Best smartphone+multimedia phone at 15k needed

S

sakumar79

Technomancer
Hi,
I want to get a smartphone that also is good as a multimedia phone(music and taking photos). My budget is 15k but I am willing to stretch to 20k if the features are compelling... Here is the summary of research I have done so far...

Features Required/Preferred:
1. Touchscreen - Preferred but not required, higher preference if larger screen is available like 3" or 4"
2. Camera - Required camera with flash and ability to record video. Since quality of pics doesnt generally increase much with resolution in cellphones, probably anything above 2MP will do... But if the performance is really good, it will be a big plus point
3. Music - Need decent storage space - 2 GB is enough for me, anything above is a plus... Also, personal usage is mostly through speaker output, so speaker quality is more important than headphones quality
4. Connectivity - Planning to get GPRS once in a while (not yet used it), so GPRS and Emailing is required... 3G option is welcome but I feel that I will start to use it only in 3 or 4 years by which time I will be ready for a newer phone. Bluetooth and USB are a must (but almost always available).
5. Battery life - Very good battery life is very important. My current phone W810i gives "Up to 8 hours" talk time as per gsm arena, and even though it is about 2 years old, my phone gives me very good talk time. Hence, I would like a phone that gives very good talk/standby time
6. OS - Symbian is getting outdated, WinMo 7 is yet to hit... So, I think first preference is for Android 2.1 phone (or older Android upgradeable to 2).
7. Formfactor - No specific requirements. Physical QWERTY is preferable if it is functional and doesnt affect screen area
8. GPS - Needed, especially if there are builtin maps for indian cities and if we can download maps and use offline.
9. Other - Java, Radio preferred. Document viewing/editing highly preferred
10. BUDGET - Preferrably within 15k, can extend upto 20k if features are compelling

Phones NOT considered due to high cost (>20k)
Blackberry Bold 9700
HTC Desire, TouchPro,etc,
Motorola Milestone
Sony Ericsson Vivaz and Xperia ranges, Satio, etc
Nokia N97, N8
Samsung Omnia II, Omnia Pro, etc.

Considered phones
1. Nokia C6
Pros: 5MP camera with autofocus, power packed for decent cost (3g, wifi, qwerty, touch)
Cons: Uses S60 r5 OS

2. Samsung i5700 Galaxy Spica
Pros: Good proccy, supports Android 2.1, Talk time appears impressive
Cons:Only 3.15 MP camera has autofocus but no flash? Underfeatured for powerful proccy? No Radio, No Document Viewer?

3. Samsung i7500 Galaxy
Pros:AMOLED, 8GB internal storage, 5MP camera with autofocus, good talk time
Cons: Proccy less powerful than i5700, no radio, no document viewer? Doesnt upgrade to Android 2.1?

4. Nokia 5800 Express Music
Pros:3.15 MP camera with dual LED flash, autofocus and CarlZeiss optics (Any better than others?)
Cons: Uses S60 r5 OS, No Document Viewer?

5. Nokia N97 Mini
Pros: QWERTY, 8 GB internal storage, 5 MP camera with dual LED flash, autofocus and CarlZeiss optics (Any better than others?)
Cons: Uses S60 r5 OS, Slightly costly, Battery life is less compared to above four.

6. Nokia N86 8MP
Pros: AMOLED,8 GB internal storage, 8 MP camera with dual LED flash, autofocus and CarlZeiss optics, Variable aperture (Any better than others?)
Cons: Uses S60 r3 OS, Slightly costly, less battery life like N97 mini

7. LG GW620
Pros: QWERTY, 5MP camera with autofocus, decent battery life.
Cons: Doesnt upgrade to Android 2.1?

Please give your thoughts on the various options and also suggest any other if any to consider... I realise this is a long post and thank you for your patience in reading through.

Thanks in advance,
Arun
 
sriharsha_madineni

sriharsha_madineni

Cyborg Agent
Since you are willing to stretch if phone is worthy, why not HTC hero?? *www.gsmarena.com/htc_hero-2861.php

Satisfies all your needs(Except camera Flash, but a good snapper) :)

And if you are willing to spend then HTC Legend at 23K is killer :))
*www.gsmarena.com/htc_legend-3141.php
 
OP
S

sakumar79

Technomancer
Is htc hero capable of upgrade to Android 2.1? But most important of all, does it not cost around 23-25k? I dont want to go beyond 20k...

What abt htc touch2?
Pros: pocket office
Cons: No flash, no autofocus on camera, WinMo6.5
Doubts: Is WinMo6.5 upgradeable to WinMo7? How is performance of processor?

Also, how is htc tattoo?
Pros: most necessary features are covered
Cons: No flash, no autofocus on camera, No Java? No doc. viewer? Slightly lesser battery life compared to others in list...
Doubts: Is it upgradeable to Android2.1? How is performance of processor?


Thanks again
Arun
 
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Garbage

Garbage

God of Mistakes...
Nokia 5800 is a good choice. And unless you *really* want to try android, Symbian don't suck. :p
 
OP
S

sakumar79

Technomancer
@dreamcatcher: x10 mini's battery life seems very poor - rated only 4h talk time (source:gsmarena)... Battery life is very important for me - I dont want to consider phones with talk time of less than 6h even if they pack a lot of features and priced less...

@Garbage: how is the carl zeiss lens of camera on 5800? same as regular cellphone camera or better?

@phuchungbhutia: AFAIK, c6 should be available by end of June and should be priced around 13.5k officially (based on info on net)

Thanks in advance
Arun
 
R

rrrmanish

$%-Not Assembled Properly
i am shelling out my Omnia Pro which in the mint condition with 6+ months warrenty left

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127227
 
OP
S

sakumar79

Technomancer
@sriharsha, also, for 23k, will it not be better to get Nokia N8 by waiting a bit instead of HTC Legend? As far as I can tell from *www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3252&idPhone2=3141 - the only downside to N8 (when compared to Legend) is that it runs on the new Symbian^3 OS which is not known compared to Android...

Arun
 
sriharsha_madineni

sriharsha_madineni

Cyborg Agent
@sakumar, HTC Hero is now available at around 18-19K. And HTC announced that it will update all of its Android phones to 2.2. HTC has a good track record when it comes to firmware support.

Indian Version of Tattoo is not 3G enabled, you mentioned you are not concerned about 3G but Tattoo's specs are inferior to competition at that price, say compared to Spica & Galaxy.

Don't fall for the carl ziess optics in 5800, captured snaps are noisy and not good overall. N73's camera was way better.

Personally I don't prefer Winmo, so can't say much about Touch 2, but going for a winmo now is a bad idea IMO.

N8 looks promising and also Nokia is desperate to recapture their share in smart-phone market with this and symbain^3. So they are working hard on it. N8 is giving more and more surprises everyday with its performance capability and some innovative features like USB OTG etc , Worth the wait I guess. There may be initial niggles to early adopters( I for one faced that with N70 & 5800), which always happens with Nokia, so keep that in mind too.

Right now I think going for an Android based phone is a good buy, considering Google support and Custom ROM base. With Froyo coming to HTC phones, it makes it even better. The level of integration in Android to google services and other social networking services is unbeatable now and that makes the deal even sweeter.

Don't worry about the availability of bundled document reader in these phones, since all of them have numerous apps for that purpose :)
 
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OP
S

sakumar79

Technomancer
@sriharsha, thanks for the info... I will consider HTC Hero... But if no other option, I will probably wait for N8 which seems much more powerful than Hero for about 5k more only... But will wait a bit now...

@azzu, for 23k, I would rather wait for N8 than go for Vivaz... Featurewise it seems better...

Anyway, tomorrow I will be outstation and so will probably reply on Tuesday morning only for further posts...

Thanks again
Arun
 
S

suyash_123

Techno Freak
I would recommend you to have a Look at Nokia X6
In Pune It cost 15000-16000

It has 5 Mp with CZ lens and dual Led flash -- Good Camera Kit

2 side speaker and whole Xpress music Quality --- Good Music Phone.

Procc and Ram -- These are avearge

Touch screen with capacitve touch.

support all connectivity like gps, wifi, bluetooth,usb .....

on Negative side.
No ofc application.
Proccy and ram are low.
Same old Symbain S60 OS
Plastic Body: feels Cheap


If u are not affected By these Disadv . i will say this is good Buy.....

---------- Post added at 01:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 PM ----------

Also i will recommend u HTC tattoo If u r android fan...
andorid is Upcomming oS and there are abt 1000 and 1000s of apps for that OS.

But Other wise all Harware is jus ok for smart phone..
cost u abt 14k-15k
 
dreamcatcher

dreamcatcher

Rockin g33k
Check the mini review by Gsm and i just got a mini too. :D (sold a few shares) :p. Battery life is great acording to me.Twice my x10. Turn off 3g from the *#*#4636#*#* and the batt life doubles. :)
its a great phone and is much much fastr than any phone i have ever used. And all the apps i run on the x10 runs on it too.:)
 
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