Need new Android phone. Budget less than 12k. Also a pair of decent earphones.

[papul1993]

Hi,

I am going to go to college this august and won't have a laptop so I have somehow convinced my parents to get me a smartphone. I currently have a Xperia Mini which I will try to sell locally.

My requirements are good dev support (and I should be able to root it the day I buy it) and good music quality. I will buy a decent pair of earphones so please suggest that too. Combined budget shouldn't exceed 14k.

I have confused between the Xolo q800, Q700 and Lumia 520 (decided against it). Are there any other decent phones in this budget?

I heard new stock of q800 has same chip as q700. Xolo actually downgraded the internals of the q800 in the new stock. So I don't think Q800 matters that much. Q700 is both cheaper and comes with Android 4.2. However, there is not much dev support for that phone.

So, please clear my confusion and suggest other phones if I missed it.

 

[mohit9206]

Forget all these indie phones if you want good quality and good developer support.Go for Galaxy S Advance.It has good specs and good dev support.Also the phone comes with good earphones already as samsung earphones seem to be good out of the box.

 

[papul1993]

Forget all these indie phones if you want good quality and good developer support.Go for Galaxy S Advance.It has good specs and good dev support.Also the phone comes with good earphones already as samsung earphones seem to be good out of the box.

If I ignore the dev support requirement. Then?

 

[mohit9206]

If I ignore the dev support requirement. Then?

Then Lumia 520 is best.

 

[omega44-xt]

Then Lumia 520 is best.

+1

But its better to get S Advance

For headphones, use the in package headphones(samsung) for few months, collect money & buy new headphones afterwards

 

[papul1993]

What is really wrong with Xolo? I am hearing good things about it.

Then Lumia 520 is best.

Nope. Windows OS is too restrictive and doesn't have the apps I need.

 

[omega44-xt]

Q700 is a bang for buck, a VFM product. Moreover, its jst 10k

 

[ZTR]

Pantech burst
Costs 7k and has good dev support

 

[papul1993]

What is the cheapest I can buy Xperia L for? Using coupons and such.

Q700 is a bang for buck, a VFM product. Moreover, its jst 10k

I am thinking of that too. But worried about reliability. Phone should last at east 3 years. There is no dev support. But I guess I can live with that. Can it be rooted? That is an absolute MUST for me.

 

[ShankJ]

samsung advance S or lumia 520..

 

[papul1993]

samsung advance S or lumia 520..

Can't buy Lumia, sorry. OS too restrictive and does not have the apps I like. As for the Samsung, I am leaning more towards the Xolo Q700 because of its quadcore chipset and 1 gig of RAM.

 

[ShankJ]

Can't buy Lumia, sorry. OS too restrictive and does not have the apps I like. As for the Samsung, I am leaning more towards the Xolo Q700 because of its quadcore chipset and 1 gig of RAM.

and no future assurance.. you said that you wanted it for min 3 years..

 

[RohanM]

@OP - If u wanted a phone for 3 years then don't look for anything less than 2 gigs of ram, snapdragon s4 or pro
Or go for Nokia 1100 - No issues for 20 years for sure... lololol

 

[mohit9206]

Go for Xperia E/Galaxy Fame or upcoming Htc desire 200 if reliability is important. Otherwise Xolo Q700/Pantech Burst are good options.

 

[Flash]

Nope. Windows OS is too restrictive and doesn't have the apps I need.

You can't expect a future-proof phone (in your case, 3 yrs) with low/mid range phones.
Who knows there maybe future phones with 3GB RAM too!

And, What are the apps you need?

 

[Krow]

Can't buy Lumia, sorry. OS too restrictive and does not have the apps I like. As for the Samsung, I am leaning more towards the Xolo Q700 because of its quadcore chipset and 1 gig of RAM.

You buy what you want, no issues, but WP8 has almost all apps people need. Nowadays, even an Instagram alternative is there.

It's not half as restrictive as you make it sound. Supports drag and drop to transfer files, which is not the sign of a restrictive OS. Android phones inevitably begin to lag after six months at most, something WP will not do for much longer.

Many of my friends are happy with Lumia phones, and many others are stuck with laggy Android phones.

 

[omega44-xt]

Android phones inevitably begin to lag after six months at most, something WP will not do for much longer.

Many of my friends are happy with Lumia phones, and many others are stuck with laggy Android phones.

I don't agree with that. I'm using my S2 for the past 7 months, current ROM for the last 3 months. It doesn't lag. Moreover my old Galaxy Y(which my mom uses) still lags as much as it was earlier lagging. A new phone will surely be lag free. After u install apps, it will become a bit slow but still I must say that Android 4.1 is very smooth. You may get reduced battery life(if coming from ICS), but its lag free.

Frankly speaking, my S2 lagged sometimes(very rarely), when it was on ICS(after 3-4 days of using the phone). Now on JB, no lags

If u want to use the phone for 2-3 years, then get something from reputed companies. Get S Advance

 

[coderunknown]

I don't agree with that. I'm using my S2 for the past 7 months, current ROM for the last 3 months. It doesn't lag.

he was talking about stock rom filled with bloatwares and crazy themes. custom rom usually offer lag free experience on highend mobiles.

 

[Nerevarine]

wait for Xperia M.. Pricing may be close
dual core Krait + Adreno 305 is tempting...

 

[papul1993]

You can't expect a future-proof phone (in your case, 3 yrs) with low/mid range phones.
Who knows there maybe future phones with 3GB RAM too!

And, What are the apps you need?

• System level Ad blocker
• Ability to listen to Pandora using proxy
• PowerAMP alternative

These are just a few I remember now. I also try out things related to anonymity, encryption and stuff that are only available for Android first and hardly come to other OS.

You buy what you want, no issues, but WP8 has almost all apps people need. Nowadays, even an Instagram alternative is there.

It's not half as restrictive as you make it sound. Supports drag and drop to transfer files, which is not the sign of a restrictive OS. Android phones inevitably begin to lag after six months at most, something WP will not do for much longer.

Many of my friends are happy with Lumia phones, and many others are stuck with laggy Android phones.

I am still trying to decide among them. I will try and see the 520 in a store and see how it is. Also check out the Xolo q700. If any new phone launches in the next month I will have to reconsider. I will buy a phone by July 25th.