Android Buying Advice

A

Sam's posting on smartphones helped me a lot. However would like some specific advice on points below:

I have narrowed to smartphones at 2 price to value points viz. those under Rs. 15,000 and those between Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 20,000.

My requirements from these two price points are as follows:

Below Rs. 15,000 Below Rs. 20,000
Processor Dual Core. Krait or A9 or Scorpion
Clock Speed 1 to 1.5 GHz 1.2 to 1.7 Ghz
OS ICS JB
RAM 512MB 1GB
Internal Memory at least 1 GB
Expandable Memory Required
Display 540x960/480x800. Above 200 ppi 720x1280/540x960.Above 250 ppi
Display Size 4 in 4-5 in
Touchscreen AMOLED/IPS
Camera at least 5MP 5-8MP
Front facing Camera Required
Videocapture 720 @30 fps 1080@30 fps
Removable battery Yes Yes
Talktime 360 min 500 min
Standby Time 264 hrs 250 hrs

Accordingly I have narrowed down on the following phones:

Below Rs. 15,000 Cons Below Rs. 20,000 Cons
HTC Amaze 4G - Samsung Galaxy S Advance Only 768 MB RAM. Display PPI=233
Lenovo s560 Bulky. No flash in Camera. No HD recording LG Optimus L9 Display PPI=only 234
LenovoP700i Bulky. No flash in Camera. HTC One S No Memory Slot. Battery not removable
Huawei Ascend G600 - Sony Xperia P No Memory Slot. Battery not removable
Sony Xperia SL No Memory Slot. Battery not removable
Shall be most obliged if you could help me by

1. Recommending me the best smartphones in the two price points mentioned, either from the above shortlisted or any other, which you feel better satisfies my requirements. You could also help me by providing advice on soon to be released models also. Please note that I have not opted for Micromax or Karbon phones because of the poor after sales services which some of my friends commended upon
2. Inform me as to whether I will be able view and edit my MS Office documents ( Excel, PowerPoint and Word) and also access and reply to my MS-Outlook mails from my official company account using Android phones.

Thanking you and looking forward for your advice.

Abraham

Sorry the spacing between the two groups viz. under Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 15,000-Rs.20,000 got jumbled up. Apologize for that.

Abraham

Think that would make it a little more clearer. Sorry again !!

One word, L9. LG is going to roll out JB update soon and then install Project Butter, BAM. And yes, you can use Office app to edit/view your docs.

A

Thanks furious_gamer for the quick response. Would anyone like to differ on furious_gamer's comments ??

^^ Dude, this whole forum is filled with comments saying that LG L9 is best bet till 20k and if you can extend a little bit, SL @ 23k would be great deal.

May be some other's disagree saying that Galaxy Grand is better than L9, but for me simply, 4.7" @ 234ppi of L9 is better than 5" @ 187ppi of Grand. Rest of the specs are almost same and L9 comes with SGX540 GPU which is again better than videocore GPU in Grand.

LG L9 all the way. furious_gamer,tkin and many others own this device.

You can read the review here
* furious_gamer LG L9 REVIEW
No to Grand cause of res(480*800) and ppi(187). Sam Grand wins only in the Camera Section, however L9 cam is not th
at bad.

.

L9 camera is not bad, but not good like Grand ones. But still Camera is least of the concern and we need a phone. L9 owns this category and Grand just can't break this by simply giving 5" screen with no suitable h/w packed behind.

A

So LG L9 it is all the way !! :bananana:

Thanks guys.

furious_gamer said:
^^ Dude, this whole forum is filled with comments saying that LG L9 is best bet till 20k and if you can extend a little bit, SL @ 23k would be great deal.

May be some other's disagree saying that Galaxy Grand is better than L9, but for me simply, 4.7" @ 234ppi of L9 is better than 5" @ 187ppi of Grand. Rest of the specs are almost same and L9 comes with SGX544 GPU which is again better than videocore GPU in Grand.

LG Optimus L9 has old SGX540 GPU not SGX544.

^^ Thanks for pointing out. Corrected in the original post too.

A

In Sam's Buying Guide, he does not list GPU as an important point to make a decision. My basis for all the research I had done was his guide. Do you feel GPU is a deal breaker/maker ???

Well, GPU is important if you play games. Otherwise not to consider. So don't worry. You will not regret your decision to buy L9

A

Grappling with the game of life...that's me !!! Thats more than enough and no other game is as exciting - so guess its not a major factor.

furious_gamer said:
^^ Thanks for pointing out. Corrected in the original post too.

C'mon, don't be so formal FuriousJi

abraham said:
In Sam's Buying Guide, he does not list GPU as an important point to make a decision. My basis for all the research I had done was his guide. Do you feel GPU is a deal breaker/maker ???

If you're planning to play HD Games then faster GPU is always better.

abraham said:
In Sam's Buying Guide, he does not list GPU as an important point to make a decision. My basis for all the research I had done was his guide. Do you feel GPU is a deal breaker/maker ???

thats why i made a second post about SOC details. And Grand has a twocore Videocore4 GPU (compared to galaxy y's single core) and as the resolution is lower, it easily suppresses LG L9. Grand should outperform Xperia SL but because the latter has 2 times the pixel density of Grand at a smaller display. Go for Grand only if: you want dual sim, more battery backup, a bigger display.

A

Hi Sam, I didn't quite understand your post above. Are you advising that Grand is better than LG L9 or vice versa ? Could you please clarify ?

furious_gamer said:
One word, L9. LG is going to roll out JB update soon and then install Project Butter, BAM. And yes, you can use Office app to edit/view your docs.

Wut???

^^ Isn't it need to be installed separately? When i look for some custom ROMs for my GSL, someone had Project Butter as separate file to flash.

A

SOC, Videocore 4 GPU, custom ROMs, GSL, file to flash.....guys, I'm getting lost !! Out of my depth here. While these might be normal jargon for techies...they are Greek and Latin for me !! Right now my understanding is that furious_gamer and a whole lot of others feel that the LG L9 is a better option than Samsung Grand for the Rs. 20,000 price range. While Sam thinks vice versa.

^^ EBay deals, SL @ 19k. Just grab it. Sony Xperia SL Android v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS Full HD Mobile | eBay

^^
The seller don't have good rating. I will suggest OP to avoid ebay and get it from flipkart or good local store. These days ebay is more of seller market.

@OP
According to Sam, Go for Grand only if: you want dual sim, more battery backup, a bigger display.
But L9 does have slightly smaller screen(4.7" v 5") and excellent battery backup.

So if your requirement is Dual SIM = Grand, else L9.

Get Xperia SL if u can

Tenida said:
^^
The seller don't have good rating. I will suggest OP to avoid ebay and get it from flipkart or good local store. These days ebay is more of seller market.

It is from the beginning that way IIRC.

Abraham - to put it simple - GET LG L9 period :-o

A

Sudh4R---Thanks...it can't get simpler than that !!!

abraham said:
Hi Sam, I didn't quite understand your post above. Are you advising that Grand is better than LG L9 or vice versa ? Could you please clarify ?

guess i went a bit too far. If you compare Grand vs L9 vs SL, if you can sell out 23k, get SL. If you don't want to sell out 23k, get L9 (at 15k, just wait for Homeshop 18's superdeals). Battery wise L9 should match Grand. Grand's only +ve point is Android 4.1 and dual sim. Android 4.1 is no biggie actually as unnecessary customization (touchwiz) Samsung adds will easily cancel out whatever Google implemented.

check this post by guru_urug: post1853026. he explains everything you need to know.

A

Thanks a ton, Sam for the clarification. That settles it. BTW out of curiosity, I checked out the ebay link posted by furious_gamer for the SL. Had a email chat with the dealer. The product has 6 months dealer warranty and so must be a smuggled product. when I questioned him about his ability to rectify an unlikely problem which might occur, he asked me a very pertinent question. He asked me as to what guarantee is there that a problem would be satisfactorily rectified by the Authorized Service Center. The question is pertinent since way back I had a Nokia N71 which developed a problem while in the warranty period. I took it to the Nokia Priority showroom and despite 6 repeated visits and assurance of rectification, the problem persisted till the product ran out of warranty period. Thereafter I had to shell out close to Rs.3000 despite which the problem still persisted. So the big question is how good is a manufacturer's warranty or how bad is a dealer warranty. If the price difference for a product is around 20% does it make sense to settle for a dealer warranty of 6 months rather than a manufacturer warranty of 1 year. What are your thoughts on this ?

Hmm.... I never faced problems with any of my phones within warranty period, usually problem occurs after 2 years

abraham said:
Thanks a ton, Sam for the clarification. That settles it. BTW out of curiosity, I checked out the ebay link posted by furious_gamer for the SL. Had a email chat with the dealer. The product has 6 months dealer warranty and so must be a smuggled product. when I questioned him about his ability to rectify an unlikely problem which might occur, he asked me a very pertinent question. He asked me as to what guarantee is there that a problem would be satisfactorily rectified by the Authorized Service Center. The question is pertinent since way back I had a Nokia N71 which developed a problem while in the warranty period. I took it to the Nokia Priority showroom and despite 6 repeated visits and assurance of rectification, the problem persisted till the product ran out of warranty period. Thereafter I had to shell out close to Rs.3000 despite which the problem still persisted. So the big question is how good is a manufacturer's warranty or how bad is a dealer warranty. If the price difference for a product is around 20% does it make sense to settle for a dealer warranty of 6 months rather than a manufacturer warranty of 1 year. What are your thoughts on this ?

that just bad luck. else you can get Micromax A116 for lesser price and if something goes bad, fix it for 3k. just giving an example, avoid Micromax if you care about service or community support. Dealers warranty only covers software problem that can be fixed easily by you at home. If you go through the forum's RMA and complain section, you'll come across this kind of complains for all known mobile manufacturers. So i'll say it is just bad luck or sometimes you'll have to be harsh to have their lazy asses move to fix your problem.

Get Grand if you want a better camera and physically bigger display. Nothing else is better than L9.

Get LG L9 for everything else including a visibly better and sharper display(amoled vs IPS, no competition). Also note IMHO L9 is easier to carry, 5" of grand breaks the portability barrier. And not to mention L9 can be had of at just 17k locally.

I am posting about these two for way too long, read up on some older threads, I'll soon make a detailed template to post on every such thread.

abraham said:
Thanks a ton, Sam for the clarification. That settles it. BTW out of curiosity, I checked out the ebay link posted by furious_gamer for the SL. Had a email chat with the dealer. The product has 6 months dealer warranty and so must be a smuggled product. when I questioned him about his ability to rectify an unlikely problem which might occur, he asked me a very pertinent question. He asked me as to what guarantee is there that a problem would be satisfactorily rectified by the Authorized Service Center. The question is pertinent since way back I had a Nokia N71 which developed a problem while in the warranty period. I took it to the Nokia Priority showroom and despite 6 repeated visits and assurance of rectification, the problem persisted till the product ran out of warranty period. Thereafter I had to shell out close to Rs.3000 despite which the problem still persisted. So the big question is how good is a manufacturer's warranty or how bad is a dealer warranty. If the price difference for a product is around 20% does it make sense to settle for a dealer warranty of 6 months rather than a manufacturer warranty of 1 year. What are your thoughts on this ?

He's confusing you, don't buy it, seller warranty means the item could be smuggled, stolen etc not to mention if it has some major issues like display etc you're just out of luck, its your hard earned money, do not throw it away just to save 4k, not worth it.

A

Thanks guys, you really echoed my thoughts. T'kin thanks for the advice. I would never go in for products like that to save a few bucks. Too conservative for that !! I was just asking a question. Thanks aton, all of you guys. You really rock :doublethumb:

Looks like another small issue has cropped up. Went to the local mobile store and the L9 was priced at Rs.19,200. When I told him that there are better deals online he told me that they are all p760 and p765 whereas his is p769. he could not however tell me the reasons why his p769 is more superior to the other two. Can anyone help me by telling me what the difference is between these three models of l9. I want to buy one immediately before the prices go up by 10% as a result of yesterdays budget.

S

To the best of my knowledge p760 and p765 are same and p769 is US market version with 4.5 inch screen. I purchased p765 for my brother last Sunday for Rs. 17000 from local dealer. Have you checked that p769 was written of the box?

Today it was available for Rs. 14000 on HS18 superdeals. The deal is expired now. :-(

abraham said:
Thanks guys, you really echoed my thoughts. T'kin thanks for the advice. I would never go in for products like that to save a few bucks. Too conservative for that !! I was just asking a question. Thanks aton, all of you guys. You really rock

Looks like another small issue has cropped up. Went to the local mobile store and the L9 was priced at Rs.19,200. When I told him that there are better deals online he told me that they are all p760 and p765 whereas his is p769. he could not however tell me the reasons why his p769 is more superior to the other two. Can anyone help me by telling me what the difference is between these three models of l9. I want to buy one immediately before the prices go up by 10% as a result of yesterdays budget.

Get the P765