Phone with vanilla android or windows under 10k?!

[GhorMaanas]

1. Budget?
A: 10K

2. Display type and size?
A: full HD would be preferable; 5" would be apt, though 5.5" too could be handled i suppose (though it would be big i know)

3. Dual sim?
A: preferred

4. Preferred choice of brand?
A: no preference for any as such

5. What camera option you want (flash, front facing camera)?
A: flash; no penchant for selfies

6. Preferred operating system? (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc).
A: android, then windows

7. Preferred connectivity options (3G, 4G ready).
A: yes, as in the query.

8. Primary use of handset (multimedia, camera, internet, gaming etc)?
A: call-quality should be very good; very important! then come internet, camera, multimedia, and lastly gaming.

9. Any specific mobile phones in consideration?
10. yu yureka plus, lumia 540, moto g3 (if compelled to stretch)

although phones like redmi 2 prime, phicomm passion 660, meizu m2 note, redmi note 4g, etc. are enticing, but would prefer to opt for stock/vanilla android as far as possible, or windows (albeit lack of apps in windows would be a concern; i use a variety of them on android and may not find their counterparts on windows, hence android is the 1st preference).

as of now, getting inclined towards yu yureka plus. i understand that i can't expect good or even decent service from this/such companies, but ready to sacrifice that aspect. have been using pantech burst till now which literally didn't have any service facility, so can accommodate this fact. moreover, build-quality of the sub-10k phones by-and-large seems to be getting better with time i suppose. so not very concerned about this.

i won't be available in India during this sale-period of 13th-17th Oct., hence have kept a friend on 'stand-by' to purchase the phone on behalf of me if some deal comes up during that period.

please suggest which one would be better of the lot to buy; and also, if any new and better phone is to come up soon in case of which it would be wise to postpone my purchase for some time.

TIA!

P.S. - on 2nd thought, would yu yuphoria on android be suggested?

 

[kkn13]

Yu,redmi are good for your needs but after sales is non-existent
Lumia 640 is worth looking at too, great all rounder and Windows 10 Mobile is coming in december,"lack of apps" will be non existent soon too
540 is also good
640 has slightly bigger battery and better cpu- SD400 whereas 540 has better front camera- 5mp
730 for 12k is also a steal imho

 

[omega44-xt]

Get Moto G3, it should be sufficient for you

To save money, you can buy Redmi 2 & flash AOSP based ROMs (research on this, if you can)
[AOSP Based][5.1.1] Nexus Experience - Official Release 9.8.2 - Redmi 2/2A/Prime - Xiaomi MIUI Official Forum

 

[GhorMaanas]

thanks @kkn13 for providing the details!

thanks @anupam_pb! if a good deal comes up for moto g3 then would buy. not very inclined to download and use ROMs atleast for sometime. have grown tired of doing the same on my current phone every now and then, and none come much close to the stock android experience. would really like to use vanilla android for sometime. that's why not considering even the upcoming coolpad note 3.

- - - Updated - - -

# @kkn13 - buddy need your help here. just checked the preview of win 10 on lumias. looks fascinating i must say! i had recently used lumia 430 for a very brief period and was very impressed by its smoothness. and have been a fan of win 8.1 and win 10 on my PC; so the prospect of having a phone now with win 10 on it is exciting! just some queries i have:

1. if i extend my budget, which would be the best of the lot - 640 / 640 xl / 730 / 540....pls consider camera-quality and display too in these. inclined to get a bigger display to watch a lot of videos and possibly movies too, as well as read a lot of books/docs. would 640 xl be better than the rest in other departments too (as it already has a 5.7" screen)? am presently using a 4" phone.

2. i read about what apps are missing on the windows phone presently. my only concern is about youtube. the rest which are absent i already don't use them on android, so no worries there. moreover, read that on win 10 it would be easier for developers to get their apps on windows store. that's nice!

ok some things that i would need apps for in win, and please tell if there're any apps available for those:

a) downloading youtube and facebook videos
b) app on which i could listen to youtube music vids in the background
c) a robust file explorer like 'es file explorer', which could be used for LAN/network file-sharing/media playback too.
d) some critical apps - tapatalk, truecaller, imo, app to backup sms-contacts etc., any screen dimmer app, misc apps like payumoney, freecharge, desidime, etc. (these latter ones i think HAVE to be there), a photo editor (mostly to crop photos; this also should be there already i suppose), scribd, ebookdroid, any adblocker.
e) a download manager (not very necessary though)

so these/such apps are already available? on the hindsight though, i consider a lack of MANY options as a boon, as then confusion on which ones to choose for a purpose is greatly reduced.
albeit, there should be atleast a few apps for any given purpose.

# in android, the contender against a lumia would be moto g3 for me (another very smooth experience, of stock android here, having used android one!). i checked a video of the camera-comparison between moto g3 and lumia 730, and found the former to be more pleasing. is the camera of 640 xl still better?

sorry for shooting a barrage of questions! take your time in answering, but pls answer today itself if possible, as i MAY leave the country tomorrow when the sale starts when the purchase would be made by my friend.

thx!

P.S. - just found the camera of 730 to better than of 640 xl, as well as the display. confusion again now!

Moto G3 vs L640 XL vs L730.

 

[whitestar_999]

go with moto G3 as win 10 promise of many apps is that only,a promise not guarantee.if you are willing to take the risk then go ahead with lumia but if not then g3 3rd gen with its stock android & improved cam than previous gens is as good as you can/will get in near future in this price range of android phones.

 

[coderunknown]

Stricly under 10k, Moto G (2nd Gen) LTE (i.e. 2nd gen Moto G with 4G. no change to hardware) makes sense. Though for gaming, 2GB is kind of becoming mandatory feature.

 

[GhorMaanas]

thanks a lot @whitestar_999 and @sam! have been just back from a microsoft gallery. checked the 640XL and it didn't feel humonguous at all! fit in my pocket too comfortably. moreover, comparing it with the 5" lumia 540, the 5" screen looked small to me.
so i think the 5.7" size would be apt for me, esp. regarding my usage-criteria....

- no issue of size being deterrence; a bit of single-handed use too also possible for me without being troublesome (for whatever brief time i tried that)
- surprisingly felt very light! and compact too. fit into my jeans-pocket well with still some space left in it.
- display and camera looked very good. watching videos and reading books should be pleasing.
- as for apps, i would require more-or-less the same/similar apps i had mentioned in my earlier post. nothing more would be reqd. much i guess. pretty much only these have been my usual accompaniments in my android-usage in the past few years. so as @whitestar_999 put it, am willing to take the risk with lumia/win 10.

i had been to the gallery practically to compare L730 and 640XL, and strike out the latter from my options at the first instance it felt huge & cumbersome for day-to-day usage, but found on the contrary! also, 730 was told to have been discontinued (albeit its available online for the time-being). though now having seen the 5" screen of L540 and finding it to be 'smaller', the 4.7" screen on L730 obviously wouldn't cut it for me.

in that regard, moto x play would be more suited i guess for me (as the other option against 640XL), with its 5.5" screen. however, its still costlier. if only by some miracle now moto x play gets listed for something close to 15k in the sale would i get confused again.

 

[the.one]

thanks a lot @whitestar_999 and @sam! have been just back from a microsoft gallery. checked the 640XL and it didn't feel humonguous at all! fit in my pocket too comfortably. moreover, comparing it with the 5" lumia 540, the 5" screen looked small to me.
so i think the 5.7" size would be apt for me, esp. regarding my usage-criteria....

- no issue of size being deterrence; a bit of single-handed use too also possible for me without being troublesome (for whatever brief time i tried that)
- surprisingly felt very light! and compact too. fit into my jeans-pocket well with still some space left in it.
- display and camera looked very good. watching videos and reading books should be pleasing.
- as for apps, i would require more-or-less the same/similar apps i had mentioned in my earlier post. nothing more would be reqd. much i guess. pretty much only these have been my usual accompaniments in my android-usage in the past few years. so as @whitestar_999 put it, am willing to take the risk with lumia/win 10.

i had been to the gallery practically to compare L730 and 640XL, and strike out the latter from my options at the first instance it felt huge & cumbersome for day-to-day usage, but found on the contrary! also, 730 was told to have been discontinued (albeit its available online for the time-being). though now having seen the 5" screen of L540 and finding it to be 'smaller', the 4.7" screen on L730 obviously wouldn't cut it for me.

in that regard, moto x play would be more suited i guess for me (as the other option against 640XL), with its 5.5" screen. however, its still costlier. if only by some miracle now moto x play gets listed for something close to 15k in the sale would i get confused again.

L640XL is downright impressive if you hold it in hand. I dint feel it bulky either when i first held it. Has impressive battery life too. I was considering to go for it sometime back. Im happy I didn't. Its indeed a good option, but a little bit risky with the ecosystem (holds good future promises). If u like it more personally then u can go for it.

Moto G3 is a very safe option for now.

X Play is also a good option, its a G3 with bigger and brighter display, slightly better chipset/camera.

Zenfone 2 laser can be another good option for big screen android within 10k.

 

[GhorMaanas]

L640XL is downright impressive if you hold it in hand. I dint feel it bulky either when i first held it. Has impressive battery life too. I was considering to go for it sometime back. Im happy I didn't. Its indeed a good option, but a little bit risky with the ecosystem (holds good future promises). If u like it more personally then u can go for it.

Moto G3 is a very safe option for now.

X Play is also a good option, its a G3 with bigger and brighter display, slightly better chipset/camera.

Zenfone 2 laser can be another good option for big screen android within 10k.

thanks! yes, risky i suppose, but willing to take it, as can overlook the lack of some apps. willing to try windows this time; got bored with android.
G3 is also a very good option, but a (still) bigger screen is also one of my main preferences; for x play would have to still extend the budget, likelihood of which is less (unless its price comes down on the 15th). so am more-or-less decided on the 640 XL it looks.

 

[the.one]

thanks! yes, risky i suppose, but willing to take it, as can overlook the lack of some apps. willing to try windows this time; got bored with android.
G3 is also a very good option, but a (still) bigger screen is also one of my main preferences; for x play would have to still extend the budget, likelihood of which is less (unless its price comes down on the 15th). so am more-or-less decided on the 640 XL it looks.

Cool! Go ahead.

Im at the opposite end actually. Bored with WP . Used X Play for a few days and was really happy at how snappy it felt.

Ill go with WP device again later on (and one that offers Continuum capabilities).

 

[dekaron]

640XL is the best device WP has to offer and the only drawback being the size which turned out to be a plus for you, wait for offer from festival also be ready with an array of credit/debit cards so you can get an additional 5-15% off

My cousin got it for 12k using such methods 4 months ago

 

[kkn13]

Yeah 640XL is a good phone and even I might buy one in the next few days to upgrade from my 720(still working great but 720 display is rather OK at best, 640XL display is miles better)
dont worry about apps , Windows 10 Mobile brings Project Astoria and islandwood which will enable easy porting of android and ios apps
so far, seems to be working great
i tried the snapchat apk, actually loaded up well but atm doesnt work beyond login because of Google Play Services(set to change soon because someone is working on hacked play services for windows phone,plus snapchat may release an app in future once the platform picks up, so far the response of the announcements seem to be positive)

 

[Aakarshan]

Yeah 640XL is a good phone and even I might buy one in the next few days to upgrade from my 720(still working great but 720 display is rather OK at best, 640XL display is miles better)
dont worry about apps , Windows 10 Mobile brings Project Astoria and islandwood which will enable easy porting of android and ios apps
so far, seems to be working great
i tried the snapchat apk, actually loaded up well but atm doesnt work beyond login because of Google Play Services(set to change soon because someone is working on hacked play services for windows phone,plus snapchat may release an app in future once the platform picks up, so far the response of the announcements seem to be positive)

As you have used both platforms.Do you feel any need of apps on Windows Phone platform.Do you find any difference in multitasking.

 

[GhorMaanas]

thanks a lot everyone! yeah x play and 640 xl both are very snappy (and g3 as well), but pricewise 640 xl suits the pocket more than x play so decided for it.

amzn has 15% cashback (max. 1500/-) offer for hdfc cards now. price on fk is already 1k more than on amzn and (local-price in MS gallery is 14.8k for the 3G model), so wl buy from amzn itself. hv asked friend to use hdfc card to purchase the cell for me, as am leaving now in a few mins. thanks once again to everyone who posted here & helped me in taking the decision for phone!

 

[kkn13]

As you have used both platforms.Do you feel any need of apps on Windows Phone platform.Do you find any difference in multitasking.

This is purely personal preference
frankly ive not seen a "lack of apps" as such except for otg(coming in Windows 10 Mobile), Snapchat(I dont like snapchat but I have it set up on my tablet and Nexus just because my friends no longer use facebook etc much, still I barely use it once a month), games(it has certain good titles like GTA SA, Asphalt 8 etc which run pretty well even on low end hardware such as my 720)
some apps do have issues at the moment but there are 3rd party apps which actually run better than the official apps on ios and android in many ways, Windows 10 Mobile already has got alot of developers on board for better app development and so most of them have stopped updating 8.1 apps and are making better written windows 10 apps so app situation is set to improve for sure
for example windows 10 mobile has already garnered the interest of Facebook,Whatsapp,Snapchat etc to make native apps/better

Frankly I prefer Windows Phone because of the stability and optimisation in basic key areas,something android and ios simply dont offer(I still have gadgets from all 4 platforms and use them nearly every day and recognise each ones strengths and weaknesses)
With android and ios, its a specs and features race, they simply go on adding stuff but theres either poor utility for them or simply poor implementation
with windows phone, I personally have felt my moneys worth in my 3 year old 720, it still gets updates, runs smooth, key hardware such as battery and display are still very much like new, something I find android lacking(my nexus 5 for example used to last a full day earlier, now with no apps at all as such, it barely lasts 4-5 hours in just 1.5 years)

I wouldnt say multitasking is anything spectacular, my 720 cant handle multitasking beyond 2 apps thanks to its older hardware - dual core and 512mb ram but my 820 can handle it pretty well and smoothly(dual core and 1gb ram)
this is also because windows phone is built for extreme optimisation and it runs smooth consistently by freezing minimised apps(this will be optional in windows 10 mobile afaik), this helps in battery life
I dont think youll face issues with multitasking the way my 720 does because most windows phones now have 1gb ram minimum by standard except for a few like the 4xx series lumias

 

[GhorMaanas]

[MENTION=184724]kkn13[/MENTION] - what do you think, 640 XL's price can come down by 2-3k by Diwali/december? friend was suggesting to wait till that time if i could as according to him price can come down that much by then (as he saw some other cells' prices coming down now, including 1-2 lumia models, one being 630 i think).

 

[kkn13]

[MENTION=184724]kkn13[/MENTION] - what do you think, 640 XL's price can come down by 2-3k by Diwali/december? friend was suggesting to wait till that time if i could as according to him price can come down that much by then (as he saw some other cells' prices coming down now, including 1-2 lumia models, one being 630 i think).

no harm in waiting and seeing
I myself am waiting to see if there will be any price drop for 640XL soon
Theres a slight possibility

 

[GhorMaanas]

no harm in waiting and seeing
I myself am waiting to see if there will be any price drop for 640XL soon
Theres a slight possibility

am back, and seeing the price to have instead increased!
what a luck!

 

[kkn13]

am back, and seeing the price to have instead increased!
what a luck!

lol ikr
hopefully itll come back to the normal price again soon

 

[GhorMaanas]

lol ikr
hopefully itll come back to the normal price again soon

yes, awaiting that time.