Smartphone around 20k,please assist.

Sahibosaurus · Feb 19, 2010

Okay so im coming to India next month,and im looking for a decent smartphone to replace my w705.The only reason i dont like w705 is because its not a smart phone.

My budget is ~20k

Should I go for an Android phone,symbian or a Windows Mobile phone.

Things i need : good looks and UI (so that rules out samsung and LG),wifi,GPS,3.5 mm jack,a full QWERTY keyboard (either physical,or virtual touchscreen),good free apps,and a touchscreen is preferred over a non-touch screen,but not essential.

What phone should i go for?

Im looking at(in order of preference) : HTC Hero,N97 mini,HTC Tattoo,HTC touch2,and E72.

One major gripe against Winmo is that Windows Phone 7 is coming and after that the current windows mobile handsets will be outdated.

I'm open to suggestions.

Can I find the Hero and the mini in around 21k if i shop around?Univercell lists them both as being 22k,so im guessing by mid-march ill be able to find for less.

abhilash · Feb 23, 2010

kippu said:
the problem with the tattoo is its small size resolution so most of the apps are not supported ... spica already has 2.1 and the speed is of no issue to it

manu1991 said:
I guess the only problem with galaxy/galaxy lite is the 128mb RAM , even if it works fine with Android 1.5 , maybe it will be slowed down by 2.1 . HTC Tattoo would be a better bet in that case .

@kippu
Spica does not currently have 2.1
It is expected to get it in April.

@manu
RAM doesn't determine speed. Processor determines speed. The Spica's 800mhz processor is only second to the Nexus one's Snapdragon @ 1ghz

desiibond · Feb 23, 2010

abhilash said:
@kippu
Spica does not currently have 2.1
It is expected to get it in April.

@manu
RAM doesn't determine speed. Processor determines speed. The Spica's 800mhz processor is only second to the Nexus one's Snapdragon @ 1ghz

I am using 5800XM and many times that I try to open two or more heavy webpages while using twitter client, phone goes out of free memory and starts hanging.

RAM is as imporatant as processor in a phone. For a smarphone, it makes total sense to go for one that has 256MB RAM especially when the budget is near to 20k.

And do remember that the more apps we open the harder it will be for the phone if RAM is 64MB or 128MB.

w1nD · Feb 23, 2010

But the galaxy fone uses android 1.5...which is pretty old version now with 2.1 making up into markets.So would suggest wait for i8520 to launch or get e72 which is best imho

abhilash · Feb 23, 2010

desiibond said:
I am using 5800XM and many times that I try to open two or more heavy webpages while using twitter client, phone goes out of free memory and starts hanging.

RAM is as imporatant as processor in a phone. For a smarphone, it makes total sense to go for one that has 256MB RAM especially when the budget is near to 20k.

And do remember that the more apps we open the harder it will be for the phone if RAM is 64MB or 128MB.

Hmm... a hanging Spica is something I have yet to see. The apps that are generally active on my phone are FB (both the app and the browser), Seesmic (for twitter), Handcent SMS and gtalk and google maps (no gps). I have yet to experience a lag in operations much less a hang.

The Spica has 128 mb of RAM of which i generally have 30 to 40 mb free at any point of time. Most top rated apps in the market are pretty good at releasing the RAM they use.

Are you using a lot of apps at the same time?

desiibond · Feb 23, 2010

abhilash said:
Hmm... a hanging Spica is something I have yet to see. The apps that are generally active on my phone are FB (both the app and the browser), Seesmic (for twitter), Handcent SMS and gtalk and google maps (no gps). I have yet to experience a lag in operations much less a hang.

The Spica has 128 mb of RAM of which i generally have 30 to 40 mb free at any point of time. Most top rated apps in the market are pretty good at releasing the RAM they use.

Are you using a lot of apps at the same time?

nah. usually, it's Opera, Gravity and music player. Thought that Opera may be causing the problem but even with Nokia webbrowser the problem exists. So, should be something to do with RAM not being used efficiently.

Also, not to forget horrific Samsung mobile customer support.

Thing is Galaxy/Spica are good if the budget is strictly inside 15k. Here OP is ready to spend extra or wait to get a better deal for HTC Hero. Then why to discuss about budget Android phones?

we all know that Hero can blow away Galaxy when it comes to perormance and features.

abhilash · Feb 28, 2010

Yeah... I really like the look and the Ui of the HERO. If it had been around 18k, I would have bought that one.

rohan30186 · Feb 28, 2010

Samsung omnia II i8000 would be a good choice...I'm using it since 2-3 months n its very good

4m!7 · Feb 28, 2010

desiibond said:
I think HTC Hero for 22k-23k is the best bet. Other option would be Samsung B7610 Omnia PRO (slider qwerty). Both are amazing phones. Inside 20k, my suggestion would be Nokia N72 for 19k-20k.

LOL N72 for 19k-20k?
Were you in coma for the last 3 years?

Though I would suggest b7610 omnia pro or Omnia HD. Both are brilliant devices. One of its kind.
If you want to go the android way, you are better off with HTC Hero.

stalker00031 · Feb 28, 2010

The lack of a camera flash for a 5 MP camera is pretty annoying in the HTC hero

desiibond · Feb 28, 2010

4m!7 said:
LOL N72 for 19k-20k?
Were you in coma for the last 3 years?

Though I would suggest b7610 omnia pro or Omnia HD. Both are brilliant devices. One of its kind.
If you want to go the android way, you are better off with HTC Hero.

oops. Sorry. that's a typo error. I actually meant E72!

abhilash · Mar 1, 2010

stalker00031 said:
The lack of a camera flash for a 5 MP camera is pretty annoying in the HTC hero

Phone cameras, to me, will be a vestigial feature in phones until they have a dedicated image processor.

Flash or no flash, 3.2mp or 8mp, images from phone cameras will always suck until the phone has a dedicated image processor.

kool · Mar 1, 2010

I guess the Good Options in Nokia are E72 or N97min... check them out, ive used N97min its Good.....

yogi7272 · Mar 2, 2010

abhilash said:
Phone cameras, to me, will be a vestigial feature in phones until they have a dedicated image processor.

Flash or no flash, 3.2mp or 8mp, images from phone cameras will always suck until the phone has a dedicated image processor.

Go check out N82 , N86 , samsung innov8 , samsung omnia hd , samsung pixon 12, SE vivaz,Se Satio etc .. All are super excellent camera phones.. BTW, everyone of these do have that " dedicated image processor" u mentioned

abhilash · Mar 2, 2010

@Yogi7272

I believe you are confusing a dedicated graphics processor with a dedicated image processor. The GPU in these phones that you mentioned will definitely help in image and video capture and on screen display, but not to the extent of an image processor.

The difference can be understood by looking at your laptop probably. The Nvidia/ATI graphics chip which may be present on the board is not used to process images, only to render images/data on the screen.

Similarly the image processing being done by the GPU in the phones you mentioned is used for OSD mainly to give you really nice on screen quality. But if you take that video/image from a 12mp phone camera to your desktop, you can immediately tell that it was shot on a phone and not a camera.

Of course in the end it depends on what you call acceptable quality. I find cameras in phone to be of unacceptable quality. My old sony cybershot with 4.2 mp sensor gives better results that the 8mp+ camera phones that you listed out.