Which phone from US (20k)

H

HelloMan

Adept
OK,

So one of my friends has gone to US. Earlier I was thinking of buying Moto Atrix2 / GNexus or equivalent here in India but now I think it would be better to buy a phone from US as newer phones would be cheaper there. My questions are:

1) Which phone do you suggest buying from US in range of INR 20-22k equivalent. Android / Windows anything would do (Android preferred).
2) What about working frequency? I heard many phone might not work with Indian operators?
3) What can be done about warranty?
4) Where is the best place to buy a phone in US - Amazon? other online retailers? Offline retail stores? Person is in Seattle.

Requirements:
Large battery life
4+" screen on which I can read webpages/documents also
Durable
I dont care about cameras/720p recording or anything fancy.

As of now, I am leaning towards Moto Razrr Maxx
 
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Will just reply to point 2.

Check whether the phone supports the 900 and 2100Mhz spectrum bands. 2100 is required for 3G support. My phone (Inspire 4G) unfortunately doesn't support it...
 
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GSM World Coverage Map- GSM Country List by frequency bands

Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia has GSM 900MHz/1800MHz bands.
Whereas north-america has GSM 850MHz/1900MHz bands.

All the GSM smartphones and even many feature phones carry quad band GSM ie., 850MHz/900MHz/1800MHz/1900MHz.

For 3G India uses 2100MHz band. So when buying a phone you have to just make sure that the phone supports 2100MHz 3G band.

AT&T uses 850MHz and 1900MHz 3G bands whereas T-Mobile uses 1700MHz/2100MHz bands.
 
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Basically phones are cheaper in US since they are sold by carriers with contract.
The best bet to get such a phone in US is from ebay.com or really cheap and high risk option - craiglist

Warranty is impossible as mostly the carrier warranties are applicable in USA and not transferable.
Also any high end droid phone after 3-4 months of release usually settles at 300-400 $ and dont worry about unlock as initially (first few months after release )cost of unlock is 20-25$ but gradually it settles down.

Check out ebay.com and choose a android that fits in your budget (Condition : New and Seller : Power seller)
 
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I hunted down some deals for you. Afaik, you have 3 phones in your budget which you can get (razr maxx is way out of budget)
1. SGS 2 : Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777 (Latest Model) - 16GB - Black (Unlocked) Smartphone | eBay $400+ 10$ shipping
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SGH-i..._1_5?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1338549869&sr=1-5 (cheapest) $382
Amazon.com: Samsung Galaxy S II - Unlocked - AT&T: Cell Phones & Accessories 403$

2. SG Galaxy Nexus:
New Samsung I9250 Google Galaxy Nexus Quad 5MP 16GB Black Phone 5055147571321 | eBay (very highly reputed seller) (425$ + 18$ shipping)
Amazon.com: Samsung I9250 Galaxy Nexus 16GB (Unlocked): Cell Phones & Accessories $425

3. Moto Droid Razr
Amazon.com: Motorola XT-910 DROID RAZR Unlocked GSM Smartphone with 8 MP Camera, Android OS, Wi-Fi, and GPS--No Warranty (Black): Cell Phones & Accessories $431
(shipping too expensive from ebay sellers for this phone)

I checked that all these phones are new, unlocked, and have usable freq, bands in India, still you might want to check it again.
Regards.
 
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Why buy Galaxy nexus from ebay or amazon. Google itself is selling it unlocked at 399$ from the play store.
rhlravi said:
I hunted down some deals for you. Afaik, you have 3 phones in your budget which you can get (razr maxx is way out of budget)
1. SGS 2 : Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777 (Latest Model) - 16GB - Black (Unlocked) Smartphone | eBay $400+ 10$ shipping
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SGH-i..._1_5?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1338549869&sr=1-5 (cheapest) $382
Amazon.com: Samsung Galaxy S II - Unlocked - AT&T: Cell Phones & Accessories 403$

2. SG Galaxy Nexus:
New Samsung I9250 Google Galaxy Nexus Quad 5MP 16GB Black Phone 5055147571321 | eBay (very highly reputed seller) (425$ + 18$ shipping)
Amazon.com: Samsung I9250 Galaxy Nexus 16GB (Unlocked): Cell Phones & Accessories $425

3. Moto Droid Razr
Amazon.com: Motorola XT-910 DROID RAZR Unlocked GSM Smartphone with 8 MP Camera, Android OS, Wi-Fi, and GPS--No Warranty (Black): Cell Phones & Accessories $431
(shipping too expensive from ebay sellers for this phone)

I checked that all these phones are new, unlocked, and have usable freq, bands in India, still you might want to check it again.
Regards.
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks People. I am gonna use go for GNex I guess.
But seriously I was of the opinion that phones there would be like 5k cheaper than here!

Also, TE is more of TrollEnclave now a days! :p
 
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I was just doing some maths and rupee devaluation is playing the spoilsport. The GNex is coming to 24.5k (shipping within US) whereas Galaxy S2 also costs around the same. GNex has no warranty while SGS2 will have warranty. Now I am stalled.
 
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