coderunknown
Retired Forum Mod
Moto E would have been the best option I know, but their after sale service is nothing short of ridiculous, so don't think its a go.
motorola like many other brands outsource the servicing to third party. here is the complete list: Motorola service centres in India revealed ahead of Moto G launch. build quality is excellent for a budget phone but the only reason most are saying no to E is because 2nd gen E with updated specs should appear by next month and for same price as current Moto E making first gen look like a really outdated product. but again, it should mostly include a much faster processor, slightly bigger display and maybe more storage space. so if your friend is not going to try the latest games or is not a camera addict, Moto E can be considered.
samsung budget phones in a nutshell: bad display, poor camera, really poor battery life (my uncle's galaxy grand charge it 3 times a day), glossy plastic (looks cheap but can withstand a few drops), outdated android (no OS update, rarely receives any kind of stability update) with a ton of bloatwares, bloated UI (touchwiz has been criticized for being a big piece of crap that hog memory), really weak processor, low ram, usually 4GB internal space with less than 1GB being available and lastly most phones start to lag after a month of use. this is the reason SaiyanGoku renamed samsung as samdung