New phone for my wife

E

Emil

Skilled
Questions:-
1. Q: Budget?
A: 5-15k

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

3. Q: Preferred display type?
A: Not particular as long as it is decent

4. Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them.
A: None but I would prefer to avoid the Indian made in China brands.

5. Q: Preferred input method (Touchscreen, QWERTY, etc.)?
A: QWERTY is preferred but a good soft qwerty on a touchscreen may also do if the display is big enough

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

7. Q: Preferred operating system? (Android, Symbian, iOS, Windows Phone etc).
A: The phone has to be rock stable without having to be a tech geek

8. Q: Preferred connectivity options? (3G, Wifi, Edge etc).
A: EDGE essential, Wifi desirable, 3G bonus.

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

10. Q: Any other requirements?
A: Great battery life.

11. Q: If you have already considered a phone then please mention the model.
A: Asha 302 but put off mainly by the poor camera spec

My wife currently uses the C6-00 and the hanging, freezing, out of memory, etc is a big frustration. She even goes so far as to say she wants to go back to her previous Nokia 6303 until I remind her it doesn't support WhatsApp

Alternatively, if someone here has a suggestion how the C6-00 problem can be fixed, that would be fine too. I guess I could try uninstalling applications she doesn't need. Is there a tool for cleaning up?
 
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first narrow the budget. 5 will bring you a very basic smartphone or a feature phone whereas 15k will fetch a mobile with big screen and features.

At 15k, Xperia U unless 8GB memory is way too less for her.
 
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@killmastern3 - let me check it out
@EAGLE GANG - that article is over a year old and doesn't answer my need. It is more about eyecandy
@sam811- the range is intentionally high. On the one hand, I am afraid android may not be suitable for her. The phone is a purely functional need unlike for you and me perhaps. The phone has got to be rock solid software. So a S40 may also work if it supports WhatsApp. On the other hand if a QWERTY is absent then a large display and a soft QWERTY is needed for her use.
 
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Then, do consider the WP devices as well. The Lumia 710 for instance.

The best solution would be to take your wife to the outlet, try out some of the Android and WP devices and choose what best suits her. Ladies may not be exactly comfortable with Android devices given the nature of the OS and the UI. Just a thought!
 
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@Gannu- WP is very much on my mind. I thought of Lumia 710 and the Samsung Omnia. I was also kind of pinning hopes on the Lumia 610 but the indicative price at launch makes it less VFM than the 710.
One negative- I thought the WP would be better with battery than the androids but that doesn't seem to be the case.
I am planning to take her to Croma and let her use the phones. She has tried out the soft QWERTY on my Galaxy S2 and is OK with it. I am not sure how comfortable the soft QWERTY would be with the 320x480 displays like the Ace and Explorer.
Ideally, she would love to continue using the C6-00 if the issues are taken care of.
So anyone can suggest solutions?
Maybe some tools to clean uninstall or move apps to the card memory.

---------- Post added at 11:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ----------

OK one more piece of info.
These days, my wife and I are away from each other a lot. For instance, we have moved from Mumbai to Pune a year ago but she has hardly been in Pune for about 3 months of that time. She has been in Canada and Mumbai the rest of the time. When we are together, I immediately resolve problems she has on her C6 but I can't do much remotely. That is why the phone stability and ease of use is of the utmost importance. Preferably out of the box but then I can always set it up for her.
Also considering the Nokia 500 or even a low end BB Curve like 8520 or 9220 without a BB service.
 
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@Gannu and Emil whatsapp application is not optimized fr windows phone it has bugs and issues.
HAd it been glitch free i would have suggested to go for samsung focus.

For now u can look into xperia mini pro. It has querty slider which will take care of her texting needs.
 
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@aquaticbullet - Yeah the Xperia mini pro looks like a good bet except for the relatively poor battery spec even for an android. Also just saw the release of the Galaxy Appeal i827 may be imminent. That seems even better. Only concern - Android v/s my wife :)
Any comments about the Nokia E5?
 
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Why not get her a SGS 2, from the market here folks are selling it for 17-18k?

Android devices require some sort of "soft" maintenance, you have to keep tinkering around with the OS and apps to have a good and smooth user experience. If you want something which is completely non tech user friendly, go with IOS. A used Iphone 3GS will fit your budget, and everything works perfect out of the box.
 
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Soft QWERTY takes up display real estate. I haven't myself seen how well it renders on that resolution. And how much of message trail is visible when the QWERTY is rendered.

---------- Post added at 12:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:50 PM ----------
vivek.krishnan said:
Give her the s2 and get the s3 or note for yourself
Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express
Click to expand...
:)
Nah the S2 itself is more than i require. No way I would have bought the S2 for myself. I have it because it was gifted to me. S3 would be major overkill.

---------- Post added at 12:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 PM ----------

Also considering the Xperia Pro. Comments welcome as always.
 
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Yesterday we went to a Croma store and she tried out a few phones they had.
In terms of usage comfort, she did not like any of the Portrait mode hard QWERTY phones.
She was more comfortable using the Lumia 610 and 710. Right now her C6 is working fine and she insists she doesn't want to change. So I guess I will have to wait for the next time the C6 drives her to frustration.
I did not much care for the Xperia U as the screen is a bit too small for a soft qwerty and the standard keypad is the ABC DEF type.
 
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Get her the new Blackberry that has radio, will fit all your requirements, has great battery, has whatsapp and doesn't hang unless you tie a rope on it.

P.S. - Blackberry Plans cost a decent chunk of money, do check if you can afford that :p
 
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Emil said:
She was more comfortable using the Lumia 610 and 710.
Click to expand...

Like I said before, ladies might be more inclined towards the WP devices. The interface specifically. We have a few colleagues here who have the Omnia W, Lumia 710/800 and are pretty much satisfied with the device.
 
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montsa007 said:
Get her the new Blackberry that has radio, will fit all your requirements, has great battery, has whatsapp and doesn't hang unless you tie a rope on it.

P.S. - Blackberry Plans cost a decent chunk of money, do check if you can afford that :p
Click to expand...
As I mentioned in my last post, she did not like the portrait mode qwerty devices. Perhaps because she is used to the landscape mode qwerty on her c6.
Also i presume you are not bound to subscribe for a BB plan. Correct me if i am wrong.

---------- Post added at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------
Gannu said:
Like I said before, ladies might be more inclined towards the WP devices. The interface specifically. We have a few colleagues here who have the Omnia W, Lumia 710/800 and are pretty much satisfied with the device.
Click to expand...

We did not really get into the interface all that much. Just tried out the messaging and she liked it on the lumia 610 and 710. Actually she kept typing her initial impression out for each phone she tried without telling me verbally. :)
The Lumia 610 was the only complete positive comment. For 710 she wrote "Beyond my budget" :)
 
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