Shripad
ex-Mod
There are some competent entry level phones in the market.
There is Optimus Net, Optimus Pro, HTC Explorer. All are more than decent for 10k price range.
If you are considering Focus which will obviously be imported, you can also consider G2x (American Optimus 2X). You can have one for about $250-260 range now on ebay.
There would have been lot of other options had it not been for the inflated US$ price.
Its not like there are no good options. There are plenty of options out there. But the transformation the mobile industry went through in last 2 years is making us feel that we dont get good options like before.
Everyone is comparing it with Nokia N series phones, but if you look at the specifications, those high end phones offered very little over their cheaper cousins. There was not even a resolution bump in most cases.
In last 2 years the bar has been raised considerably due to launch of superphones which offer considerably more than what we were used to.
And as always we want everything at cheaper prices which frankly is not possible.
With Dell XCD 35 you do get high resolution screen but weaker SOC.
With other options, you get better overall package, but the gap in performance, features and prices between these mainstream / midbudget phones and high end phones is very high and its high because there is huge difference in the performance and features between these phones. This gap is much larger now than in days of Symbian era.
Windows Phone 7 is another story because the relative restrictive nature of the hardware platform which is what makes a focus very good bang for the buck. But the platform has its own shares of issues and limitations which tested my patience until recently where I simply decided enough is enough and ditched Focus as my secondary phone. But its still a good phone and meets OP's requirements.
The only reason Focus was even available at $200-230 price range on ebay was its contract price which was lower. The phone is not suppose to be this cheap, but because of the way the american market works, we can buy this phone at this price. Few months back you could have bagged a new focus for less than $200, but now sellers know its hot selling device and brand new ones are now fetching more than $200 on ebay.
On the other hand G2X is now available at very competitive price and had it not been the costly $ would have been great sub 15k phone. I would still take it over focus as it is a better phone which is worth $20-30 more than focus on relatively more matured platform with great support from developers.
And yeah if you are open to grey market stuff there is Xperia Ray available for close to 16k which is great little device for that price.
There is Optimus Net, Optimus Pro, HTC Explorer. All are more than decent for 10k price range.
If you are considering Focus which will obviously be imported, you can also consider G2x (American Optimus 2X). You can have one for about $250-260 range now on ebay.
There would have been lot of other options had it not been for the inflated US$ price.
Its not like there are no good options. There are plenty of options out there. But the transformation the mobile industry went through in last 2 years is making us feel that we dont get good options like before.
Everyone is comparing it with Nokia N series phones, but if you look at the specifications, those high end phones offered very little over their cheaper cousins. There was not even a resolution bump in most cases.
In last 2 years the bar has been raised considerably due to launch of superphones which offer considerably more than what we were used to.
And as always we want everything at cheaper prices which frankly is not possible.
With Dell XCD 35 you do get high resolution screen but weaker SOC.
With other options, you get better overall package, but the gap in performance, features and prices between these mainstream / midbudget phones and high end phones is very high and its high because there is huge difference in the performance and features between these phones. This gap is much larger now than in days of Symbian era.
Windows Phone 7 is another story because the relative restrictive nature of the hardware platform which is what makes a focus very good bang for the buck. But the platform has its own shares of issues and limitations which tested my patience until recently where I simply decided enough is enough and ditched Focus as my secondary phone. But its still a good phone and meets OP's requirements.
The only reason Focus was even available at $200-230 price range on ebay was its contract price which was lower. The phone is not suppose to be this cheap, but because of the way the american market works, we can buy this phone at this price. Few months back you could have bagged a new focus for less than $200, but now sellers know its hot selling device and brand new ones are now fetching more than $200 on ebay.
On the other hand G2X is now available at very competitive price and had it not been the costly $ would have been great sub 15k phone. I would still take it over focus as it is a better phone which is worth $20-30 more than focus on relatively more matured platform with great support from developers.
And yeah if you are open to grey market stuff there is Xperia Ray available for close to 16k which is great little device for that price.
(Kidding) but seriously,every device has its own pros and cons so there is NO point in debating b/w phones and their platforms
