Need Help in Choosing between Vodafone Smart (VF858) & Spice Mi-280 ? :(

[mastbanda]

Hi all!
I am buying my first Android smartphone. But unfortunately my budget is quite small for my first purchase.

I need your help in deciding between choosing the perfect phone between the Vodafone Smart & Spice Mi-280.

Some of the advantages+disadvantages I found among the two are as follows:

Vodafone Smart:

-2 years warranty
-originally a Huawei handset (the U8160)
-has larger userbase as Vodafone also has this phone present in UK at similar price (INR 4995/- )

Spice Mi-280:

-has 3.2 megapixel camera + the front facing VGA camera for video calling (though I read it while googling that this video calling camera is NOT working with skype.. thats just sad )
- 650 Mhz processor?
- double sim
- android 2.3 (seriously this wont matter much to me as I will be installing cyanogen mod 7.2 in a few weeks of the purchase)
- 1 yr warranty
- the hard buttons don't look good

 

[coderunknown]

search for used Idea Blade or Dell XCD35 as you are ready to play with custom rom. will cost below 5k i.e. same as the ones you selected.

 

[pramudit]

Sam is right, the phone he mentioned are the rebranded version of zte blade which has cyanogenmod official support... So +1 for these phone....

 

[sainath]

I strictly warn you Do not buy ZTE BLADE from IDEA. I have Dell XCD35 from last 6 months and it have 512-512MB of RAM & ROM. but Idea Blade have 256-256 MB of RAM-ROM (There is no way to unlock your RAM.). It is a Chinese version of ZTE Blade & Dell XCD35 is european one. So custom ROM's like CyanogenMod officially only support european version of ZTE Blade a.k.a Dell XCD35 not Idea Blade. If you flash these ROM on Idea Blade then there are chances to brick your device or you will face many problems like camera won't work, your will stuck on Bootloader or etc...etc. There are many of on XDA forum who has Idea Blade & now they are facing problems because of flashing custom ROM. better to buy Dell XCD35. btw Idea Blade price is Rs.7899. So get Dell XCD35 by paying Rs.500 more. If don't want to trust on me then go to XDA & Modaco section of ZTE blade & read topics related to Idea blade posted by Idea Blade owners.

 

[mastbanda]

I strictly warn you Do not buy ZTE BLADE from IDEA. I have Dell XCD35 from last 6 months and it have 512-512MB of RAM & ROM. but Idea Blade have 256-256 MB of RAM-ROM (There is no way to unlock your RAM.). It is a Chinese version of ZTE Blade & Dell XCD35 is european one. So custom ROM's like CyanogenMod officially only support european version of ZTE Blade a.k.a Dell XCD35 not Idea Blade. If you flash these ROM on Idea Blade then there are chances to brick your device or you will face many problems like camera won't work, your will stuck on Bootloader or etc...etc. There are many of on XDA forum who has Idea Blade & now they are facing problems because of flashing custom ROM. better to buy Dell XCD35. btw Idea Blade price is Rs.7899. So get Dell XCD35 by paying Rs.500 more. If don't want to trust on me then go to XDA & Modaco section of ZTE blade & read topics related to Idea blade posted by Idea Blade owners.

umm..wow!
That was really an eye opener ..Thanks guys.

But as the Vodafone Smart (VF858) is available for INR 4995/- at the Vodafone store with 2 years warranty..I guess I will laying my hands on it pretty fast

Is there any difference between the Vodafone smart (VF858) model (originally a Huawei U8160) available in UK Vs. Vodafone Smart Indian Version ? is it the very same model in terms of Hardware/Specs.? Can someone plz confirm this?

Thanks

 

[thetechfreak]

Better buy it from India rather than abroad. Man manufacturers dont offer International warranty. Just walk to a store and get it if you like it