The Smartphone battle in India has really heated up recently. Hundreds of different brands, variety of operating systems, slew of handsets and the added confusion of single core versus dual core processors make the ‘buying decision’ extremely complicated.
Apple with the iPhone, Google's Android OS, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7 and even the newer version of Symbian -- the Smartphone wars are bloodier than ever. But for the consumer, the Smartphone battle is proving beneficial in a way with the sheer variety of offers, and the fact that competition has seen prices get slashed more often than not.
To help clear the confusion, we recommend some of the most advanced Smartphones with the best deals. So get ready to gain from the Smartphones war!
iPhone 4S
The first question that may be asked is what new things does the iPhone 4S have that the iPhone 4 did not.
Speed:First of all, the iPhone 4S blows away the iPhone 4 when it comes to speed. The graphics can render up to seven times quicker thanks to the A5.
Camera:The iPhone 4S camera gives you 8 megapixels — that’s 60 percent more pixels than the camera on iPhone 4.
Battery Life:8 hours talk time on 3G, 14 hours on 2G. 6 hours of browsing on 3G, 9 hours on Wi-Fi. 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music.
Dowload Speeds:The theoretical max of the iPhone 4S is a whopping 14.4 Mbps down, as opposed to 7.2 on the iPhone 4.
Siri:All of that sounds great. But the true killer feature of the device is Siri. In addition to weather forecasts, Siri can read messages back, search Wikipedia, schedule appointments, set work reminders, transcribe text messages, search Google Maps and more. It goes beyond simple commands and answers.
Price:Following the trend, iPhone 4S (unlocked) is available in India at an exorbitant price of Rs. 41, 850 16 GB model and Rs.58,650 for the 64GB model.
Samsung Galaxy S2
The latest mobile introduced by Samsung. For Samsung, India is the third-largest handset market behind the U.S. and China.
The Samsung Galaxy S II is available in two storage capacities i.e. 8GB or 16GB. There is a 512MB of RAM that ensures the phone is never low on RAM. The phone sports a 8 MP camera, HD video recording, 4.3-inch display, 1.2GHz processor. The video calling works over 3G, not something limited to Wi-Fi.
Price:At aroundRs 32,890, the phone is a good bet.
HTC Sensation
Often peddled as HTC's answer to Samsung's Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4, this Dual Core wonder is highly likely to attract people looking for an alternative to the first two phones. The phone was a CNET Editors' Choice Award winner and they said that it is “sensational in many ways”.
The 3G device runs on android 2.3 gingerbread OS. Having dual core 1.2GHz processor, 8 MP camera, remarkable battery life, the phone supports Bluetooth, WI-FI.
Price: HTCSensation aka HTC Pyramid costs approximately Rs. 32,000.
LG Optimus 2X
LG is the mobile company which is investing huge amount of money on R & D. It launched India’s first ever dual core Smartphone with Tegra 1GHz processor. The phone comes with Android 2.2 Froyo by default.
It offers some great hardware and the Multimedia features are overwhelming. The Optimus 2X is a pretty well-speced handset with a 4 inch display, 8 MP camera with 1080p (full HD) video recording, 512 MB RAM, 8GB internal memory.
Once again, a good choice for those looking for options beyond Apple and Samsung.
Price:Approx Rs. 26,000
Blackberry Bold 3 9780
The Bold 3 comes with the Blackberry OS6, the familiarity of a physical QWERTY keypad, marginally better performance than the 9700 (256MB more RAM than the 9700) and a 2.44-inch display.
The new OS has resulted in better battery life, and the 5MP camera is a major improvement over the predecessors.
Despite the limited variety of apps on App World, Bold 3 still is a 'serious' phone, appealing to two kinds of users -- the Blackberry loyalists and/or those who need a physical QWERTY keypad for texts and emails.
Price:The recent price change has seen the Blackberry Bold 9780 drop from the Rs 26,000 mark to Rs 22,000.
By: Pooja Thakkar
