Help me choose Android or WP7

Regular Usage:

1. Surfing - Great if i get opera mini working on it (Surfing on GPRS and Wifi)
2. Music - Need a decent music player.. not a audio freak, but something decent
3. Storage - 8GB minimum but more preferred
4. Apps support to keep me glued.. Some light games, nothing very graphic intensive but a 1Ghz proci looks like bare minimum these days

Occasional

1. Watching movies while traveling, dvdrips.. hence require close to 4 inch screen
2. Reading pdf (very rarely), need pdf support
3. GPS and offline Maps (very rarely)
Budget: around 12K, open to get from US via SnS

Please suggest... WP7 samsung focus would have been ideal choice but it does not support dvdrips formats (DivX,Xvid) and no opera mini.. want to hear from your experiences..

regards
neo
 
For your usage I can suggest Android phones.

1) Apps are plenty in Android compared to Windows. Also most of the Apps that are free in Android/iOS cost money in Windows. That too expensive. Lets say you find a App or game that is expensive or cost money in Android. What you can do is google for the app online as there are various blogs and websites that offer this paid apps to download for free. You can download the app/game and then add it your phone through USB. It is called sideloading apps to your phone. That is not offered in Windows. So if you want to buy apps or games in Windows, either you have to pay or wait till it becomes free. Also there is no official support for Windows Marketplace in India.

2) Browsing seems to be better with Windows with upcoming Mango update. But Android is also good.

3) Storage is good in Android because you have the option of adding external SD card upto 32gb. Not only that, you can also temporarily store files on your phone. With Windows you get 16gb or 8gb option and that is it. But you cannot store files to your phone, only sync music/movies/files through Zune

4) Music seems to be similar on both platform phones

5) You need Android phone if you want to watch DVD Rip movies, RMVB, MKV, MP4 or any files. With excellent video playback apps from Android market like VPlayer Pro, Rockplayer you can play any files with ease. I tend to rip my DVD collection and watch it in my Android phone while travelling. With Windows you cannot.

Unfortunately for your budget, you might not get a great Android phone to experience what Android has to offer. But I believe Android would suit you more. That is IMHO.
 
For that budget, the best option is Spime M410. It has 4"+ scree with 800*480 res, 1Ghz proccy for even 720p smooth playback and good battery life. You can flash the rom to something better if needed, but the stock one aint that bad. It sells for around 13k now.
 
aradhakr84 said:
^^ True, Spice Mi-410 has excellent hardware that can give you pleasurable Android experience. Here is a thread where members (Spice Mi-410 users) discuss about anything and everything about Mi-410 - http://www.techenclave.com/mobile-phones/spice-mi-410-smartphone-1ghz-snapdragon-190441.html

Spice Mi-410 doesnt give a pleasurable experience rather its a nightmare, out of handful of Mi-410 owners on TE, most of them are facing hardware issues, even i got my friend a Mi-410 and the camera hardware problem started in the first month itself, i wont recommend this phone to anyone now :no:
 
With regard to - Windows Phone 7:

Regular Usage:
1. Surfing - Mango is around the corner and trust me IE9 is fantastic. Perhaps its one the best browser on all of the mobile OS's right now. The formatting is next to perfect and almost every site opens PERFECTLY; Yes, even the full Facebook. Although Flash isn't available, imo its not that bad a thing as most of the Flash content I see are either advertisments or promotional banners. It works great on my Vodafone EDGE connection as well.

2. Music - Zune media player is really neat. UI wise its easily one of the best stock media player on all of the mobile OSs although you're better of using an American Live ID as an Indian Live ID won't work properly and you'll lose some features such as Live Backgrounds, Smart DJ, Zune Media Info and Zune Marketplace in the Media Player. Transferring songs via the Zune PC software is pretty smooth although it is the only transfer medium ... there is no mass storage so you can't drag and drop.

3. Storage - I think you will be very disappointed in this. While most WP7 phones have atleast 8gb, you cannot remove the memory card in them as the card becomes locked if you do. You will have to reset your phone to use the card in your phone again. Furthermore, there is no mass storage so forget File Explorer Apps, USB Mass Storage, Drag and Dropping music, videos, etc.

4. Apps support - Apps are steadily improving. There is a lot less of crapware in Marketplace in comparison to iOS and Android and almost all of the good apps are not free but there are some good apps in between. Also, almost all the good gamers are unfortunately Xbox Live games which are all paid apps (except Minesweeper and some silly flower puzzle game). Cracked apps can be installed on a jailbroken phone but even those cracked apps aren't easily available.

Occasional

1. Watching movies while traveling, dvdrips - This can be a pain to work with if your content is of a unique file formats like mkv as Zune doesn't support it and it can't convert and transfer it to your phone. You will need to convert it via a 3rd party software like Xilisoft VC Ultimate and then transfer the file to the phone via Zune.

2. Reading pdf - WP7 has Adobe Reader so no problem with that. Although you wouldn't be able to transfer it to your phone via Zune. You'd have to email the PDF to yourself and then open it in Adobe Reader afaik.

3. GPS and offline Maps - WP7 comes with Bing Maps which doesn't have a lot of features like Offline Maps and voice navigation. I'm guessing that there is an offline maps app in the Marketplace though.
 
neomustdie said:
Budget: around 12K, open to get from US via SnS

manu1991 said:
If you are willing to spend 15-16k, you can get the LG Optimus G2x via SnS. Otherwise Mi410 is a good option.

Sorry for the OT but what is SnS? search to google leading to many other things, techenclave not allowing to search a 3 alpha word.

Does SnS shands for shop and ship???

if yes, can u please advise on the custom duties etc? if we can get cheap US electronics here even i am interested in SNS if its legal and safe.
 
thanks for the great inputs..

1. surfing - both

2. music - both

3. apps - i am ok with paid apps.. but android has the upper hand..

4. movies - android

5. pdf - both. again android have upper hand

6. gps / offline maps - no solution yet.. i might keep my current phone nokia 5800 for that :)

now.. value for money.. wp7 takes the cake.. samsung focus for around 9 - 11k.. what i the nearest android phone that would match my needs.. how is samsung galaxy s..??

edit : checking LG Optimus G2x review and ebay in the meantime

regards neo
 
Value for money, nothing beats Samsung Focus IMHO. A smartphone with a decent hardware for 11k is not something to be overlooked at. It is up to you to see if you are willing to up your budget or overlook the movies/apps requirements. Not that Windows is bad.

Also pdf is equally good in Windows 7. I have tested out my dad's HD7 and the adobe reader is good. So only Apps and movies should be your concern.

Have a read of review of Samsung Focus by a TE member: http://www.techenclave.com/reviews-and-previews/samsung-focus-wp7-mango-beta-2-a-197622.html

Nearest phone that would match your needs:

Sony Xperia - Rs 12989
Specs - Sony Ericsson Xperia mini - Full phone specifications
Price - Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini ST15i | Sony Ericsson Mobile Phones | Saholic.com
Advantages - 1 Ghz second generation powerful processor with Adrenos 205 GPU for exceptional gaming, Movies on the go with any files, Exceptional camera with HD video capture, Bravia Engine reality display
Disadvantages - Small 3 inch screen so do not know if it might be smaller.

Spice Mi-410 - Rs 12999
Specs - Spice Mi-410 - Full phone specifications
Price - Spice Mi-410 | Spice Mobile Phones | Saholic.com
Advantages - 4.1 inch screen, 1 Ghz second generation powerful processor with Adrenos 205 GPU for exceptional gaming, Movies on the go with any files, Decent camera with HD video capture.
Disadvantages - SPICE BRANDING AND REPUTATION, Some hardware issues popping up suddenly
 
neomustdie said:
Regular Usage:

1. Surfing - Great if i get opera mini working on it (Surfing on GPRS and Wifi)

2. Music - Need a decent music player.. not a audio freak, but something decent

3. Storage - 8GB minimum but more preferred

4. Apps support to keep me glued.. Some light games, nothing very graphic intensive but a 1Ghz proci looks like bare minimum these days

Occasional

1. Watching movies while traveling, dvdrips.. hence require close to 4 inch screen

2. Reading pdf (very rarely), need pdf support

3. GPS and offline Maps (very rarely)

Budget: around 12K, open to get from US via SnS

Please suggest... WP7 samsung focus would have been ideal choice but it does not support dvdrips formats (DivX,Xvid) and no opera mini.. want to hear from your experiences..

regards

neo

spend a little more and get htc hd2 and keep switchin between wp6.5 wp7 android meego ubuntu etc etc. :D :D

i have it and im loving it . :D

i have a spare 1 too if needed :p
 
chaitu.genius said:
^^^
No, Even though WP7 is said to have inbuilt support for DivX playback,none of the WP7 phones except the Dell Venue Pro have this feature.
I dunno why it is like that but that is true.
Check phonearena.com
Also the list of supported formats of WP7 is shown here and this does not include Divx
Supported Media Codecs for Windows Phone

No actually MS has confused people. It supports a few formats like MP3, WMA, WMV, MP4 (Not DivX) natively but with the Zune PC software it supports additional formats like DivX. All Zune does it convert it to a suitable format (H.264 I guess) and then syncs it to the phone.
buddingwhizkid said:
spend a little more and get htc hd2 and keep switchin between wp6.5 wp7 android meego ubuntu etc etc. :D :D
i have it and im loving it . :D
i have a spare 1 too if needed :p
Ditto. I'm loving my HTC HD2 atm. Just wished the devs got the remaining issues fixed up :)

gREen said:
you forget something, it even support windows7 tooo :cool2:

hahah no it doesn't support W7.
 
RD274 said:
No actually MS has confused people. It supports a few formats like MP3, WMA, WMV, MP4 (Not DivX) natively but with the Zune PC software it supports additional formats like DivX. All Zune does it convert it to a suitable format (H.264 I guess) and then syncs it to the phone.

But the Dell Venue Pro supports native Divx AFAIK
 
So many choices.. I thought it would be samsung focus vs one similar specs android phone.. Now i am more confused..

1. Total VFM + some compromises.. Samsung Focus.. Wont go for Dell Venue Pro - don't like keypad and only benefit is DivX compatibility..

2. Total usability - Android, probable model LG Optimus G2 (to check, 8 MP cam and dual core is tempting)

3. HTC HD2 - dual boot.. wow.. any idea will HTC HD2 support Mango update.. now that hardware buttons are not required..??

Regards Neo
 
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