Looking for a cheap phone: 4-5k budget

spindoctor

Skilled
Hey guys

So I'm looking to buy a cheap phone in the 4-5k range approximately. Filling out the template from the sticky -

1. Q: Budget?

A: 4-5k

2. Q: Preferred Form Factor(flip, bar, slider)?

A: No preference

3. Q: Preferred display type?

A: No preference

4. Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them.

A: Preferably brands like Nokia, Samsung, Sony etc. Would prefer to avoid Karbonn, Micromax and those kinds of brands.

5. Q: Preferred input method (Touchscreen, QWERTY, etc.)?

A: No preference

6. Q: Camera required or not? If required, please specify type like front camera/flash/etc.

A: At least a 2MP camera would be nice.

7. Q: Preferred operating system? (Android, Symbian, iOS, Windows Phone etc).

A: No preference

8. Q: Preferred connectivity options? (3G, Wifi, Edge etc).

A: No hard and fast preference. 3G would be nice but at this price point, who knows if it's possible without compromises.

9. Q: What is your intended use for this phone(internet, camera, multimedia, mails, etc)?

A: Calls, texting, radio, taking photographs of heavy machinery (i.e. not very high resolution images required), basic internet browsing (email etc)

10. Q: Any other requirements?

A: Somewhat sober looking phone. Preferably a solid, base colored body. Multi colored body is fine but no rubbish orange with silver streaks or that kind of stuff. It will be used by my dad, not a 13 year old who likes flashy colors :p

11. Q: If you have already considered a phone then please mention the model.

Had a look at a few -

Sony Ericsson Cedar

Nokia C2-01

Samsung chat 335 S3353

Nokia X2-01

Samsung Champ C3303

As you can see, I don't have very particular requirements for the phone. My dad is going to use it, and his priority above all is the price. He just doesn't want to spend more than 5k or so.

All the features are negotiable. He does take photographs of stuff at work so a decent camera would be nice, but he's making do with a 2MP camera right now and I don't think he wants/needs more. Obviously a higher resolution camera would be good but it's not a specific requirement. Heck, he's even willing to settle for less, but I don't think he understands just how bad image quality will be if he settles for a 'VGA camera' that we've been seeing in some of the models we look at.

Other than that, an FM radio would be preferable to listen to while he commutes. I think this is standard for all phones now anyway.

Internet access is something he doesn't currently use on his phone, but he is interested in starting. I'd probably go for basic Vodafone GPRS but it would be nice if the phone could have 3G support as well. 3G isn't a priority though. I'm not sure how useful a QWERTY keyboard would be for him but I feel it would be easier than a touchscreen? Not sure about this, your inputs will be appreciated. Odds are I'd just put a bookmark for his mailbox on the phone and that's it.

Big screen, bright colors, large text size, big buttons etc. would be more preferable to him than the 100 other features younger folks like us look for in a phone.

I've been going through some recommendations on this forum and others and frankly, you can get lost in the number of options available in mobile phones these days. I've listed a few that we found interesting, so I'd appreciate any feedback on these particular models. But we're not limited to them at all... if you guys can suggest anything else, we would definitely be willing to look at them.

Thanks guys
 
^^

I'm using Champ. The touch is not that great as other expensive phones. And camera is poor. The music quality however, cannot be beaten by any other phone in this price range.

ashu_dps said:
:p

Care to elaborate ? Just the fugly kinda look or has it more to add to it ? It seems to be cheap at letsbuy @4.1K
Horrible keypad, not a 5mp standard camera, dumb & aged S40 OS. Need more ?
 
pauldmps said:
^^
I'm using Champ. The touch is not that great as other expensive phones. And camera is poor. The music quality however, cannot be beaten by any other phone in this price range.

Horrible keypad, not a 5mp standard camera, dumb & aged S40 OS. Need more ?

You said it. What else do you expect from a phone price <3.5k with a resistive screen!!! Its got a VGA cam, not some Exmor sensor :p
The stero speakers are awesome and the touch screen i good enough IMO and for that price nothing can beat it for a touch+Music phone.
 
bitspilani said:
How is NOKIA X2 01 ?

it is a good phone but better option is go with samsung chat 322 or as someone suggested lgc310.

reason: x2-01 at present costs around 3.8k while chat322 is 4.3k but in that extra 500-600rs you get lots more what nokia has to offer.

for extra money you get dual sim,optic trackpad,1gb memory card,data cable,1.3 mp camera,longer battery life which are not present in x2-01

so at present i think chat322 is better value for money than x2-01.

later if price of x2-01 reduces below 3.5k you may consider it.

go for chat 322.
 
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