for which Nokia offers this phone, it is definitely a good buy @ INR 12,800/-. Nokia is also offering some interesting color choices with a black/white front panel and interchangeable back covers and a planned upgrade to the next version of Symbian - Symbian Carla.

Nokia has announced an intermediate update to the Nokia Belle on 603, called the Nokia Belle FP1 which brings in sweet updates to the phone like Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Headphone, faster HTML5 capable browser, Microsoft Apps and 20 brand new widgets.

Bada OS:

Samsung Wave 3:

The Wave 3 is Samsung's latest flagship Bada phone after the Wave and Wave 2. The Wave 3 is bigger, slimmer(9.9 mm) and better specced than it's elder brothers, Wave and Wave 2 as any true sucessor should. However, Samsung has managed to maintain the Bada family look for the Wave 3 with it's clean minimalistic design and a brushed aluminium back cover as from the time of the first Wave phone. The Wave 3 comes with a 4" Super AMOLED display @ 223 ppi and covered by Gorilla glass, a 1.4 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a 5 MP camera with LED flash, a front facing VGA camera, a 1500 mAh battery and with 3G/WiFi/GPS.

The Wave 3 comes with latest version of the OS, Bada OS v2.0.The Bada OS may be short in the number of apps when compared to the Android and iOS but is almost as customizable as Android with multiple home screens and widgets.

The Wave 3 can be purchased @ INR 15,500/- and sure beats all the Android phones (except the Xperia U) hands down in terms of hardware at this price.

Windows Phone 7:

If you remeber right, the Samsung Omnia W was our WP7 King in this segment on our last post but things have changed, the Omnia W is no where to be found now, rumours are that Samsung have pulled it away for launching the Omnia M, a cheaper option to the Omnia W, which is yet to hit the market. Anyways, surprisingly HTC has entered the segment with its Radar.

HTC Radar

HTC, much known for it's great solid unibody constructions and not so great pricing, atleast here in India where most of their phones start off with earth shattering prices, like the Radar which was launched for around INR 23k (still carrying the same price tag at the retail stores around here) and now being sold for INR 15700/-, which sounds like the price the Radar should have been launched with when compared to the other WP devices on the market. Now that the price seems right, lets go down to what the phone has on offer for you.

The Radar has a solid, all aluminium unibody construction by HTC with a non-removable battery and a non-expandable memory like it's other WP brothers. It comes with a 3.8" Super LCD display @ a fine 246 ppi covered by Gorilla glass, a 1 GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM, SRS sound enhancement technology, a f/2.2 5 MP Autofocus camera with LED flash, a front facing VGA camera, 3G/WiFi/GPS and a 1520 mAh battery.


Nokia Lumia 710

Lumia 710 comes with a 1.4 GHz proccessor, a 512 MB RAM, 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, a 3.7" Nokia's ClearBlack LCD display @ a fine 252 ppi and covered by scratch proof Corning Gorilla glass, 8 GB of internal storage (non-expandable), a 1300 mAh battery and with 3G/WiFi/GPS.

The Lumia line-up of Nokia phones have access to Nokia's exclusive Windows phone apps like the Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Music, ESPN, etc. which make it a big differentiator for the manufacturer to the other wise not so customizable Windows phones. The Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive are especially exceptional apps which can be a deal breaker for some as the voice guided navigation and the maps are much better and are available for most countries for which the Bing maps have no clue. But this would not be a problem in the future Windows phone devices as the Bing maps will be running the Nokia's NAVTEQ map data.

The Lumia 710 can be purchased at INR 13,700/- and ships with Windows Phone 7.5 or Mango out of the box with an upgrade to Windows Phone Tango on the way.

Next up, is Nokia's latest budget Windows phone offering...

Nokia Lumia 610

The Lumia 610 is the first budget Windows phone launched, thanks to the Nokia-Microsoft partnership.

Lumia 610 is the first of it's kind, a low cost Windows phone device. It comes with a 3.7" TFT capacitive display @ 255 ppi but capable of only 65k colors, a 800 MHz processor, a 256 MB RAM, a 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, 8 GB internal storage (non-expandable), 1300 mAh battery and with 3G/WiFi/GPS. Nokia has made the Lumia 610 available in some interesting color options and not just black, like the Cyan here, Magenta and White. This budget phone is sure to attract a lot of young users who would like the bling with the colors and the chrome metallic strip on the phone.

The 800 MHz processor is sure fast enough for day to day usage and new users would hardly find a difference from it's bigger brothers, the Lumia 710 and 800.

However, the 256 MB of RAM posed some problems with apps which refused to run on the Lumia 610, apps like Skype and Angry Birds which only run on Windows phone devices with a minimum RAM of 512 MB.

The Lumia 610 with Windows phone Mango is just been launched in India and can be your's @ INR 12,400/-

Hope it helps...!!

See you all soooooon, Cheers...!!

Best Smartphones @ INR 20 - 25k

Hey Guys! Phreview is back, we will be taking a look at the phones which just fall short of a flagship. These are phones which were designed to do it all with adequate hardware minus the bells and whistles to make it a flagship. Yes, the midrange phones priced between INR 15 - 20k can do it too, but these phones do a little more than the mid rangers and most importantly they do it in style...!!


Here we go....


Android


Motorola Atrix 2

Enter INR 20K, enter dual-core....!! Here is Moto's latest offering in India, the Atrix 2. The Atrix 2 comes with a 1 GHz dual-core processors(2 cores, each running @ 1GHz), 1GB RAM, a 4.3" LCD display with a superfine qHD resolution (256 ppi), a 8 MP autofocus camera capable of 1080p HD video capture, a front facing VGA cam, 8GB inbuilt storage, a 1785 mAh battery, 3G/WiFi/GPS and is also covered by Gorilla glass.


Motorola has priced it @ INR 22,290/- and is definetly a killer phone for it's specs on offer. Compare it with the Android top dog - Samsung Galaxy S2 and you can easily see that the Atrix doesn't fall short in specs but does come a lot cheaper, saving yourself around INR 6 to 7k.


The S2 has got a faster processor(1.2GHz dual-core), and the SAMOLED Plus display to it's advantage. The SAMOLED Plus display, sure has better viewing angles and crisp colors with deep blacks, but the Atrix 2 has got decent viewing angles with whitter whites and is also better when it comes to the displaying text as it has got more pixels, 256ppi Vs. 217ppi. However, when it comes to sunlight legibility, the Samsung's SAMOLED Plus display is just awesome when compared to the washed out colors on the Atrix 2's LCD.


Currently, there is no competition for the Atrix 2 in this segment when it comes to dual core Androids. The only other dual core offering at this price segment was the Samsung Galaxy R which was a runaway hit and Samsung has ran out of stocks all over the country. But the dual core Samsung Galaxy S Advance announced by Samsung at the MWC 2012 should be launching here soon, until then it is the Motorola Atrix 2 all the way.


The Atrix 2 comes with the MotoBLUR UI on top of Android Gingerbread out of the box and a promised  upgrade to Android ICS.


Windows Phone


Nokia Lumia 800

This infact is Nokia's flagship WP7 device. The Lumia 800 comes with a 1.4GHz single core processor, 512 MB RAM, 8 MP camera with dual LED flash, 3.7" AMOLED display with Nokia ClearBlack technology, 16 GB inbuilt memory, a 1450 mAh battery and is also covered by Gorilla glass.


All these numbers here don't tell you the real story, the Samsung Omnia W comes with almost the same specs plus a front facing camera at a lot lesser price(INR 15k). But it is not just the dual core processors or the bigger Megapixels which make a phone better, it is this....


Nokia has constructed the Lumia 800 with a single mould of polycarbonate which results in a rock solid unibody construction and a non-removable battery. The polycarbonate on the 800 means that the material is either cyan/black/magenta/white by birth and is not colored like the plastic on the other phones. Hence any deep scratches on the phone, it will still be the same.


The AMOLED display is covered by Gorilla glass, which is curved outwards for smooth touch/swipe gestures on the phone. The 8 MP Autofocus camera on the 800 has one of the biggest sensors(F2.2) and widest angle(28mm) for a mobile phone camera which enables the camera to take in more light and covers wider areas resulting in a better picture quality and quality pics in low lit conditions too.


It is true that the Lumia 800 had issues with the battery, the battery on the phone was not fully utilized and was said to be using much less than the full 1450 mAh available. This has now been fixed by Nokia in the form of a firmware update, this recent firmware update from Nokia resolves the battery issue and also addresses the low bass output when connected to the headphones.


The Nokia Lumia 800 can be purchased at INR 22,590 and ships with Windows phone 7.5 Mango out of the box.


The Motorola Atrix 2 and the Nokia Lumia 800 are Phreview's recommedations for now until Samsung, LG and Sony launch their recently announced phones @ MWC 2012.


Check out Phreview's other posts for the best smartphones in the other price ranges.


See you all next time...!! Cheers!


* There are two other phones which are almost extinct(mysteriously) but worth trying, the Samsung Galaxy R and the LG Optimus 2X.

Best Budget Smartphones < INR 10k

Hello Guys! PhReview is back with a new post, and this time it will be the budget smartphones.
Phones for people who are just entering the smartphone world, who are a little skeptical and would like to play safe before going big, pouring in their hard earned cash on a flagship.


So, here are the little fellas...!!




Android


HTC Explorer

                            The Explorer is HTC's idea of a first smartphone or the ideal smartphone for a first time smartphone buyer. The Explorer comes with a decent 3.2" LCD display with an average(readable) resolution @ 180 ppi, a 600 MHz processor, a 512 MB RAM, a 3.15 MP camera, 1230 mAh battery and is also 3G and WiFi/GPS enabled. HTC has sure shown some love to it's most basic offering in the form of SRS surround sound enhancement technology built in to the phone. The phone ships with HTC's famed custom UI, Sense on top of Android Gingerbread. HTC has created a lite version of it's latest Sense 4.0 UI for smooth operation on the Explorer's humble hardware and small screen size.


The Explorer can be purchased at INR 8,000 and comes with an incredible build quality for a phone at this price. Infact the build quality even beats phones from much higher price ranges.


LG Optimus Net

                           The Optimus Net is the improved version of LG's best ever basic Android phone, the Optimus One. The Optimus Net remains almost the same with only a faster processor this time. The Net comes with a 800 MHz processor, a 512 MB RAM, 3.2" LCD display with an average resolution @ 180 ppi, a 3.15 MP Autofocus camera, a large 1500 mAh battery and is also 3G/WiFi/GPS enabled.


The Optimus Net can be bought at INR 9,300 and comes with Gingerbread out of the box.


If you are on a tighter budget, but would still love to try an Android phone from a major manufacturer, then here's your phone.


Samsung Galaxy Y

                               The Galaxy Y is the basic Android phone from Samsung who have sold 20 million of their current flagship, the Galaxy SII in just 10 months. The Galaxy Y is Samsung's way of welcoming the user into the Android world. The Y comes with a 3.0" display with a poor screen resolution @ 133 ppi, a fast 836 MHz processor, a decent 290 MB RAM, 2 MP camera, a 1200 mAh battery and is also 3G/WiFi/GPS enabled.


The build quality of the phone is definetly good but does look cheap when compared to the LG Optimus Net and more so when next to the HTC Explorer. Samsung has also released an interesting version of the Galaxy Y called the Galaxy Y Color Plus which comes with 4 spare back panels, each in a different color.


The Galaxy Y/Galaxy Y Color Plus is currently sold at INR 7,000 and comes with Samsung's TouchWiz interface on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box.




Bada OS


Samsung Wave Y

                                   
                                    The Samsung Wave Y is the basic phone from Samsung for it's very own smartphone OS, the Bada. The Bada OS has been there for over 2 years now, existence of which in a highly competitive market filled with Android, iOS, Symbian and Blackberry phones is either due to it's goodness or because of the success of Wave I and Wave II phones from Samsung. The Bada OS is in it's second version now, Bada 2.0


The Wave Y  comes with the same 832 MHz processor as the Galaxy Y, but with a bigger and much better display and looks. The Wave Y has got a 3.2" display with an average(readable) screen resolution of 180 ppi, a 2 MP camera and is also 3G/WiFi/GPS enabled.


The Samsung Wave Y can be purchased at INR 6,900 and comes with a Samsung TouchWiz like interface on top of Bada 2.0 out of the box.




Symbian


Nokia 500

                           The Nokia 500 is the latest basic smartphone along with the trio of recently released Symbian Belle phones - Nokia 603, Nokia 700 and 701. The Nokia 500 comes with a 1 GHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, a 3.2" nHD display with a fine resolution @ 229 ppi, a 5 MP fixed focus camera and is also 3G/WiFi/GPS enabled.


The Nokia 500 is sold at INR 8,800 with Symbian Anna out of the box and a planned upgrade to Symbian Belle. The 500 also comes with free lifetime navigation in the form of Nokia maps similar to all Nokia smartphones these days.


The Bada and Symbian OSes are sure lagging behind in the number of apps when compared to the Android but are surely worthy contenders with the kind of hardware on offer and their price, especially the Nokia 500 with it's 1 Ghz proccessor, Symbian Belle upgrade and a 5 MP camera.


Hope it helps! See you all in the next post.


Cheers....!!




* All prices mentioned in the blogpost are quoted from the best online deals in India. The deal websites will be shared if needed.

Best Smartphones @ INR 10 - 15k

Hey Guys! Here are some best smartphones money can buy. 

The phones have been categorized according to the different Operating systems available at this price range.

Android:

Motorola Defy plus

                           The Defy plus is Motorola's update to it's recent success, the Defy. The Defy plus looks the same as the original Defy with the same characteristics of being water and dust proof, 3.7" LCD display @ 265 ppi, covered by a scratch proof Corning Gorilla glass. The Defy plus comes with a 1 Ghz processor(800 MHz on the old Defy) and a 512 MB RAM, a 5 MP autofocus camera and this time with a larger 1700 mAh battery.

The Defy plus is IP67 certified for being dust and water proof (upto 1m and 30 mins). It is sold @ INR 14,400/- and comes with Gingerbread outta the box.


Unfortunately, Moto has no plans for any ICS upgrade to the Defy plus.

 

Symbian:

                Why Symbian? You may say it is almost extinct now and Nokia will be supporting it only until 2016. Still, the Symbian OS in it's latest form (Symbian Belle) is definitely impressive. The six homescreens, shortcuts, homescreen widgets, the pull down notification bar, improved browser, flat menu structure, etc. All these improved features make the Symbian on par with established players like iOS and Android except when compared to the number of apps on offer. I would still say it would not matter much to be a deal breaker, with all the major apps available on Symbian.

Nokia 603

         

                        

                         The 603 comes with a 1Ghz processor, a 512 MB RAM, 5MP fixed focus camera, support for HD Gaming, DivX/Xvid video codec support, 720p@30fps video recording, FM transmitter, NFC, a great 3.5" ClearBlack IPS -LCD display which is the brightest display on a phone(@ 1000 nits) and also a beautiful design similar to it's Windows Phone cousin, the Nokia Lumia 710. 

Sure the specs aren't earth shattering, but when you consider the price for which Nokia offers this phone, it is definitely a best buy @ INR 11,700/-. Nokia is also offering some interesting color choices with a black/white front panel and interchangeable back covers and a planned upgrade to the next version of Symbian - Symbian Carla.


Update: Nokia has announced an intermediate update to the Nokia Belle on 603, called the Nokia Belle FP1 which brings in sweet updates to the phone like Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Headphone, faster HTML5 capable browser, Microsoft Apps and 20 brand new widgets. 

Bada OS:

Samsung Wave 3:

                            The Wave 3 is Samsung's latest flagship Bada phone after the Wave and Wave 2. The Wave 3 is bigger, slimmer(9.9 mm) and better specced than it's elder brothers, Wave and Wave 2 as any true sucessor should. However, Samsung has managed to maintain the Bada family look for the Wave 3 with it's clean minimalistic design and a brushed aluminium back cover as from the time of the first Wave phone. The Wave 3 comes with a 4" Super AMOLED display @ 223 ppi and covered by Gorilla glass, a 1.4 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a 5 MP camera with LED flash, a front facing VGA camera, a 1500 mAh battery and with 3G/WiFi/GPS.

The Wave 3 comes with latest version of the OS, Bada OS v2.0.The Bada OS may be short in the number of apps when compared to the Android and iOS but is almost as customizable as Android with multiple home screens and widgets.

The Wave 3 can be purchased @ INR 15,500/- and sure beats all the Android phones hands down in terms of hardware at this price.

Last but not the least, here is the newest major OS in the market -

Windows Phone 7:

Samsung Omnia W

 

                                  The Omnia W is the current best among the 2nd generation windows phones in the market. The Omnia W comes with 3.7" Super AMOLED display, a fast 1.4 GHz processor, a 512 MB RAM, 5MP auto focus camera, a front facing VGA cam, and a great slim profile and professional look which is achieved by the use of brushed metal for the back cover instead of the usual all plastic design (a' la Samsung Wave II/III).

The Omnia W can be yours at INR 14,500/- and ships with Windows phone 7.5 Mango outta the box.

If you are on a tighter budget and would like to try a Windows phone device, here is your only other choice:

Nokia Lumia 710

  

                         The Lumia 710 comes with the same processor, RAM and 5 MP camera as the Omnia W sans the front facing camera and a 3.7" ClearBlack LCD display instead of a Super AMOLED. No comparisons though, since now the Lumia 710 is sold at INR 14,000/- (drastic reduction in the price as compared to the price at the launch @ Rs. 19,999/-) which is INR 1,500 less than the Samsung. The downside being the smaller, 1300 mAh battery which results in almost half the battery life in real life usage when compared to that of the Omnia W.

The Lumia 710 comes with black/white front panels and back panels with a range of colors, much like the Nokia 603.

This brings us to end of our story here in the INR 10 - 15k category, see you all the next time with a different post and until then, here are our personal favorites on PhReview:


Android             - Motorola Defy Plus
Symbian            - Nokia 603
Bada OS            - Samsung Wave 3
Windows Phone  - Samsung Omnia W



Hope it helps...!!

Cheers!!

* All Prices mentioned in the blogpost are quoted from the best online deals in India. The websites for each will be shared if needed.