Android for reading and surfing

[setonfire]

My usage -

1. Reading online (around 3 hours every day)
2. Reading offline (around 30 minutes)
3. Light gaming
4. Custom roms and support for a wide range of apps
Should I go for a high end phone for the above requirements? My main requirement is a good screen and would love to have a 4 inch screen.

What would you suggest? Wouldn't go for the spice mi410.

I have heard some talk of samsung captivate and vibrant on TE (both have 4 inch screens i believe). How do I get these?

 

[aradhakr84]

I do not know your budget. For reading online and browsing, No you do not need high end phones. But for gaming you will. Because even if you play occasionally, the high end phones can handle the intensive 3d games with ease while mid or lower end phones can handle less intensive 3d games.

I am a die hard gamer and I have captivate and G2X for it. Since it has Powervr sgx 540 gpu, which is superior in gaming than any single core phones in the market plus with overclocking (1.6 ghz) and installing custom kernel I was able to increase the gpu capability and now it scores on par with tegra 2 in benchmarks. This is applicable to Vibrant too.
My suggestions:

* Motorola Defy - 14.3 k - 3.7 inch screen LCD capacitive 16M colors. Excellent custom roms available in the market to customize. It has 800 MHz processor that can be overclocked to 1 GHz. But the GPU is weak so while you can play some 2d and 3d, the current intensive 3d games would struggle to play. But you can upgrade to gingerbread thanks to lots and lots of custom ROM available in the market. You can buy Defy from online like Letsbuy or Flipkart. You can also go to any major electronics retailer.

* Samsung Captivate and Vibrant - 15.5 k - 4 inch screen Super Amoled Screen with unlimited viewing angles. Also has excellent custom roms available in the market to mod. It already has 1 GHz processor. The Gpu is PowerVr SGX 540 which is more powerful than Moto Defy GPU and also the powerful GPU available among the single core phones in the market. But the great thing is with so many custom rom and kernels available, I was successfully able to upgrade my Captivate to 2.3.5, overclock it to 1.6 GHz and also overclocked the GPU. Now my GPU is even faster than regular Captivate and Vibrant. Now the benchmarks shows my Captivate to be on par with dual core phones. You can buy Captivate or Vibrant for the price here in TE. I would suggest you to buy here in TE as it is more reliable. I got my captivate from here.

Always please look for any phones with Adrenos 205 or PowerVr SGX 540, preferrably PowerVr SGX 540 for incredible gaming experience. For other requirements, any decent mid range phone can handle.

 

[setonfire]

Thanks a lot aradhakr84 for that. I can extend my budget to 22 thousand if need be. However, I haven't used a smartphone before and I am not sure if I will be able to derive optimum value from my investment. As of now the things I would like to do would be to read books on it, surf the web, use evernote, play scrabble, listen to music and audiobooks, play around with the GPS. Maybe try out a Civilization like strategy game.

I am preparing for an exam in November for which a lot of material is available online. Besides, I am currently posted to a place without fast internet connection. The best available is Vodafone EDGE. Using this on my laptop is very slow. Opera mini does a better job.

Aradhakr84, how did you get your captivate from TE? Was it new? Group order?

Is importing a hassle?

Your pick between Captivate and Vibrant?

The 4inch super amoled screen is super sweet and I deem the extra thousand bucks well spent. But I would be without warranty, am I correct?

finally, aradhakr84, I know this is too much to ask but could you help me with getting captivate/vibrant?

 

[desiibond]

I think a Defy for 14.5k is more than enough for your needs. it has a very good display for reading, powerful GPU and huge support from 3rd party devs. For the saved amount, you can get a good IEM and an extra battery pack in case you use it heavily.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

do note that amoled is great for video playback and Defy's TFT LCD is much better for reading than AMOLED.

 

[aradhakr84]

I got my captivate from a TE member here. The member was in Kolkata and shipped it to Bangalore. So it was in excellent condition and it was not a group order. I had to order a captivate, since my original one was stolen.

Importing is not a hassle but involves lot of steps and also requires you to have to be patient. I usually never import myself since I live between Denver and Bangalore.

My pick is captivate because of design only. The vibrant looks like an iphone but captivate looks a whole lot different. Also it has metal battery door. So it is of personal preference only. Vibrant and Captivate has same hardware and software.

That is the problem. See, I keep captivate and other phones because I have to travel to Denver as I am here in India on visa basis. So worst case something happens to it, I can get it repaired for free if within the one year. But in your case, which I do not know, it might be difficult if you do not travel there. So using a phone without warranty is risky no matter how much money you spend. It is all about taking risk. So being careful would be logical.

You can buy a Galaxy S for 20k from online with 1 year warranty and peace of mind. After all it is same as other models. The international galaxy S is the father of all Galaxy S models IMO You still get the Super Amoled and 4 inch screen, which is super sweet as you said

Else, my other advice for you is to go with Nexus S. It is cheaper and is available for 18.9k with 1 year warranty. It is an google phone with 4 inch super lcd screen. Super lcd screen is also good, only difference is super amoled has accurate dark colors while super lcd has accurate light colors. It is an developer phone with excellent design and gets updates directly from google so you are taken care of. While we have to mod galaxy s, nexus s will be the first model to get the next Ice cream sandwich update.

Nexus S Specs -http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_google_nexus_s_i9023-3910.php

Nexus S deal at ebay - NEW SAMSUNG GOOGLE NEXUS S i9023 16GB ANDROID2.3 Mobile | eBay

I can definitely help you get one, if you are interested in captivate or vibrant. Please PM me and we can discuss. Also be sure to check TE member's market as there are phones like this always on sale.