Budget 20-25K Sony Xperia SP or Samsung Galaxy S3 or Moto G :P

Corleone

Corleone

Adept
1. Budget?
A: ~ 20-22K
2. Preferred Form Factor(flip, bar, slider)?
A: Bar
3. Preferred display type?
A: TFT
4. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them.
A: Leaning towards the Sony as I like my wife's Xperia P
5. Preferred input method (Touchscreen, QWERTY, etc.)?
A: Touchscreen
6. Camera required or not? If required, please specify type like front camera/flash/etc.
A: Preferably 8MP, Front camera and Flash
7. Preferred operating system? (Android, Symbian, iOS, Windows Phone etc).
A: Android with surety of KitKat 4.4 update lined up
8. Preferred connectivity options? (3G, Wifi, Edge etc).
A: 3G & Wifi
9. What is your intended use for this phone(internet, camera, multimedia, mails, etc)?
A: Calling, Conference calls, Roaming, Emails, Messaging, Surfing
10. Any other requirements?
A: Must have superb Network Latching ability
11. If you have already considered a phone then please mention the model.
A: Xperia SP or Galaxy S3

The most important thing is ability to latch to networks (2g & 3g) without any issues and Call clarity (in ear & speaker) as I travel a lot and mostly talk on conference calls.
 
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S3 is the clear choice here!
Your wife's xperia p is an awesome phone( i had one for 4 months then gave it to my brother as his phone had conked out and he wanted an awesome camera phone - the xperia p in his opinion is awesome too). However the Xperia SP aint so ironclad! It may have better internals than the P but i still found the phone a tad too finicky!
The S3 on the other hand is a proven phone! Been the top of the line till the s4 appeared and still continues to sell a lot (custom rom community is freaking huge!). So even if you dont get the 4.4 update officially you can always resort to better roms for more functionality ( personally i hate touchwiz , samsung should really get adults to design their UI).

At your price bracket, get the S3 cause it can still hammer the daylights out of the SP. S3 has awesome call quality and clarity. A large number of my friends are using it and they have never had a complaint about it till date. Also the camera on the S3 is an added plus point as it leaves the SP miles behind in photography :)
 
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suhailkhan said:
^ Go for Grand 2 only if you want a large screen. Otherwise as I mentioned, 1GB of ram in S3 is quite enough for regular usage. And you get a sharper and sturdy screen with the phone size feeling not too big. Haven't used this phone too much on roaming, but for a couple of times I went outside state, did not face any network issues. For last so many yrs I have been using Airtel 2g (10 months on S3)and never faced too many issues. But couple of months back i switched to Docomo 3g (since airtel is not giving 3g in Mah) and I am facing frequent disconnections (after maybe 30-40 mins). I wonder if this is operator related.
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Airtel aint giving 3G cause they had their license cancelled for 3G distribution because they violated the terms. They use Vodafone's 3G network by paying them! Also Docomo has weird service at places. I had a DOCOMO sim and it worked well for two months after that it never caught a proper signal for anything.
 
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blr_p said:
yes, my mistake.[DOUBLEPOST=1391498680][/DOUBLEPOST]How long do intend to hold onto the phone before your next upgrade ?

How much does outdoors visibility matter ?
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A sturdy performance is only what matters. I'll generally use it till it works fine. Outdoor visibility okay - can manage. Even if I travel a lot I'm mostly indoors when calling - i.e., car or so - so that will not be an issue.

I see there are many who are vouching for the S3 :)
 
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I have an SP, mom had an S3 before upgrading to Note 2.

SP over S3 -
Faster performance
Neat, clean and lag free UI
Fantastic build quality and sleek looks
Better battery performance
Volume button on right (doesn't interfere with flip covers like S3)

S3 over SP-
Better screen quality (a little too over saturated though)
Camera performance is far better
Better dev support
Better accessory support/compatibility
Better WiFi

50/50-
S3 has Android 4.3 - SP is to get 4.3 this week/next week. Both may get 4.4
SP has better sound quality than the S3 but the volume is kinda lower than S3.
S3 had quite a few random app force close issues (especially with that inbuilt goddamn flipboard app) - SP randomly kills apps in the background for no reason.
S3 - SP both over heat during gaming. SP I felt overheated more.

Personally I see no reason to get the S3 unless display and camera performance really mean something to you. Also, consider Nexus 4, Sony Xperia ZR, LG Optimus G and Note 2.

Edit -
#1 - Considering your usage, both will do the job equally good. I've not used the S3 with 3G, but if I remember correctly- S3 had a switch in the notification bar to switch between 2G/3G which would very useful because in SP you have to manually go to 'Settings>Mobile>Set network to' to jump between 2G/3G. Small issue but worth mentioning. Also added that SP has poor WiFi reception compared to S3.

#2 - OMG don't listen to all the Samsung fangirls here. The guy who posted a few posts above me, makes me wonder if he's even seen an SP. Go to Croma or a Samsung/Sony showroom and try out both phones and see for yourself.
 
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shanx said:
Airtel aint giving 3G cause they had their license cancelled for 3G distribution because they violated the terms. They use Vodafone's 3G network by paying them! Also Docomo has weird service at places. I had a DOCOMO sim and it worked well for two months after that it never caught a proper signal for anything.
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I was getting worried if this is related to my phone. I don't face the signal issue at most of the places but the new place I am shifting to has severe network woes for docomo.

Coming back to topic, I have been using S3 from last 1 year and would recommend it wholeheartedly.
 
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Corleone said:
A sturdy performance is only what matters. I'll generally use it till it works fine.
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1 yr, 2 yrs, more ?

It will work fine s long as you replace the battery when required. Thing is are your computing requirements going to increase or not. Most people cannot answer this question so they go for something 'capable' for at least 2 years if not longer.

Corleone said:
I see there are many who are vouching for the S3 :)
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That is why i asked.

Look at what you proposed. A 2 yr old flagship and a mid range from last year. Your budget is midrange.

I sense there is a plateau approaching as far as tech and innovation is concerned. it's not as rapid as it was last year or two years ago. This means a mid-range today is good enough for 2 more years. Whereas a year or two ago it would have been harder. cannot upgrade to later os because of tech limitations.
 
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I had actually liked SP but, heard about following issues:
  • Battery doesn't last long
  • Wi-Fi issues
  • Camera
  • Low volume
That is the reason I stretched my budget for S3.

I was also considering Xperia P but, it won't be updated anymore and battery is a bit of less capacity. Otherwise it's a solid phone as well.
 
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@RD274 umm which guy?

Also the SP has great internals and beats the S3 in raw power! However the S3 is a class by itself! As per the OP's requirements, the S3 will do him justice!

Also dev support is really awesome for the S3! So he will get a few of the later updates!
 
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shanx said:
@RD274 umm which guy?

Also the SP has great internals and beats the S3 in raw power! However the S3 is a class by itself! As per the OP's requirements, the S3 will do him justice!

Also dev support is really awesome for the S3! So he will get a few of the later updates!
Click to expand...

I dunno man. Some guy who posted a couple of posts above mine.
 
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Corleone said:
I had actually liked SP but, heard about following issues:
  • Battery doesn't last long
  • Wi-Fi issues
  • Camera
  • Low volume
That is the reason I stretched my budget for S3.

I was also considering Xperia P but, it won't be updated anymore and battery is a bit of less capacity. Otherwise it's a solid phone as well.
Click to expand...

- Battery is a mixed bag. Like its cousins the N4, Optimus G and ZR - battery life is extremely good so long as you keep to idle and light tasks. Fire up a game or an intensive application and watch the battery life drop in minutes (not to mention the overheating). Although the SP is slightly better as its only dual core and not quad core like its cousins.

- Wi-Fi signal is the only issue and its quite bad. It quite literally has 3/4th the range of every other device in the house (S3, Note 2, Lumia 920, Transformer Infinity, ip5). Don't know if this is software or hardware.

- Camera is decent in daylight. Night imaging is bad. HD Video however is good, consistent 24fps at FHD. Its not as bad as you think cause the camera software is quite good but nowhere close to the S3.

- Low Volume. Well its not that bad cause the quality is there. If you're looking for ear jarring loud music then look elsewhere. Speaker is clear but reasonably loud, not as loud as S3 though.

Avoid P, old hardware and its on its way out. If not SP, then look at ZR. Its 26ish though. Or grab a Note 2 on emi for 28 if that offer is still on.
 
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RD274 said:
- Battery is a mixed bag. Like its cousins the N4, Optimus G and ZR - battery life is extremely good so long as you keep to idle and light tasks. Fire up a game or an intensive application and watch the battery life drop in minutes (not to mention the overheating). Although the SP is slightly better as its only dual core and not quad core like its cousins.

- Wi-Fi signal is the only issue and its quite bad. It quite literally has 3/4th the range of every other device in the house (S3, Note 2, Lumia 920, Transformer Infinity, ip5). Don't know if this is software or hardware.

- Camera is decent in daylight. Night imaging is bad. HD Video however is good, consistent 24fps at FHD. Its not as bad as you think cause the camera software is quite good but nowhere close to the S3.

- Low Volume. Well its not that bad cause the quality is there. If you're looking for ear jarring loud music then look elsewhere. Speaker is clear but reasonably loud, not as loud as S3 though.

Avoid P, old hardware and its on its way out. If not SP, then look at ZR. Its 26ish though. Or grab a Note 2 on emi for 28 if that offer is still on.
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Thanks for the detailed reply. WiFi is a downer then. By low volume I mean call volume not music. Will have a look at the other models you mentioned but, they are off my budget as of now. :(
 
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xtremevicky said:
There was a statement from Sony yesterday that SP wont be getting the 4.4 update.
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Not sure who to believe. The SP was supposed to get 4.3 in December and 4.4 in the near future with the Z-series, but sadly it hasn't got even 4.3 till today. Now when the rest of the Z series eventually gets 4.4 who's to tell if the SP gets left behind or updated.
 
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Thats the worst bit. Not much information per model as they assume that everything should work, so I recommend always grabbing the latest FXP build from xda and reading the latest comments on that thread.
 
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