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

comp@ddict

Skilled
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 Desktop hardware quickly gets outdated.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.
 
^^ Its seller warranty, best of luck catching a guy in Gujarat/Chennai if anything goes wrong :) But yeah it's a good deal for 14.5k

I think you can get a grey piece at the same/lower price in Alfa Mumbai.
 
^^ Its seller warranty, best of luck catching a guy in Gujarat/Chennai if anything goes wrong :) But yeah it's a good deal for 14.5k

I think you can get a grey piece at the same/lower price in Alfa Mumbai.

Well then nobody should buy all those phones from ebay anyways. But thousands of people still continue to buy it. My friend bought it 1 week ago. The price was 17k then, ICICI coupon to 16k.

Now it's 14k. I'll know if I'm buying this by the end of the month. Maybe at even lesser. At this price I can't ask for more.

I don't live in Mumbai. So no point. But what's the price there now that you mention it. Any idea?
 
I think I'm going for it guys. The deal is too good and too tempting.

EDIT:

Just ordered:

- Xperia Sola White for 14.5k (using ICICI coupon)
- Screen Guard for Xperia Sola
- Screen Guard for Micromax Funbook

There was a deal where I could get Sola for 14k, but I couldn't confirm if it's White. Also, the other dealer is reliable (my friend bought last week and also contacted him over phone). Best part is their office is in Chennai. Got friends there, and live not to far off anyways.

Excited. Gonna buy a 16 GB memory card too. I want to know if:

Strontium Memory Card 16 GB Micro SD Class 10 for Rs. 699 is any good.

It's a class 10 Memory card, so will it work fine with SOLA or it might have issues?
 
comp@ddict - HomeShop18.com Superdeals: Samsung Galaxy SII mobile phone, Sony Xperia Sola, Nokia Asha 200, Sparkles Diamond pendant, Eureka Forbes vacuum cleaner...

HS18 has Sola for ~16.6k in their super deals. Not sure whether the deal is still working. But if it is then I would suggest spending 2k more and getting peace of mind.

Edit: Apologies. It seems to be OOS.

Nah. The moment I customize/MOD it the warranty is as good as gone. I got it for 14.5k, placed order already. The 2k I just saved has gone to buying:

- After market screen guard for
- Screenguard for Funbook
- 333 mobile balance :p
- F&D 2.1 stereo speakers

Think I can order those Panasonic earphones for 600 bucks (really great VFM). But I asked about the MEMORY CARD, Strontium 16 GB Class 10. Should I buy it?
 
Nah. The moment I customize/MOD it the warranty is as good as gone. I got it for 14.5k, placed order already. The 2k I just saved has gone to buying:

- After market screen guard for
- Screenguard for Funbook
- 333 mobile balance :p
- F&D 2.1 stereo speakers

Think I can order those Panasonic earphones for 600 bucks (really great VFM). But I asked about the MEMORY CARD, Strontium 16 GB Class 10. Should I buy it?

Market seems to be filled with strontium cards these days. They are cheaper than the regular sandisk/transcend ones. But not user of the RMA service and reliability. If you get a good deal when compared to the regular brand then go for it. If the price difference is not much then opt for the regular ones.
 
Wow you ordered Sola after criticizing it so much :p

Anyway it has got a brand new forum at xda plus there are around 4 custom rom as of now based of stock kernel ofc. Devs have confirmed working on MIUI and CM9/10 port once ICS gets released.

Even I am waiting for sony to push ICS so that I can unlock and root the device :D Dont want to go through hassle with GB on deck

Ohh and Congrats :D get the moshi back cover, pretty handy and saves the phone from dirt and fingerprint. Got one for 200 bucks.
 
Really great deal ! Xperia Sola for 14.5k ! Congratulations 1

Thanks. Yeah it was too tempting at that price.

@comp@ddict
Congos. Don't forget to post pics and benchmarks. Lemme know how if there is some lag due to 512MB RAM. One of of my friend is looking to get it

Will do!

Market seems to be filled with strontium cards these days. They are cheaper than the regular sandisk/transcend ones. But not user of the RMA service and reliability. If you get a good deal when compared to the regular brand then go for it. If the price difference is not much then opt for the regular ones.

Checked the user reviews on flipkart. One even used it on his own Sola and he's super impressed. The memory card is blazing fast, and 300 bucks cheaper than nearest competition (used that to recharge my phone :p ). Even I was hesitating, but after reading all 5 star rated reviews, I decided to go for it.

congrats on sola comp@addict.....but is the battery life good enuf? just 1320mAh?
Wow you ordered Sola after criticizing it so much :p

Anyway it has got a brand new forum at xda plus there are around 4 custom rom as of now based of stock kernel ofc. Devs have confirmed working on MIUI and CM9/10 port once ICS gets released.

Even I am waiting for sony to push ICS so that I can unlock and root the device :D Dont want to go through hassle with GB on deck

Ohh and Congrats :D get the moshi back cover, pretty handy and saves the phone from dirt and fingerprint. Got one for 200 bucks.

See I was really skeptical about the same things. Two of my friends bought it (one bought it last week off ebay for 16k, he's shit jealous of me I saved 1.5k lol). I asked them about the battery life. One tested MUSIC Playback and he got 40 HOURS continuous off the headphones. I think that's enough for me.

Then he got nearly 24+ (he had battery at the end of 24 hours) hours off 3G data. The 3G data is on all the time (Whatsapp) and time to time he surfs or connects via some app and he still got 30 hours total (yea, my friend likes testing and so will I).

I played games like Riptide GT and immediately browsed then came back and opened some other app. I couldn't see any visible slowdown or lag at all. The RAM optimization is great.

All this changed my thoughts on the phone.
@Dark Star could you link me to the XDA forum please?
 
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Just noticed a few things that are different between sola and arc s

1) sola has 3.7" screen size arc s has 4.2"size
2) Sola has 1 ghz processor arc s has 1.4ghz processor,
3) sola has 2.3 gingerbread, arc s has 4.0.4 ICS.
4) sola is 5MP camera arc S is 8MP camera.
5) Sola has 1320 MAH battery arc s has 1500MAH battery.
6) sola is priced at 14.5K @ chiragthakur arc s is priced at 16.5k
 
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