Phone suggestion in 6k to 12k range

K

I am using xperia s for the last 3 years and it suddenly started giving problems. I can attend calls only in speaker phone mode. Got the same problem repaired 3 months back so dont want spend any more on it. So I need a phone urgently. May be will order one today with 1 day delivery option. As I was not tracking market, I dont have much idea on what is available.

I need a phone with reliable GPS, Data connectivity and decent primary camera.

1. Budget? (6k - 12k) (After using xperia s decided flag ship models are over rated at least for my requirements)
2. Display type and size? big screen but 5" is the max
3. Dual sim? Not important
4. Preferred choice of brand? None
5. What camera option you want (flash, front facing camera)? Decent primary camera. Front is not that important
6. Preferred operating system? (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc). Android. Lumia is the only other option for camera
7. Preferred connectivity options (3G, 4G ready). 3G is good enough though 4G will be bonus
8. Primary use of handset (multimedia, camera, internet, gaming etc)? camera and GPS for tracking cycling routes, maps

I will start doing some research now but since it is an unexpected requirement please bear with me for this request with out doing any research myself.

Asus Zenfone 5 2GB RAM 16GB ROM (A501CG) -9350. (amazon.in)

Wait for Yuphoria sale.

Yuphoria is good........ Check its reviews

D

if <Rs 10k, you can go for Zenfone 5 16GB, I own that myself. Yes, you have to charge it daily. But, other than that, its good. No lag, no heating issues, camera very good (even the secondary one too). But GPS is not very good ( but as the network reception of this phone is good, A-GPS works fine) for bikers (I go to here and there too). But, ZF 5 has settings for LTE, don't know very much about that. "Yureka" heats up pretty well as I have this info from friends.
Huawei Honor 4x seems very nice, but more reviews needed basically.

Now a days, I'm really confused in buying decision for another in around 15k.

^

Yuphoria hasn't been on sale yet

K

Get Lumia or Yuphoria with eyes closed, very safe buys and which one , depends on your needs
am basing my opinion of Yuphoria on the Yureka btw,just to be clear

d3b said:
if <Rs 10k, you can go for Zenfone 5 16GB, I own that myself. Yes, you have to charge it daily. But, other than that, its good. No lag, no heating issues, camera very good (even the secondary one too). But GPS is not very good ( but as the network reception of this phone is good, A-GPS works fine) for bikers (I go to here and there too). But, ZF 5 has settings for LTE, don't know very much about that. "Yuphoria" heats up pretty well as I have this info from friends.
Huawei Honor 4x seems very nice, but more reviews needed basically.

Now a days, I'm really confused in buying decision for another in around 15k.

There isn't even a proper review for Yuphoria yet & it is yet to go for sale

4X has 5.5" display........OP mentioned that he needs 5" max

K

I short listed redmi2 and moto e 2nd gen at lower end of my range and zenfone, moto g 2nd gen at higher end of my range. Leaning to redmi as of now. Will look at yuforia if I dont buy by the release.

Yesterday I wiped my old xperia s clean and reset to factory settings. It seemed to solve the speaker issue so there might still be some juice left in it. If the problem doesnt return may not buy any phone

K

kkk05 said:
I short listed redmi2 and moto e 2nd gen at lower end of my range and zenfone, moto g 2nd gen at higher end of my range. Leaning to redmi as of now. Will look at yuforia if I dont buy by the release.

Yesterday I wiped my old xperia s clean and reset to factory settings. It seemed to solve the speaker issue so there might still be some juice left in it. If the problem doesnt return may not buy any phone

yeah
If you need to shortlist between the 2 , get Moto G 2nd gen
xiaomi ASS sucks

S

kkn13 said:
yeah
If you need to shortlist between the 2 , get Moto G 2nd gen
xiaomi ASS sucks

Xiaomi has good spec. But i would buy it if they come up with 32gb inbuilt or if not it must have external slot.

D

Sorry i misspelled yureka with yuphoria. I apologise for the misinformation.

anupam_pb said:
There isn't even a proper review for Yuphoria yet & it is yet to go for sale

4X has 5.5" display........OP mentioned that he needs 5" max

S

d3b said:
Sorry i misspelled yureka with yuphoria. I apologise for the misinformation.

Haha..lol.....yuphoria !? music band.

sameersn2902 said:
Haha..lol.....yuphoria !? music band.

Nope.

YU Yuphoria - Full phone specifications

W

i think for those looking for a hassle free after sales support & overall experience moto e 4g is a better choice.it does have a mediocre front camera & avg main camera but it seems to provide a good stable overall experience in long term(more than 5-6 months of usage).yurka/yuphoria/xiomi/lenovo are a hit or miss when bought & more over a few months of usage(software issue,hardware issue).if these works fine after 5-6 months then there is no better vfm phone but if not then get ready for a long term pain.

H

Huawei honor 4c..trust me..just check the specs..tailor made for your needs..easily available on flipkart..13 mp rear cam, 5mp front cam, 2gb ram, 8 gb memory, expandable , 2550 mah battery, all for 8999/-

K

How is the after sales support of huawei or lenovo? Very confused as the big names like samsung, htc doesnt have compelling options in my range and do not trust the support structure of players like xiomi and micromax which leaves just motorola. But G2 is already old and lagging in specs from the others. And even motorola is actually lenovo now.

I registered for lenovo A6000plus sale on flipkart. The sale is tomorrow.

Lumia 640 is a great phone under 10k with no worries of lag and frustration. :lol:

M

kkk05 said:
I short listed redmi2 and moto e 2nd gen at lower end of my range and zenfone, moto g 2nd gen at higher end of my range. Leaning to redmi as of now. Will look at yuforia if I dont buy by the release.

Yesterday I wiped my old xperia s clean and reset to factory settings. It seemed to solve the speaker issue so there might still be some juice left in it. If the problem doesnt return may not buy any phone

I think you have audio routing issue plz install sound about from google play store.

Hope this solves your issue.

K

Minion said:
I think you have audio routing issue plz install sound about from google play store.

Hope this solves your issue.

The problem returned even after reset to factory settings. I installed soundabout today as you suggested and disabled wired headset detection. But it did not solve the issue.

- - - Updated - - -

Bought Lenovo A6000plus. Already dispatched by Flipkart. As it is intra city shipment, may receive tomorrow.

Now to see if the problem in xperia s can be fixed and be brought to working condition.

W

if possible do post your experience of 6000 plus here in this thread.

K

Got the phone today.
Overall seems to be fine. Smooth, no problems in wifi setup, or getting 3g data signal.
Camera is Ok. Not great but functional.
Only 2 negative points sofar
1. vibe ui. When I started did not like it. Especially not having app drawer and having every app on home. After using it for 15 minutes I hate it now. I have to see if I can get used to it but most likely will install some other launcher which I dont like. I generally use my phones in stock mode but this time I may have to do some customization.

2. The capacitive buttons dont light up. I may get used to their locations and then it might not be an issue.

I say yureka it's awesome!!

K

Experienced Sleep of death twice today. The only additional app I installed is google now launcher. I will check if it repeats without the launcher.
If it repeats I am not sure how can I explain it to flipkart. Very difficult to explain and convince about random problems.

W

that is what i read about in a seemingly good review of moto e 4g at flipkart.according to the reviewer he had lenovo 6000,redmi 2 & moto e 4g & moto e 4g wins hands down when it comes to stability.
Moto E (2nd Gen) 4G (Black, with 8 GB) Review by Dinesh senids | Flipkart.com
most likely i will go for moto e 4g as stability & after sales support are the deciding factors for me in a phone.

whitestar_999 said:
that is what i read about in a seemingly good review of moto e 4g at flipkart.according to the reviewer he had lenovo 6000,redmi 2 & moto e 4g & moto e 4g wins hands down when it comes to stability.
Moto E (2nd Gen) 4G (Black, with 8 GB) Review by Dinesh senids | Flipkart.com
most likely i will go for moto e 4g as stability & after sales support are the deciding factors for me in a phone.

Used Lenovo A6000 plus, I am not happy with it, UI is not satisfactory, so Flashed Cyanogen 11, & Still not happy. Used Redmi 2, UI is very good, Sounnd is also good, But 1 GB ram Kills its Beauty, buy Moto E 4 G if you do not depend on iits Camera.

K

Even without google launcher the phone is getting the "sleep of death" problem. I did a factory reset now. And I asked for replacement at flipkart. Hope the factory reset fixes it as I am not confident about flipkart accepting a problem that I cant reproduce (it happens randomly and about once a day). Does any A6000plus user facing the same issue?

I like the phone for every thing else. It is reasonably fast and smooth. Call quality is decent. The ring tone could be louder but not a deal breaker. Camera is decent. Battery life is good. Actually every thing is decent. Nothing is great but there is no frustrating feature also. If this problem is unique to my handset, I have no problem in recommending this.

K

Flipkart agreed to replace the phone. At first the technician rejected the request. But just after one hour I got another phone freeze. As usual I had to long press power button for 15 seconds. I called them again to ask reconsider the rejection and the customer care guys accepted the replacement.

I hope it is really the particular handset's problem. If it is SW problem Internet would have been exploded by now with complaints. Or it might be my setups problem (Auto sync off, Security app disabled). Finger crossed for the replacement to work.

K

Update. The second phone had the same problem. As the issue is random the flipkart guys refused to replace this phone again. So went to service center when the phone froze and got a job sheet saying the phone is faulty. I hope this is enough for flipkart now. Going to ask them for refund rather than replacement and if they give money back may buy honor 4c or moto g.

kkk05 said:
Update. The second phone had the same problem. As the issue is random the flipkart guys refused to replace this phone again. So went to service center when the phone froze and got a job sheet saying the phone is faulty. I hope this is enough for flipkart now. Going to ask them for refund rather than replacement and if they give money back may buy honor 4c or moto g.

Why not consider Yuphoria?

@kkk05 - i recently got the A6000+ from flipkart (not for my use). the 'sleep of death', is it the phone becoming unresponsive or rebooting upon going into sleep-mode? didn't google it. had one instance of such a thing occurring early on, when i was installing some apps. but didn't recur thereafter. its been doing very well, and esp. the battery back-up is a strong point am seeing in this. the vibe UI looked cartoonish and not very pleasing, so installed aviate launcher and its being used so since. content with the phone.

K

SaiyanGoku said:
Why not consider Yuphoria?

I saw in some reviews that Cyanogen is not that stable.

- - - Updated - - -

GhorMaanas said:
@kkk05 - i recently got the A6000+ from flipkart (not for my use). the 'sleep of death', is it the phone becoming unresponsive or rebooting upon going into sleep-mode? didn't google it. had one instance of such a thing occurring early on, when i was installing some apps. but didn't recur thereafter. its been doing very well, and esp. the battery back-up is a strong point am seeing in this. the vibe UI looked cartoonish and not very pleasing, so installed aviate launcher and its being used so since. content with the phone.

Yes. It is same issue. It comes rarely if you don't use wifi. But with wifi always enabled, it occurs very frequently. I got it atleast once a day when wifi is used where as went without any issue for 5 days without wifi. When you have wifi connected and the device is sleeping, the power button becomes unresponsive some times.

kkk05 said:
I saw in some reviews that Cyanogen is not that stable.

CM11s on my sister's Yureka is stable. More stable than CM11 for other "common" phones (low-mid range samdung, sony, Xiaomi phones)

kkk05 said:
Yes. It is same issue. It comes rarely if you don't use wifi. But with wifi always enabled, it occurs very frequently. I got it atleast once a day when wifi is used where as went without any issue for 5 days without wifi. When you have wifi connected and the device is sleeping, the power button becomes unresponsive some times.

alright. i read your posts in the lenovo forums. the wifi on my phone remains on most of the time. however, after the first occurrence, i kept the display on time-limit to 5 mins, but nevertheless, during the daily usage, it must've been going into sleep-mode, but haven't heard a complaint from my father yet. i will check it again tonight.

K

kkk05 said:
I saw in some reviews that Cyanogen is not that stable.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes. It is same issue. It comes rarely if you don't use wifi. But with wifi always enabled, it occurs very frequently. I got it atleast once a day when wifi is used where as went without any issue for 5 days without wifi. When you have wifi connected and the device is sleeping, the power button becomes unresponsive some times.

CM is deadly stable on Official CM phones such as One Plus One,Yureka,Yuphoria,Oppo etc
stable as in,dont expect it to be flawless ,it still will have tiny bugs here and there but wayyy better than Google Android for Nexus 5,that much I can confirm

kkn13 said:
CM is deadly stable on Official CM phones such as One Plus One,Yureka,Yuphoria,Oppo etc
stable as in,dont expect it to be flawless ,it still will have tiny bugs here and there but wayyy better than Google Android for Nexus 5,that much I can confirm

Check out the all the annoying bugs of yuphoria in the YU forum.
I myself got the Yuphoria for my friend in which Camera Focus doesn't work at all , so have to returned it.

K

akii17kr said:
Check out the all the annoying bugs of yuphoria in the YU forum.
I myself got the Yuphoria for my friend in which Camera Focus doesn't work at all , so have to returned it.

the Camera focus thing is a bug within Google android itself,see the Nexus 5 forums,its filled with topics about changing roms,kernels etc to a custom one to get rid of this infamous bug
its not a CM specific issue,granted they should have fixed it in CM but its origin is the original stock android kernel itself

K

anyway yuphoria and yureka are not options as one is out of stock and the other's next sale is on 11th. I need a phone quickly as I dont have a backup phone. Thinking of ordering one today as the A6000plus is scheduled to be picked up tomorrow (Had to fight a lot as they want to send another replacement). As I am from Bangalore flipkart shippings reach me next day.
Is there any option for me from branded phones under 12K with good camera and 720p display. I think the answer is no as I could not find one for the last 2 hours.

kkn13 said:
the Camera focus thing is a bug within Google android itself,see the Nexus 5 forums,its filled with topics about changing roms,kernels etc to a custom one to get rid of this infamous bug
its not a CM specific issue,granted they should have fixed it in CM but its origin is the original stock android kernel itself

Well, I said It doesn't "FOCUS AT ALL" doesn't matter how much settings you try and use different camera apps , it just can't Focus and all near distant shots are blurry.

My 5.0 Moto G have no problem in focusing at all , my friend has yureka and even that has not problem like that.
So may be it's hardware fault of my Unit

a7000 is much better than moto e and yureka and yuphoria. i have lenovo a7000. 1-1.3gb ram free(i rooted + used greenify)

W

[MENTION=138043]kARTechnology[/MENTION],how is lenovo a7000 camera(indoor,low light & outdoor) & battery backup?

K

Back to square one now. My parameters were 4.5 to 5 inch phone with HD display, decent camera with 8+ MP and 4G. A6000plus was really good. It seems my only options if I want 4G and not 5.5" screen are (redmi and yuforia) both of which I am not comfortable with.
If I compromise with 5.5" then honor 4x ( heard sound levels are very bad and phone is heavy), A7000 (doesn't seem to have the problems I faced with A6000plus and A6000+ was perfect for my requirements except for the issues I faced) and Zenphone2 (expensive and seems to be poor camera). Not considering xiaomi and Yu for 5.5" as if I buy those brands I have 5" alternatives any way.

Are there any new phones close to launch with these parameters in the near future?
I am even thinking I will buy android one or 1st gen moto E and update it next year when more chances might be available.

GhorMaanas said:
alright. i read your posts in the lenovo forums. the wifi on my phone remains on most of the time. however, after the first occurrence, i kept the display on time-limit to 5 mins, but nevertheless, during the daily usage, it must've been going into sleep-mode, but haven't heard a complaint from my father yet. i will check it again tonight.

@kkk05 -- just for update-sake - tested the above thing that night, but the issue didn't occur.

whitestar_999 said:
[MENTION=138043]kARTechnology[/MENTION],how is lenovo a7000 camera(indoor,low light & outdoor) & battery backup?

camera takes
-good shots at day
-good shots at night,with flash
-but low light means grainy, not too much but acceptable(u cant see grain until u zoom after taking pic)
-does auto focusing very well.

battery life u will get one day, morning to night if u root, use greenify and disable included crap, disable google auto app backup, and facebook always prevents the phone from deep sleep. greenify does a nice job here. i'm not using any ram cleaner. can transer apps to sd card. i use auto brightness

wifi connects in 2 seconds or so after turning on. speedy, didn't hang even once.

gets hot when playing clash of clans, using high brightness for long time. but dolby atmos is crap. I'm using viper4android

front cam is great, and screen is somewhat over-saturated(too much brilliance) but bright

K

GhorMaanas said:
@kkk05 -- just for update-sake - tested the above thing that night, but the issue didn't occur.

Ok. May be it is a defective piece then and I am unlucky to get the problem twice. But you said you got it once when you are setting up the phone. So it might be the issue with the settings I use for this particular ROM. For e.g., I turn off auto sync off, disable security app and some other customization which you may not be doing. My gut feeling is it is the second case, The ROM is not compatible with the customization I do for the phone.

kkk05 said:
Ok. May be it is a defective piece then and I am unlucky to get the problem twice. But you said you got it once when you are setting up the phone. So it might be the issue with the settings I use for this particular ROM. For e.g., I turn off auto sync off, disable security app and some other customization which you may not be doing. My gut feeling is it is the second case, The ROM is not compatible with the customization I do for the phone.

could be. no disabling of auto-sync and security app as such; may be some minor tweaks here and there, but can't recall at the moment.
my phone had turned off when i began installing apps after unboxing it; writing 'turned off' as pressing the power-button had no effect, while keeping it pressed booted/rebooted the phone. i will check once again tonight with the said tweaks.

K

akii17kr said:
Well, I said It doesn't "FOCUS AT ALL" doesn't matter how much settings you try and use different camera apps , it just can't Focus and all near distant shots are blurry.

My 5.0 Moto G have no problem in focusing at all , my friend has yureka and even that has not problem like that.
So may be it's hardware fault of my Unit

its a known bug in stock android
it might be a hardware issue in your case but its a software bug within android itself

- - - Updated - - -

kARTechnology said:
a7000 is much better than moto e and yureka and yuphoria. i have lenovo a7000. 1-1.3gb ram free(i rooted + used greenify)

not in terms of update system,UI etc

kkn13 said:
its a known bug in stock android
it might be a hardware issue in your case but its a software bug within android itself

- - - Updated - - -

not in terms of update system,UI etc

I feel the UI is close to Sony's UI. except the icons...
received 3 ota updates so far for cam and stability

K

kARTechnology said:
I feel the UI is close to Sony's UI. except the icons...
received 3 ota updates so far for cam and stability

wait for a few more months
I have a spare lenovo android phone and 2 tabs at home...
sadly despite the good build quality and good finish,it lacks proper software

K

Is the focusing on Yuphoria that bad? Does the manual focusing (taping on the screen) work if auto focusing is not working?

K

Bought redmi 2 today. Was leaning toward yuphoria but flipkart has 10% off today. So bought it.

K

Got the phone. I like it so far. Excellent camera and good sound levels. Installed google now launcher as I miss app drawer. Only negative point is the lack of 2GB RAM shows. Nothing annoying but you notice it

congrats!

K

kkk05 said:
Got the phone. I like it so far. Excellent camera and good sound levels. Installed google now launcher as I miss app drawer. Only negative point is the lack of 2GB RAM shows. Nothing annoying but you notice it

try Trebuchet Launcher
Download "CM Apps" from Play store then open app and download whichever CM apps you want such as Trebuchet Launcher
its deadly smooth and is based off Stock KitKat

Or use the simplistic Google now launcher which you are already using.

K

$hadow said:
Or use the simplistic Google now launcher which you are already using.

google now launcher is a ram hog ,even on Nexus 5

just enable cpu,ram etc stats and compare with even Nova launcher

kkn13 said:
google now launcher is a ram hog ,even on Nexus 5

just enable cpu,ram etc stats and compare with even Nova launcher

might be but I haven't actually used it on 1 gb or less ram device so I don't see any big visible performance difference.

K

$hadow said:
might be but I haven't actually used it on 1 gb or less ram device so I don't see any big visible performance difference.

oh
its Trebuchet>>Nova>>Google Now from what Ive used on my devices

kkn13 said:
oh
its Trebuchet>>Nova>>Google Now from what Ive used on my devices

Trebuchet? This seems like a new launcher.

K

$hadow said:
Trebuchet? This seems like a new launcher.

its the CM11 official launcher based on stock kitkat
you can download it from here-
*play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maartendekkers.cmapp&hl=en

S

kkn13 said:
try Trebuchet Launcher
Download "CM Apps" from Play store then open app and download whichever CM apps you want such as Trebuchet Launcher
its deadly smooth and is based off Stock KitKat

trebuchet and google now launcher sucks. its worst and least customizable.
better go for nova, apex or L launcher.

kkn13 said:
its the CM11 official launcher based on stock kitkat
you can download it from here-
*play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maartendekkers.cmapp&hl=en

yeah I checked it out. Works fine but I am back to Google now launcher.

K

sameersn2902 said:
trebuchet and google now launcher sucks. its worst and least customizable.
better go for nova, apex or L launcher.

customisation ??? for phones with lesser ram?
dude its Trebuchet>>Nova>>google now for ram usage

also customisation is rather cumbersome and ugly most of the time

M

Nova is crap I mean the free version apex is lot better than nova in customisation. Google now launcher drains battery like hell it wakes your device so frequently now and then. I don't know if it is the new google play service or google app.
360 launcher looks cool too.

Minion said:
Nova is crap I mean the free version apex is lot better than nova in customisation. Google now launcher drains battery like hell it wakes your device so frequently now and then. I don't know if it is the new google play service or google app.
360 launcher looks cool too.

Which launcher are you using?

Lenovo K3 Note

Dimensions 152.6×76.2×7.9mm
Weight 150 grams
Display 5.5-inch 1080p
Processor 1.7GHz MediaTek MT6752 octa-core
RAM 2GB
Storage 16GB (expandable)
Rear Camera 13-megapixel
Front Camera 5-megapixel
Battery 3,000mAh
Connectivity Dual-SIM, LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Android OS 5.0 Lollipop KitKat
Price Rs 9,999