Which super-smartphone to buy (iPhone 3GS not available)?
Hello everyone. I have decided to buy myself a super-smartphone. The problem is, I live in India.
The iPhone 3GS is not available (legally) in India. It is not even launched here.
What I need, in order of priority: Web browsing on the move, solid build quality, reliable OS, Facebook, Exchange email, a few games.
Now considering the 3GS is not available in India, here are my options. Please suggest the next best one.
1. iPhone 3G: This is an outdated phone, and available only with Airtel. It is NOT a subsidized price like in other countries. The 8GB is close to Rs.30000 (USD $650). Airtel does not have 3G network, so I will be stuck with EDGE browsing. I may be wrong, but I think the 8GB iPhone 3G is too expensive at $650, especially as it will be locked to Airtel. Also, there is virtually no Apple support here, so I am not sure what will happen if the battery dies out.
2. iPhone 3GS from US, unlocked and jailbroken. That will set me off by around $550 to $600, but I will have the best phone in the world. On the flip side, it will be illegal, and if the battery dies out, it will just become a brick. Somehow I am not excited about paying such a huge amount to do something illegal. But I guess it is an option, in a sense.
3. HTC Hero: Costs Rs.30000 ($650) with no carrier lock. I read a lot of reviews and watched YouTube videos about this one. While almost everything I hear about it is positive, people do report that it is sluggish at times. I am tempted to buy this, but not sure how reliable the HTC hardware is. HTC too has hardly any support in India, so I need reliable hardware and good build quality.
I am tempted to just go for the Hero, but thinking, is the iPhone 3G still better than the Hero? I know it has only 128MB RAM vs the Hero’s 288 MB, but I guess there are a lot of factors other than that.
Please provide your suggestions.
Note:
1. Motorola Droid, Palm Pre, Droid Eris are not available in India.
2. The myTouch is available, but it costs almost as much as the Hero, it is locked to Airtel and they are selling it without the Market app. I am not interested in rooting my phone etc.
3. I am not interested in Windows Mobile, as I already have a Herald and the experience with it has been infuriating.
4. I know 2010 will see many new phones, but they will take a year or years to reach India. So I figure it makes sense to buy the best phone available now, and then upgrade later maybe after 2 or 3 years.
Hi Rahul! I would like to add two updates from my end:
1) Univercell is offering Samsung Galaxy at Rs.15000 which is a steal. If you google, people compare this with Magic (myTouch) and it gets good reviews too. But Univercell says they are out of stock. One option is to call Univercell everyday and closely track, get friendly with a Univercell employee and buy it.
2) The second option (99% I will go for this) is iPhone 3G from Airtel. They are offering 500mb free per month for 1 yr.
I would suggest dont go for Tatoo. Resistive screen is not a good experience. Besides, after comparing a lot it seems that nothing in Android comes close to the user experience iPhone offers.
Last factor is iPhone’s resale value in India. Next year I can still sell the iPhone 3G for 60-70% of the price I pay now, and get the latest one if I want.
So right now I am thinking iPhone 3G thru Airtel may be a good option. Only thing is to kill closed apps using task killer and it shd be as fast as the 3GS.
I forgot to add: Today my HTC Herald’s speaker died. I mean people can hear my voice but I cannot hear them.
HTC’s support here is very much comparable to Apple’s support i.e zilch. Last month the touchscreen broke, and I’ve been running around in circles trying to get support but the problem is that the employees in official "support centers" are really multi-brand service centres, and they are not really familiar with HTC. They are more familiar with Nokia and SE. As a result I have been using the Herald without its touchscreen (it has a keyboard).
This is also making me think. Another colleague of mine bought HTC Touch, and his mic had to be replaced (he ‘drop it or anything).
While I LOVE Android, this is making me re-think about Hero. Also, tomorrow if I decide to change my mind, I will get next to nothing when I try to sell my Hero next yr.
I am just thinking aloud here Let me know your suggestions!
I would wait for the iPhone 3GS to come out in India if I was in your scenario but if I really need it then I would buy and iPhone 3G.
February 13th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
I would wait for the iPhone 3GS to come out in India if I was in your scenario but if I really need it then I would buy and iPhone 3G.
References :
February 13th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Hey!
I’m pretty much in the same situation and had surprisingly settled on these two options – the 3GS and the Hero. But in the last 10 days or so, i’ve changed my mind.
I’ve been using Symbian for the last 3 yrs, and am quite dismayed at their level of innovation in the last few yrs and am therefore averse to buying a Nokia. Similar reasons for a Windows phone.So that leaves me with iPhone and Android.
Now I’ve been waiting for the 3GS right from when they had initially planned to launch in August. But what has recently got my goat is Apple’s apathetic attitude towards the Indian market. So many people have written so much in their blogs about the probably date of launch and have also called the Apple Customer Care, that the least they can do is address the issue. Plus the entire ecosystem that they’ve created, and maintain even now, in the face of all the competition, of controlling everything, from the operator to the developer, is something i feel is not right or sustainable. So for these reasons, i’ve decided to go for an Android phone.
Right now I’m thinking about the HTC Tattoo, which seems to be a terrific phone. The only drawback is the resistive display. But with HTC’s Sense UI technology (the same that powers the Hero), the negative effect wud be minimal, except that multitouch would not be available (which is the only issue with me). But besides that, other negatives like a lower MP camera and a smaller screen (as compared to the Hero) do not bother me much since they help in significantly reducing the cost. This way, I could buy the Tattoo, not spend too much on a phone, and then feel bad about changing in a year.
So for me, it is either the Tattoo or the Hero (in case i can get a good bargain on the Hero).
Hope this helps.
Let me know your thoughts too.
References :