Need a compact 5 incher

P

1. Budget?
> 35000-4000

2. Display type and size?
> 4.7 to 5 inch (max)

3. Dual sim?
> Not really necessary

4. Preferred choice of brand?
> Sony, HTC. I have extreme hatred towards Samsung. No LG either.

5. What camera option you want (flash, front facing camera)?
> Nothing in particular. The phones at these prices will have above average cameras anyways..

6. Preferred operating system? (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc).
> Android only

7. Preferred connectivity options (3G, 4G ready).
> Would prefer a 4G ready phone but not a deal breaker by any means

8. Primary use of handset (multimedia, camera, internet, gaming etc)?
> Mainly web browsing, Occasional Photography, multimedia. Not really into Mobile gaming..

9. Any specific mobile phones in consideration?
> Xperia Z2 is one of them but I find it too long and big plus feels a little fragile. I really hope SONY releases a newer ZL
variant in India.

10. Any other info that you want to share
> FM radio required. IR blaster is also desirable but not a deal breaker

Thanks!

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correction,*35000-40000

The only compact 5" phone that i have seen is Samsung galaxy S4.

You can check LG G2 also. If you really need a compact phone with flagship specs, then wait for Xperia Z3 Compact which is rumoured to have 4.5" screen

HTC phones are long, width is okay. Sony xperia Z1 & Z2 are too big

Only *COMPACT* 5" phone I know is Nexus 5. Period.

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techincally its 4.95" though...

Go for S4 GPE (forget about warranty), if you want. Meaningless hatred IMHO, it's still the best phone in 5" category.
If build quality is north pole, then Nexus 5 and G2 both are south pole, so get whatever you like.

Even I'm waiting for a successor of XZL. That's probably the only Sony without that stupid glass material build.

P

The reason why I hate Samsung is due to TouchWiz. And yeah, I just don't like the phones with glass backs. For me that doesn't give the phone the so badly needed "premium" feel.
Anyways, how about HTC ONE E8?

+1 to E8 but seriously LG G2/G Pro 2 is beast

pw4094 said:
The reason why I hate Samsung is due to TouchWiz. And yeah, I just don't like the phones with glass backs. For me that doesn't give the phone the so badly needed "premium" feel.
Anyways, how about HTC ONE E8?

I figured that, the hatred with TouchWiz is very common. And it's absolutely acceptable. Garbage skin.

Anyway, E8 seems a really nice phone. But it's not compact by any means, it's rather big, very big actually. Also make sure it doesn't have any quality control issues. The M8 had that awful camera lens scratch issue, so make sure nothing like that is going on with E8.

P

Any idea what's the best possible price I could get for the HTC One E8?

pw4094 said:
Any idea what's the best possible price I could get for the HTC One E8?

Well on Amazon here, it is available for Rs. 33,999. On Flipkart, price is Rs. 35,999 but MobileSstation offers it for Rs. 33,700. These are the lowest prices available online. Do check it out in your local market to find about the local prices and then decide.
PS: Yeah, I'm also rooting for Sony to release something like a ZL2. Although ZL isn't too bad today, but it really needs an upgrade to move back to the top of the list of compact 5-inchers.

P

Local stores are pricing it higher.

ZL2(JAPAN)/Z2a(TAIWAN) is already released in Japan and Taiwan. I doubt it will be released worldwide. Specs are very similar to the Z2 and the best part is that it does NOT compromise on water or dust resistance. However the front camera is VGA which is a deal breaker for me. The unlocked version is available on eBay worldwide. But, I don't think it's worth the risk..

Sony Xperia Z2a - Full phone specifications

Nexus 5 is what I will suggest over any other device.

P

Agreed it's a good phone but, I don't like the Vanilla stock android interface. Xperia UI for me is the best but I find the Z2 slightly out of my budget and a little to big.

Get Z1 then^^
Not *tooo* different than Z2...

ankush28 said:
Get Z1 then^^
Not *tooo* different that Z2...

+1
If Z2 don't fit, Z1 it is

Imperial_Raj said:
+1
If Z2 don't fit, Z1 it is

I think xperia Z is a big 5" phone, Z1 is nowhere near compact

Admit it guys nexus 5 is only 5" *compact* phone...that is usable with one hand.

ankush28 said:
Admit it guys nexus 5 is only 5" *compact* phone...that is usable with one hand.

s4,s5 ?

srkmish said:
s4,s5 ?

nexus 5 vs. s5
130gm vs 145gm
137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6 vs. 142 x 72.5 x 8.1

Plus the form factor is much much better that sluggish samsung design.

S4 is the most compact 5 inches phone. Moto X is the most compact 4.7 inches phone.

ankush28 said:
Admit it guys nexus 5 is only 5" *compact* phone...that is usable with one hand.

Forget about N5 & S4, Nexus 4 isn't usable single handedly, i can't use the top left corner area when my phone is in right hand (even though my finger reaches there but lower portion of my palm touches the lower portion of screen).... For me Moto G was good for single hand operations

(For complete single handed operation, you must be able to touch all parts of your phone's screen, acc to me)

N5 & S4 have approx same width as my N4. Both are good phones, N5 for performance n dev support, whereas S4 for better battery life, camera, screen & some Touchwiz features, if you care about it

I personally liked the new galaxy Alpha & may upgrade to it after reading reviews or else Z3 Compact

*tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/08/14/a8dae0fa4bbf8f27d544b34dba93308a.jpg

P

Got the E8 yesterday. Nice build quality. I find HTC Sense a little irritating but I guess I'll get used to it as time passes.

Congratulations. Can you hold the phone easily with one hand? It's extremely big!
Anyway, it's a nice phone regardless.

P

It's a good phone overall. I am able to use the touchscreen buttons with one hand without a problem. The power button placement seems a little odd. Camera is average though.

Forget about the camera, they all are same more or less, it's surprising to see that you can use it with one hand, I couldn't even hold the M7 properly, let alone using it with one hand!
Power button placement is just weird, don't know what hTC thinks there, however I'm sure it has that tap to wake function, so no biggie there.

P

Yes haha I'm finding the tap to wake function incredibly useful. But one weird thing I've noticed so far with HTC Sense 6...there are no unread counts on icons(whatsapp, SMS etc). Kind of weird. I don't really want to switch to any launchers as the stock widget compatibility goes away..

Hmm, that's weird. At least some unread counts should be there, nothing for SMS? Hmm! Well I've never used any stock launcher, be it Samsung's or hTC's or Moto's for that matter, so can't really say. I use just one or two widgets, so that's a different case for me anyway.
See if you can find some stock launcher based mod on XDA, there should be one, I believe.

Congo and a review if possible :-D

pw4094 said:
Got the E8 yesterday. Nice build quality. I find HTC Sense a little irritating but I guess I'll get used to it as time passes.

Great! Congratulations

Yeah, Sense UI is not as simple as Xperia UI but, nevertheless, you'll get used to it soon.

P

haha thanks! My short summary is mostly in layman's terms lol

Antutu : 37020

I've been using the phone for a couple of days. I keep the WiFi on the whole day and the phone barely heats up. I don't game much and haven't tested the phone with any resource hungry games as of now. The battery life does seem to be good. The screen is fantastic and I feel it's a big improvement over the Galaxy S5 I previously owned - images are much sharper and clearer although the blacks aren't anywhere close to those produced by the AMOLED's. Sound quality is fantastic, the dual speaker grilles int the front really make a difference.
I have the gray(matte finish) variant and the build quality I must say is awesome although I've got a concern about how long the matte finish will actually last before it starts peeling off.

Oh yeah, the call quality is also good haha!

While reading first few comments I wanted to say that don't buy the E8, it has a crappy camera...Anyways congrats for your new phone

pw4094 said:
The screen is fantastic and I feel it's a big improvement over the Galaxy S5 I previously owned - images are much sharper and clearer although the blacks aren't anywhere close to those produced by the AMOLED's.

WUT?

P

ithehappy said:
WUT?

WHAT?!

The SAMOLED display always strained my eyes for some reason never really felt comfortable. And yes, I've noticed the images produced by the SUPER LCD 3 are sharper. They really look beautiful..

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ithehappy said:
WUT?

I was left with pretty much no option except this anyways, it's enough for my needs.