Are Cheap Mobile Phones Worthy?

Are the cheap mobile phones, as been marketd by Reliance and
Tata, worth its cheap price tag? Well, while it makes a cell phone
affordable for most common man, the low price tag brings with
it cheaper components and hence low quality. Most of the low
priced phones, such as Classic and Haier, have persistent
connectivity issues or the processor is too slow to respond, and
in some cases, its battery life is too less for a CDMA phone.
What you people think? Is it good or bad?

W 200i

Sony Ericsson’s budget walkman phone with expandable memory. Further, no other mobile phone maker currently has a comparable model in its class. Those who wish to buy a budget phone, but with features such as music, radio, camera, W 200i may just exactly fits the bill. The W 200i costs £50 or 5, 250 INR.

Walkman is easy to use and the sound quality is also excellent. The headphones supplied with the handset are topnotch, but still if you want to swap it for your own, you can do that as well; thanks to the standard 3.5mm jack on the hands-free kit. Further, the handset comes with a 128 MB M2 Memory Stick, but the slot can hold memory up to 1 GB.

In terms of call quality, W 200i scores above average, and regarding its battery life, it is just excellent. Also, there are few extras hidden in the menu such as the RSS reader that lets the user keep updated about the current news from his/her favorite websites.

On the downside, W 200i’s screen is below average in terms of visibility and clarity. If you look from any other angle than straight on, you’ll find the colors washed out or murky. The camera, which incidentally VGA, does not have anything great either. The picture quality is below par. Also, there is no flash and Bluetooth connectivity support (has only infrared).

To sum it up, W 200i is a good buy for those looking for a cheap music phone. If you want a better camera, and is willing to pay few $/ £ more, go for W 810i.

Motofone F3

Motofone F3 combines the aesthetics of a slim phone and a price tag that most common man can afford. Priced at a modest 1,655 INR, the phone comes with a dirt proof cover, a simple user interface that even an illiterate can navigate through without much struggle, and a long life Li-ion battery. But, the most notable technological innovation that Motofone F3 incorporates in its slender body is the e-ink display, which not only consumes very less power, but also has a good visibility under all lighting conditions. In fact, this is one of the reasons why the phone has a longer battery life than most other phones in its category. Motofone F3's other features include polyphonic ring tones, speakerphone, twin antenna, ringtone downloads, and iTap and voice prompt. Motofone F3 weighs just 68 grams.

On the flip side, Motofone F3 does not have a FM radio, and its screen is a bit small to display 13 digits in a single screen (that is, a phone number with the area code). The same handicap appears while typing text messages as well (in this case, 7-9 characters in a single screen). Elsewhere, Motofone F3 is a handy and affordable phone with good voice reception and decent overall performance index.

Few Popular Nokia Models and Their Prices in India

Lower End

Nokia 1110 ---- 2,050 INR.
Nokia 1110i---- 2,250 INR.
Nokia 1112 ---- 2,550 INR.
Nokia 1600 ---- 2,650 INR.
Nokia 2310 ---- 3,300 INR.
Nokia 6020 ---- 5,000 INR.
Nokia 6070 ---- 5,900 INR.

Mid Level

Nokia 6080 ---- 7,500 INR.
Nokia 5200 ---- 8,500 INR.
Nokia 6600 ---- 8,600 INR.
Nokia 3230 ---- 9,800 INR.
Nokia 6125 ---- 10,500 INR.
Nokia 7610 ---- 10,700 INR.

Nokia 6131 ---- 11, 500 INR.
Nokia 6151 ---- 11,800 INR.
Nokia 6681 ---- 11,900 INR.
Nokia 6630 ---- 11,900 INR.
Nokia 5300 ---- 11,999 INR.
Nokia 6681 ---- 11,999 INR.

Nokia 5500 ---- 12,499 INR.
Nokia E50 ----- 12,999 INR.
Nokia 6680 ---- 12,999 INR.
Nokia 6233 ---- 13,299 INR.
Nokia 6280 ---- 13,999 INR.

N Series

Nokia N72 ------------------ 15,700 INR.
Nokia N70 ------------------ 17,700 INR.
Nokia N73 ------------------ 24,600 INR.
Nokia N93 ------------------ 33,800 INR.

Nokia 6151

Nokia 6151 is Nokia’s attempt to bring 3G WCDMA/UMTS phones to the masses, and also to preempt any similar moves by its competitors. As of now, it is Nokia’s cheapest 3G handset available across the different continents on earth. Nokia anticipates the pricing of 6151 to be anywhere near 240 Euros + taxes or equivalent dollars/pounds/INR.

Regarding features, the Nokia 6151 comes equipped with a 1.3 mega pixel camera, 30 MB internal memory, microSD memory slot, MP3 player that supports MP3, AAC, and WMA formats, FM Radio, voice dialing, push-to-talk, Bluetooth connectivity, flight mode, 262k color display of 128x160 pixel resolution, and an easy to use S40 interface.

Nokia 6151 has a Li-Ion battery, which, according to its manufacturers, gives 4.5 hours of talk time and a standby time of 4.5 hours. On a user scale, this equation translates to 2-2.5 days of battery survival, assuming that the user spends at least an hour daily on the phone, making or receiving calls, and occasionally using MP3, games, or other applications.

Prices of Few Popular Sony Ericsson Models In India

Walkman Phones

• W300i --------------- 9,500 INR.
  
• W550i --------------- 10,200 INR.
• W700i --------------- 11,700 INR.
• W810i --------------- 14,900 INR.

Megapixel Camera Phones

• K790i Cybershot -------- 18,800 INR.
• K750i ------------------- 10,600 INR.
• K510i ------------------- 6,500 INR.
• Z550i ------------------- 8,000 INR.

Snap Shot Phones

• K310i -------------- 4,950 INR.
• Z530i -------------- 6,800 INR.

Business Phones

• M600i ------------- 15,800 INR.
  
• P990i ------------- 30,800 INR.

Easy Phones

• J100i ------------- 2,300 INR.
• J220i ------------- 3,150 INR.
  
• J230i ------------- 3,250 INR.

These are the rates as on Decemeber 2006. For more info on the models mentioned, visit http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=in&lc=en&ver=4000&template=ph1&zone=ph

Samsung D830

Samsung D830 is the clamshell design in the newly released Ultra Thin Edition phone series. It is named Samsung Ultra Edition 9, the last digit hinting the thickness of the phone case, which stands at 9.9 mm. Samsung D830 measures 103x54x9.9 mm and has a weight of 92 gm. One may well think how Samsung had managed to cut the weight of its handsets. Pretty simple, except the battery and the electronic circuits, make all other parts plastic. Samsung D830's front and back cover may appear like metal. But in realty, it is not.

Samsung D830 comes with a 2 mega pixel CMOS fixed focus camera, which is located on the rotating block near the flip axis. In fact, that is the only place in the entire phone body where the camera could have been embedded, thanks to its 9.9 mm thickness. The camera functionality, the ISO settings and white balance, they are pretty standard and similar to comparable Samsung models. The picture quality is ok, if not that great. Comparable models of Nokia and Sony Ericsson produces better quality pictures under the same conditions. However, the biggest drawback in terms of taking photos and videos is that the user cannot automatically save the pics directly into the memory card. One may have to do it manually. Worse, the counter problem with Samsung’s earlier models persists in Samsung D830 as well. Having taken the pictures, if the user moves the image files to some other location, the counter resets to 1 again. This could cause problems when you download images to your PC. There you may have to deal with too many files with the file name 001.jpg. This software flaw is really irritating, to be honest.

Another negative – if thought that way - with Samsung D830 is its keypad, which is a sensor numeric keypad as in Motorola RAZR. Its problem is that the user won’t realize if he had actually pressed the key while typing. Hence, it is mandatory that you follow the display as well closely. Else, you could end up calling wrong numbers or mistyped sms.

Samsung D830 has a 2.3’ TFT display that is capable of showing 262k colors, at a resolution of 240x320 pixels. The downside however is that the display fades under bright sunlight. Else it is very much ok. Other features of D830 include blue tooth connectivity, MP3 player, expandable memory slot, GPRS, GSM 900, 1800, and 1900MHz bands support, Wap browser, email client, 80 MB internal memory, and flight mode.

Regarding battery life, Samsung D830’s 630 mAh Li-Ion battery scores only below average when compared with similar models of Nokia and Sony Ericsson. About one hour spent on calling, and no other applications used, the charge may last up to 2 days. If you are an avid gamer or music buff, then most probably you may end up recharging it every 24 hours.

Final Call – Not worth the money spent, especially since other models in this category performs far well than Samsung D830. A Samsung X820 or Motorola KRZR would be a better choice. Samsung D830 is priced at around £230/$400/17,000 INR.