The Complete Smartphone Buyer's Guide

[coderunknown]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

MT6577 is seriously one of the better budget chipsets nowadays. It is manufactured in 64nm so clockspeed will be 1Ghz max. Only -ve part is the GPU: 531 is old. 540 was at least expected but Mediatek used 531 to keep the end cost low (license fee). But considering others are using Qualcomm chipset with the ageing Adreno 200, this one is at least accepted. Also due to slightly lower resolution, 531 can easily handle most games.
6575 is single core Cortex A9. 8255 is a customized A8 (it is almost completely home grown by Qualcomm so not easy to compare it with A8 or A9 directly) so clock to clock i expect 6575 to match 8255 as other dual core A9 chipsets have managed to beat dual core Scorpion (Anandtech).

From what i have read, A5 was designed to replace ARM11 but got delayed by ~2yrs and only Qualcomm started making SOC based on it whereas others ignored A5 completely. Cause it was delayed, it went through extensive redesigning as a result performance increased a lot. So A5 is almost close to A8 in terms of raw performance but with much better battery life and low cost. But of course dual Core A9 will anyday be better than dual core A5. dual core A5 looks good only at sub 10k for Indian brands and sub 15k for International brands.

MT6577 only real competitor is Nova Thor U8500.

 

[Shibadip]

Local or Branded Android under 10,000/-

MT6577 is seriously one of the better budget chipsets nowadays. It is manufactured in 64nm so clockspeed will be 1Ghz max. Only -ve part is the GPU: 531 is old.

Sam - I have a budget of <10k/- and after some research I came up with Karbonn A9+, A11, A18; Micromax A110 CAnvas2; Xperia Tipo dual, and Samsng Galaxy Y Duos.
If I see the branded ones, then Tipo is what i will go with... But then comming To Processors, I see the Processor of Xperia Tipo, and Karbonn A11 is the same i.e Qualcomm MSM7225A 800Mhz(tipo); Qualcomm MSM7225A 1Ghz (A11), and both having Adreno 200 (enchanced) GPU. While KArbonn A9+ has Qualcomm MSM8225 1.2Ghz Dual Core processor, with Adreno 203 GPU. MM A110 has a MediaTek MT6577 1Ghz dual core processor..

SO, my question is will Karbonn A11/ A9+ be better over Tipo, as they have a better/similar processor??
Saying all theese, I too have my Apprehensions against these cheap smart phones, and IF I am investing 10K, I will think a 100 times.

If I am Still undecisive, then i will go with MM-ninja 4.0, for 5500/- and then will root the phone. It has all the good hardware, Except just 256 MB RAM, out of which there is free user available RAM after all the goof-ups of only 20-30MB.. In that case, I will have to root the phone to increase the RAM....

Still, I will like to hear some more opinins, ad suggestions.. Please help!!

 

[anky]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

hello everyone...a friend of mine wants buy a mobile..let me first tell u all his needs-
1. screen size- 4" preferred but 3.5 will do..
2. android 4
budget is 12-13 k max..
he will use it for various applications of android..but i suggested him to go for windows phone..i hv heard that they too have same number of applications as compared to android..
so can u please suggest me what to do now..?..which mobile will be the best...after some searching on this thread we both found out huawei to be best option but we live here on gwalior and there is no service center of huawei here..so frnds pls help us..!

 

[Shibadip]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

Sam, I have a budge of 10000/-, and have selected the following sets to choose From -
Karbonn A9+, A11, M.Max A110 canvas, Xperia Tipo Dual, and Smasung Galaxy Y Duos

If I see the branded ones, then Tipo is what i will go with... But then coming To Processors, the Processor of Xperia Tipo, and Karbonn A11 is the same i.e Qualcomm MSM7225A 800Mhz(tipo); Qualcomm MSM7225A 1Ghz (A11), and both having Adreno 200 (enchanced) GPU. While KArbonn A9+ has Qualcomm MSM8225 1.2Ghz Dual Core processor, with Adreno 203 GPU. MMXA110 has a MediaTek MT6577 1Ghz dual core processor..

SO, my question is Karbonn A11/ A9+ better over Tipo??, as the processor is better/similar to Tipo..
Saying all these, I too have my Apprehensions against these cheap smart phones, and IF I am investing 10K, I will think a 100 times.
If I am Still indecisive, then i will go with ninja 4.0, for 5500/- and then will root the phone. It has all the good hardware, Except just 256 MB RAM, out of which there is free user available RAM after all the goof-ups of only 20-30MB.. In that case, I will have to root the phone to increase the RAM....

Still, I will like to hear some more opinions, ad suggestions.. Please Help!!

 

[coderunknown]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

Sam - I have a budget of <10k/- and after some research I came up with Karbonn A9+, A11, A18; Micromax A110 CAnvas2; Xperia Tipo dual, and Samsng Galaxy Y Duos.
If I see the branded ones, then Tipo is what i will go with... But then comming To Processors, I see the Processor of Xperia Tipo, and Karbonn A11 is the same i.e Qualcomm MSM7225A 800Mhz(tipo); Qualcomm MSM7225A 1Ghz (A11), and both having Adreno 200 (enchanced) GPU. While KArbonn A9+ has Qualcomm MSM8225 1.2Ghz Dual Core processor, with Adreno 203 GPU. MM A110 has a MediaTek MT6577 1Ghz dual core processor..

SO, my question is will Karbonn A11/ A9+ be better over Tipo, as they have a better/similar processor??
Saying all theese, I too have my Apprehensions against these cheap smart phones, and IF I am investing 10K, I will think a 100 times.

from a processor point of view, Micromax A110 is the best. Even reviews have generally praised the A110. But with Micromax/Karbonn, etc you are taking a small chance. And instead of Tipo why not go for Huawei G300. It is not a desi mobile and even if made by a Chinese company the built is lot better and cost same. So decide between G300 & A110.

If I am Still undecisive, then i will go with MM-ninja 4.0, for 5500/- and then will root the phone. It has all the good hardware, Except just 256 MB RAM, out of which there is free user available RAM after all the goof-ups of only 20-30MB.. In that case, I will have to root the phone to increase the RAM....

don't even think about Ninja series. 256MB ram means your mobile won't be usable. Even with gingerbread you have to deal with a lot of bloatwares that eats up ram and in the end free ram will be less than 50MB which is not sufficient for even playing a simple game.

hello everyone...a friend of mine wants buy a mobile..let me first tell u all his needs-
1. screen size- 4" preferred but 3.5 will do..
2. android 4
budget is 12-13 k max..
he will use it for various applications of android..but i suggested him to go for windows phone..i hv heard that they too have same number of applications as compared to android..
so can u please suggest me what to do now..?..which mobile will be the best...after some searching on this thread we both found out huawei to be best option but we live here on gwalior and there is no service center of huawei here..so frnds pls help us..!

won't suggest going for WP now. At this budget all are WP7.5 and most who went for WP have switched to Android. WP8.0 is the way to go but cheapest WP8.0 will still cost 20k.

else for 12-13k, there is only 2 mobiles that offers really nice value: Huawei X5 Pro or Motorola Defy Plus. Both fulfill your friends requirement but as you have said Huawei doesn't have service center and Motorola's service is poor throughout India. Else Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman (discontinued), LG Optimus L5 (low resolution screen). Can also check for Huawei G300 which offers bigger display but low grade processor+GPU and no 720p video recording.

Sony Xperia U is available for 13-14k online.

 

[ajaymailed]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

i dun want to drag this out but when you say "with MMX & Karbonn you are taking a small chance"??. I know low battery life, lag, low resolution, Low RAM, weak chip set, bad camera can ruin the experience but what else?

I have these questions often,
Do Micromax Phones/Indian Brand phones last as long any other big brand phone? even if its just simple phone for 1 or 2K? Do they get damaged easily? Do they provide decent service?

I never used any MMX or Indian branded phone, but some friends used it, never complained much.

 

[coderunknown]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

i dun want to drag this out but when you say "with MMX & Karbonn you are taking a small chance"??. I know low battery life, lag, low resolution, Low RAM, weak chip set, bad camera can ruin the experience but what else?

most of the Indian branded handset works but there is small number of cases when something has stopped working after 6-8 months. and once this happens it can be a pain to have it fixed, specially cause of the pathetic service by Micromax. Moreover if its a software problem, easiest way to have it fixed is to reflash the stock rom which i don't think will be easy in case of Micromax. Or go for custom rom/fixes which may lack for most of Indian branded mobiles unless it has sold in extreme numbers.
And also a custom rom based on same Android version will feel more smooth and with all the bloatwares gone will increase battery life. My 2yr old mobile has so many custom roms i can't count with most updated to 4.0 or 4.1, mayn't be the case with a local Android where there may be 1-2 custom rom at the best.

I have these questions often,
Do Micromax Phones/Indian Brand phones last as long any other big brand phone? even if its just simple phone for 1 or 2K? Do they get damaged easily? Do they provide decent service?

one of the -ve point is the battery. Buy from International brands and battery will work as new even after 100-150 charge cycle (just an assumption). From local brands and soon the battery life will start to come down. This is true cause battery is the most volatile part of a mobile.

smartphone/tablets are more prone to these kind of problems.

 

[ajaymailed]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

most of the Indian branded handset works but there is small number of cases when something has stopped working after 6-8 months. and once this happens it can be a pain to have it fixed, specially cause of the pathetic service by Micromax. Moreover if its a software problem, easiest way to have it fixed is to reflash the stock rom which i don't think will be easy in case of Micromax. Or go for custom rom/fixes which may lack for most of Indian branded mobiles unless it has sold in extreme numbers.
And also a custom rom based on same Android version will feel more smooth and with all the bloatwares gone will increase battery life. My 2yr old mobile has so many custom roms i can't count with most updated to 4.0 or 4.1, mayn't be the case with a local Android where there may be 1-2 custom rom at the best.



one of the -ve point is the battery. Buy from International brands and battery will work as new even after 100-150 charge cycle (just an assumption). From local brands and soon the battery life will start to come down. This is true cause battery is the most volatile part of a mobile.

smartphone/tablets are more prone to these kind of problems.

thanks for the info sam,
just one more doubt here- about GPU benchmarks.

Galaxy S Advance, Xperia Sola have the same Chipset- Novathor U8500 with Mali-400.
but the nenamark 2 score for Galaxy S Advance is 35.9 while its 27.7 for Xperia Sola. That difference seems to be quite big for the same Soc, is the benchmark not reliable or is the difference in RAM adding to the performance.
Samsung Galaxy S Advance Review - Interface, Functionality, Internet and Connectivity
Sony Xperia P review: Ironclad - GSMArena.com

 

[coderunknown]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

some of the benchmark show higher score if the OS is updated. but in this case the score increased by 1/3. ram is not playing any big part that for sure.

 

[ajaymailed]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

could it be possible if companies overclocked the CPU or GPU little bit to achieve higher performance for higher priced phones.
Sony Xperia P review: Ironclad - GSMArena.com
I was checking out these benchmarks of Xperia P, Sola, scores for all benchmarks are similar for two phones. Yet its the Xperia P which is able to flawlessly handle 1080p video play back while Xperia Sola cannot do it.

 

[Shibadip]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

from a processor point of view, Micromax A110 is the best. Even reviews have generally praised the A110. But with Micromax/Karbonn, etc you are taking a small chance. And instead of Tipo why not go for Huawei G300. It is not a desi mobile and even if made by a Chinese company the built is lot better and cost same. So decide between G300 & A110.

I don't think i ahve seen a Huawei service centre here in Kolkata.

I have quite a preference for A110, but i think it will be too problematic of carrying the phone especially when on bike..

don't even think about Ninja series. 256MB ram means your mobile won't be usable. Even with gingerbread you have to deal with a lot of bloatwares that eats up ram and in the end free ram will be less than 50MB which is not sufficient for even playing a simple game.

Generally I am not a hardcore gamer. I will mainly need the GPS, and some good apps of the Stock market, and other news. Do you think 256 MB will not be enough for that??

Even so I was thiking about Rooting the phone and increasing the RAM as I have a 8GB memory card with me Already!!
ther is a nice step -by-step of rooting and increasig the RAM by using the free space of the memory card, in XDA site. What's your take on this???

 

[ajaymailed]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

if A110 is too big, try for A90S, it has same chipset.
Its not recommended to get a phone with 256MB RAM , even if you can possibly root it and remove the bloatware. experience wont be smooth for daily usage just not for games but for normal apps too.
I use Galaxy S2-ICS with 1 GB RAM, It only shows 400 to 500 MB free even if close all the recent apps. and guess what i am running a Cyanogen 9 Stable Mod, So no Samsung bloatware too.

 

[Shibadip]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

@Ajay -
A90 S cost around 12500/- on-line. My Budget is around 10K..

 

[coderunknown]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

could it be possible if companies overclocked the CPU or GPU little bit to achieve higher performance for higher priced phones.
Sony Xperia P review: Ironclad - GSMArena.com
I was checking out these benchmarks of Xperia P, Sola, scores for all benchmarks are similar for two phones. Yet its the Xperia P which is able to flawlessly handle 1080p video play back while Xperia Sola cannot do it.

never seen mobile shipped with same chipset but overclocked parts. usually it is factory clocked.
it can be that they are using some kind of binned chipset that can maintain the high GPU clock all the time.

I don't think i ahve seen a Huawei service centre here in Kolkata.

I have quite a preference for A110, but i think it will be too problematic of carrying the phone especially when on bike..

Huwai won't have premium service center like Nokia Care as they only had dongles to service till last year.
and try to get a hands on A110. Galaxy Note is big too but is pocketable. So A110 should fit nicely.

Generally I am not a hardcore gamer. I will mainly need the GPS, and some good apps of the Stock market, and other news. Do you think 256 MB will not be enough for that??

with 256MB ram, the mobile will slow down even without trying any games.

Even so I was thiking about Rooting the phone and increasing the RAM as I have a 8GB memory card with me Already!!
ther is a nice step -by-step of rooting and increasig the RAM by using the free space of the memory card, in XDA site. What's your take on this???

after rooting you can only remote bloatwares that will free up some ram. won't make a difference. ram will be 50-60MB free.
ram won't increase. maybe it is something similar to virtual memory on windows but won't bet my money on such a move. Nowadays 512MB is bare minimum, moreover considering the high resolution of the display 512MB is a must.

if A110 is too big, try for A90S, it has same chipset.
Its not recommended to get a phone with 256MB RAM , even if you can possibly root it and remove the bloatware. experience wont be smooth for daily usage just not for games but for normal apps too.
I use Galaxy S2-ICS with 1 GB RAM, It only shows 400 to 500 MB free even if close all the recent apps. and guess what i am running a Cyanogen 9 Stable Mod, So no Samsung bloatware too.

in my case 200-210MB free out of 512MB and using Cyanogenmod 9.1.2

 

[Shibadip]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

Huwai won't have premium service center like Nokia Care as they only had dongles to service till last year.
and try to get a hands on A110. Galaxy Note is big too but is pocketable. So A110 should fit nicely.



with 256MB ram, the mobile will slow down even without trying any games.
after rooting you can only remote bloatwares that will free up some ram. won't make a difference. ram will be 50-60MB free.
ram won't increase. maybe it is something similar to virtual memory on windows but won't bet my money on such a move. Nowadays 512MB is bare minimum, moreover considering the high resolution of the display 512MB is a must.

OK, Got the logic for not going with Ninja..
as for A110, i think, I need to check it out hands on first, to see how practicable it can be..

And as almost 90% of you all suggest me not to go with local brand, so I broadened my search to some more branded mobiles, and found out that Samsung Ace duos is a good one for 11400/-.. Also found out (from ur comments SAM) that Xeperia U is quite a good phone. looks nice, and performance oriented, for 13000/-

But the main demerit is there is no Expandable SD card slot, and thus only restricted In-built memory of 8GB; out of which, the user accessible is 2GB for apps, and 4GB for other things..

Can u suggest whether this 4 GB will suffice??

 

[coderunknown]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

And as almost 90% of you all suggest me not to go with local brand, so I broadened my search to some more branded mobiles, and found out that Samsung Ace duos is a good one for 11400/-
Can u suggest whether this 4 GB will suffice??

no. one of the crappy mobiles. old processor (ARM v6 based) hence a lot of games won't be supported (Eg: temple run), resolution is not very low but for 1-2k more you get lot higher resolution, equally poor GPU, camera performance is not good enough, no camera flash, Android 2.3 without any update.

Also found out (from ur comments SAM) that Xeperia U is quite a good phone. looks nice, and performance oriented, for 13000/-

if one can live with 4GB memory (for songs, videos, images) yes, Xperia U is the best sub 15k mobile.

Can u suggest whether this 4 GB will suffice??

it depends on you. If you have 1000s of songs and videos then it won't be. 2GB for apps and casual games will be sufficient but if you try games like Dead Space, Asphalt, etc then 1.5GB will be used by a single game.

 

[Shibadip]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

it depends on you. If you have 1000s of songs and videos then it won't be. 2GB for apps and casual games will be sufficient but if you try games like Dead Space, Asphalt, etc then 1.5GB will be used by a single game.

OK... So then Xperia U it is... (untill I get confused with any other device)

But, one question (Since i have no experience of android, so this might be a Noob Question )

I know I can keep Back ups for the files (songs videos and images in my Laptop, will remain contended with 4GB space).
But for the Apps and games, can i keep the setup files as a back up in my lappy?? or, do i have to download it every-time from the play store and install it??

Also can u please tell or provide me a link of how the GPS operates in the Smart phones.
I have heard someone tell that one can save maps in the phone and can avail it off line as well.
Can I avail GPS with 2G or Do i need to have A 3G connection?? Some more stuffs that I should know about using GPS??

Sorry for being Irritating!!

 

[coderunknown]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

not possible unless you root your mobile. Once rooted you can take backup. But no idea if one can somehow extract and save the downloaded apps. Moreover as once your mobile is setup, you'll rarely (or say never) hard reset your mobile so that part is not something you should worry about now.

turn GPS on, turn Google maps (or similar map app) on and check for directions. Usually the app will give you a popup asking if you want to turn GPS on. After that just select option and start playing with it
AFAIK saving map is not possible with Google Maps.

you can try GPS with and without any 2G/3G. usually without any data/2G connection acquiring a signal can take a few minutes. with data turned on, it takes a few seconds. 3G may help in loading the map faster.

 

[Pranav19]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

You can save the setup files for apps i.e. the apk file so you wont have to download the app again from play store. You need root only if want to save the app data.
smartphones have A-GPS it works with or without internet. Without internet it takes a long time to fix but with internet it helps getting you a fix faster by downloading location data from network and ten finding relevant satellites in that area.
You can save areas upto 10x10 mile squares in gmaps and then use it offline. For maps of cities state you may need to use paid third party app like sygic.
GPS works fine with 2g or even without it. For navigation purposes you may need 3g connection for faster map downloading.

 

[Shibadip]

Re: Mobile Buying Guide: November 2012

You can save the setup files for apps i.e. the apk file so you wont have to download the app again from play store. You need root only if want to save the app data.
smartphones have A-GPS it works with or without internet. Without internet it takes a long time to fix but with internet it helps getting you a fix faster by downloading location data from network and ten finding relevant satellites in that area.
You can save areas upto 10x10 mile squares in gmaps and then use it offline. For maps of cities state you may need to use paid third party app like sygic.

Ok, got it... THanks..

GPS works fine with 2g or even without it. For navigation purposes you may need 3g connection for faster map downloading.

Can you please explain more of this line..
WHat is the difference between GPS and Navigation??

If by navigation you mean turn by turn navigation, then what will GPS do??