Why I'm in a tough spot in buying a phone

comp@ddict

comp@ddict

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First of all, I started a new thread and decided not to continue my old thread because I really need to write a lot in this post, voice my concerns and explain why it's been soo hard for me to buy a phone till now.

I bought my desktop in September 2009. Months after the Athlon II X4 (quad-core) release, and the release month of AMD's formidable HD5800 series graphics card. Desktop hardware quickly gets outdated. Yet even today, July 2012 my desktop remains something formidable. It packs a quad-core, a DX11 class graphics card which can still max out most games and that too at a Full HD resolution. Now you see how future-proof my RIG really looked when I originally bought it? And how much I pat myself for making such a good buying decision.

Down 3 years and I have been researching and researching for that perfect phone to buy. And I will go over some phones:

1. Google Nexus S (13-14k)

Perhaps the best phone according to me in the under-15k budget, this phone got it all. A nice price tag, official Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a HUGE community support. I would have bought it already had it not been for the other reasons.

2. Google Galaxy Nexus (20-25k)

Perhaps the best phone to buy at all, this phone takes the got-it-all of Nexus and adds more to that too. The price tag is tad high, but hardly too much considering how good the phone is. The only sad part is that a phone of this cost should have warranty too. It's simply a big risk having a 20k+ phone which might go kaput followed by your brains frying.

3. Windows Phone 8 (?? k)

Nokia is hosting Nokia World from September 5. It is rumored that Nokia will announce 2 WP8 phone on September 5, followed by a global launch on September 7. If that is the case, I simply cannot bring myself to buy another phone if WP8 phones are soo close. I have become a fan ever since I saw Microsoft's WP8 keynote, and I have been dying to buy it. Sadly it cannot launch soon enough. WP8 is something I want. And if it indeed launches in the next 2 months, I would not be able to bring myself to it not waiting enough to buy it. I have an Android device, and it's not as appealing as Windows Phone honestly.

4. Why not other DROIDS?

Xperia Sola - A 18.5k phone which hasn't received its ICS upgrade yet. Add to that nearly ZERO community support. I'm sorry but I simply DON'T see a future in this phone. None at all. Same goes for the Galaxy Ace 2 and the Samsung Galaxy S Advance. It seems the Novathor U8500 chipset based phones are somewhat doomed.

LG Optimus 2X - There was a deal for 14.6k on the LG O2X today. I was really tempted to buy this phone. I probably would have bought it. BUT! I checked really hard on whether this phone is worth it. A phone with no ICS, some ICS ports, no future of Jelly Bean port and terrible support from nVidia in the form of Tegra 2 drivers. This phone would be outdated the moment I buy it. And I refuse to do that.

Karbonn Smart A24 - A much promised phone. To have nearly everything. A big and good display, dual core and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, launching next month. Almost too good to be true. I HAVE to wait and see what happens with this phone, or if it's some flop.

Conclusion

Believe me, I have no intention of waiting. Especially till the end of the year. But the next 2 months seem so exciting and jam-packed, that my curious side simply refuses to let me do anything else. Coin in your opinions. Add phones you believe can make it to the TO-BE-CONSIDERED list or some recent launches which YOU FEEL don't deserve to be considered.
 
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comp@ddict said:
No way Artix 2. Rather LG O2X only as community support for both of them is similar.
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LG O2X was plagued by so many small niggles. Atrix 2 is 1000 times better than it. Atrix 2 has TIOMAP which is much more development friendly than Tegra2. Don't forget official ICS for Atrix 2 is just round the corner

---------- Post added at 02:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:42 PM ----------
JuGGa said:
Present day smart phone wars have made it like that. I still miss the good 'ol days when people didn't cared about the soft updates. And frankly, why the hell phones would need so much updates? Manufacturers are just giving out half baked OS, luring customers in form of "updates" (my foot).
Personally, I can't digest all these hypes of "apps" and "updates". Give me room.
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Updates improve stability, snappiness and bring a lot more features. I don't know about you but I always updated my 5233 and even my W810i used to get updates which had lot of bugfixes. But you are right manufacturers are giving half baked OS
 
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comp@ddict said:
You're missing the point. Each of these updates are bringing soo much more. Look at Gingerbread, then ICS and then Jelly Bean for instance.
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They need so many updates as each ex-update missed soo much more. Can't they launch a near-fully tested OS ? Just look at win 7.5. What in the world did MS thought before releasing it? :| Its just a rats' race, in which everyone is trying to come first without caring about "us".
 
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Dude, you look damn confused.
You are looking for Device with community syupport, then you are looking for WP8.

You need to keep in mind WP is still not mature as Android. I feel you need to know your requirement rather than looking for future proof phones. Talking about future proof, you are looking for Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus. Know you requirements and buy one.

---------- Post added at 03:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:39 PM ----------
JuGGa said:
They need so many updates as each ex-update missed soo much more. Can't they launch a near-fully tested OS ?
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You aare right about half baked OS , but that is the way it is.You need to be at the development end to know how things are developed and modified to reach perfection.
 
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JuGGa it's either a community support Android or a WP8 handset. WP8 handset will get 2 years support from MS directly anyways, especially the Nokia ones. Now you see why I'm not fussing over community support of WP8 handsets?

Here. Have a look at screenshots from the WP8 emulator.
 
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Array it's comp@ddict, not another 'a' in between! That's why you guys never tag me!

After seeing the WP8 SDK emulator, all I can say is... BLEH.

Chuck WP8 man. This sucks. I thought it will be radically different from WP7. Nothing.

I think Next Month either NEXUS S or the Karbonn Jelly Bean one.
 
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@paarkhi - I believe it's 1GB
@aquaticbullet - Probably this thread will end up useful for many looking to buy a future proof phone somewhere in the 12-20k budget.
@F3niX - haha finally :)

I'm completely waiting for Karbonn A24. Yep even ICS is old now. And Jelly Bean requires some hardware power. I think every budget phone releasing with ICS now will never get Jelly Bean too.
 
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Very useful discussion! Travelling in the same boat as comp@ddict...dont have 30k to buy a smart phone which is called outdated in less than 2yrs. So even i watch out for new phones & updates & also more eagerly wait for their prices to drop.
My pick is Samsung Galaxy nexus...but it will be in my comfort zone of 15 to 20k, once the new nexus (next gen) is out. May be u can take risk of buying it which is not under warranty, 25k is too costly to take a risk without warranty. I was checking in expansys..its price 26k incl shipping..but add 3.5% if u r paying thru creditcard
Karbon..pls nooo.... & atrix 2 i will definetely consider..but bulky?? is it?
 
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comp@ddict said:
Yep even ICS is old now. And Jelly Bean requires some hardware power. I think every budget phone releasing with ICS now will never get Jelly Bean too.
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This is not true. Most phones receiving an official update or having shipped with ICS in the first place, should technically receive the JB update since it's an incremental update over ICS unlike ICS over GB. Although, some manufacturers will skimp out on providing JB for their old(er) handsets due to marketing reasons (Sony has announced that last year's Arc S and Xperia Mini won't be getting JB), on a hardware front whatever could run ICS can run JB too. Hell, my ancient Blade runs on JB smoother than it used to run on ICS or GB. And this is an alpha ROM we are talking about!

One thing that irks me is that manufacturers abandon phones like some would abandon their illegitimate children within 12 months of its release. While it's horrendous from an ethical standpoint, it also doesn't make marketing sense as one would not want to buy a phone from the same manufacturer in the future.
 
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^
HTC has announced that their 2012 One V that came with ICS out of the box won't get JB. So I really don't agree with you there. I am with comp@ddict on this one. Only the high end phones will receive JB update.
 
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Choosing a phone in my opinion is a very difficult matter. The number of obstacles you might face in selecting a phone is a lot as well. I think choosing a wife might be easier.

At the same time, I'll tell you this, I'm a very happy owner of a motodefy.

I got this phone now around 500 days back for 16k. When I received it I'll be sure to tell you I was a frickin Android noob. I knew next to nothing about this platform and it's greatness.

So, when I received the phone it was on 2.1, in a few months after that it received an official 2.2 update. The love from Motorola ended there. For a bit there I thought maybe I bought the wrong phone. But then I was introduced to custom roms and right now there's a VERY GOOD rom of even 4.1 (cm10) for the defy.

I intend to keep this phone as long as I can cause it really is awesome. On top of that there's no other good/Hardy phone as the mb525. Other competitors of this phone from the time when I bought it are nowhere to be seen (in terms of support, Max to Max they received 2.3).

So in short I'll say get whatever phone you can get which has great support on xda. That's it. If you do you can be sure to be up to date on the Android is department surely.
 
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I am also in same situation. :D
I am currently using tmobile g2x (O2x),its alive coz of great dev support otherwise its not worth it.(blame LG & NVIDIA).

Considering current situation , IMHO Galaxy nexus is better bet ,its true that its not available to india but if you are ok with non-warranty than its phone to go.
Why i choose galaxy nexus ,
pros,
1. Software Update.(Imp one)
2. HD display.
3. Vanilla Experience out of the box.
4. Performance.
cons,
camera sensor is weak but i m casual photographer so its ok for me. :)
 
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