Help Me Choose A Phone
I have been wanting to buy a good phone for a while now and chances are I will get some money in a few days form now. I have been trying to choose a good mobile at a decent rate. Anything between 7000 and 10,000 rupees would be alright. I would prefer Nokia, but Sony Ericsson is also acceptable. (No Korean Phones though 
)
Here are some models which I think are good. Take your pick and if you could reason as to why.
NOKIA 6300
Rs 7367/-
A very very good phone with good features and a mini USB port. Initially it cost about 12k. Today its available for less than 7k. Anything the trouble ? 2MP camera. Also, amazingly slim. Doesn’t have IR though. (Not that it is required)
Looks like there was a reason this phone’s price has been dropping. As Hari pointed out, the battery life is really bad. and I also heard that the phone gets heated pretty quickly.
Sony Ericsson W660
Rs. 8995/-
It’s got decent features and a 2MP camera, but no Infra Red.
Sony Ericsson K550I
Rs. 7365/-
Another decent phone with 2MP camera. The price is almost same as 6300
Sony Ericsson K750 I
Rs.7695/-
Another 2MP camera. Very little difference between this model and the one on top. Again, a contender to 6300.
Sony Ericsson K 790I
Rs 9995/-(vasavi) Rs 9615/- (Univercell) Rs 9495/- (poorvika)
This is my personal choice. But, I don’t know if I will have 10k with me for sure. 
This has got stunning features for the price you pay. A 3.2 MP camera which works really well. (Vibushan has this btw)
After going through the comments, I am adding a few more models here:
Sony Ericsson 810I
Rs 12,795/- (vasavi) Rs 11346/- (Univercell) Rs 11495/- (poorvika)
If not for the 1k more than my budget, it blows the mind hole!!
*-All prices as per Vasavi mobiles. Univercell seems to be cheaper. I am sure there will be cheaper stores. You can suggest where to buy as well.
Prices seem to be cheaper in univercell and even more cheaper in Poorvika.
I ve used 7 mobiles so far and have experienced a lot. Forget 6300, If u want to go out of charge always then go for it. No k750i when Wseries are there. Don’t know about w660. k790i performance is superb. It has an excellent flash and cam quality but sound is less than any other ericsson mobile. Nokia 5310 is better than 5610. Check out these mobiles too. SE w580i, Motorola Z6. I would go for motorola Z6 cos it is an all rounder except typing msg is bit complicated.
Hari
March 14, 2008 at 9:05 am
They all look dull. Get a W710i. Looks fancy and has all the features you need. And no, you don’t need infra red.
Marc
March 14, 2008 at 10:16 am
@Hari,
Nokia 5310 seems to be thinner and lighter than 6300. Has more internal memory, and even the battery life seems to be better. Ah, so there is a reason why Nokia 6300 price is falling.
5610 has a 3.2MP camera , 3G (do we even need it) and better talk time, slightly bigger display. It is however bulkier and thicker. You are right. But for the 3.2 MP camera, no point buying the 5610 as it costs 3k more than 5310.
W580i is just about ok, but costlier than K790i !! (and it has lot lesser features too !! ?? ) So I think that’s out of the question.
Z6 is alright. Nothing impressive. Plus I am not a moto fan.
@Marc,
I go for functionality over looks. I hate flip phones and W710 i costs as much as K790i.
I think if I have money enough to buy K790, all models whoch cost +- 500 bucks are out of question.
That leaves 5310.
Karthik
March 14, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Hi Dude ! First compare all the technical specification of your favorite’s models here .
My better suggestion in your budget is:
Sony Ericsson : W810i , K790i
Nokia : N72, N70
Suryas
March 14, 2008 at 6:36 pm
@Surya,
This is only a preliminary research. I shall definitely be comparing the tech specs later on. The thing is I have not been noticing the cell phone arrivals for a while now as I have had no intentions of buying. So this is just to get to kow the mobiles. Once I narrow down on a few models, I shall be researching each in detail. (It’s my hard earned money you see
)
W810i is ok, but after comparing it with K790i, it does look lame.
I do not wan’t to buy N-series phones for two reasons, 1) they are lame, 2) they are really old now.
However, I had a look at K810i and it blows the mind!! Only it costs an additional 1500 over my 10k cap.
Karthik
March 15, 2008 at 3:50 am
wtf., You think w810i is lame after comparing it with a k790i. I don’t think so dude, w810i is always a better phone when compared to the k790i, be it , looks , audio and video clarity everything is better in w810i.
Gowtham
March 15, 2008 at 8:06 am
And it’s also a higher number!
Marc
March 15, 2008 at 10:05 am
@Gowtham,
Are you talking about K810 i or W810 i ? Because W810 i doesn’t seem to have better features compared to K790i.
I cannot say anything about the looks as everyone has different perception. They have almost the same dimensions. (W810i is slightly sleaker ,smaller and also lighter. Agreed)
Audio clarity could be better as it’s a Walkman series phone. But then how subsantial is your claim that it IS better ? What parameters are you measuring the audio clairty on ?
Coming to video clarity, K790i undoubtedly has a better display. It also sports a higher MP camera and K series cameras are supposed to be stunning. (for me the camera is more important than the music player)
Apart form these features, K790i also has higher internal memory , better polyphonic ringtones,
810i claims to have better battery life and quad band.
SE W810i
SE 790i
Karthik
March 15, 2008 at 10:15 am
Oh, and W810i also costs marginally higher.
If it was K810i you were talking about, then it’s simply mind blowing.
I did talk to my friend who has a k790i now and his previous phone was w810i . (Which means w810i is also older) He says without the earphones, w810i sounds much better being a walkman series phone. But once you use ear-phones, theres hardly any difference.
Also, I have a HDD based music player and another Solid state player on the way. I don’t plan to use my phone for music all that much. However, the camera will come in handy. Which is why I prefer a K series phone to a W series phone.
Also, check out the features of K790i on sony website. It has RSS feeds, mobile blogging and lots more.
Karthik
March 15, 2008 at 10:16 am
Ok ok .. you win
But 790 sucks when compared to w810i
Gowtham
March 17, 2008 at 8:10 am
@Gowtham,
There’s no winning or losing here. I want to know other people’s perspective as well. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have posted here. But then finally it’s me who is gonna buy the phone. So I’d say my liking carries more weightage.
w810i is a good phone. I think I am not going to go for 790i afterall. k810i seems to be better.
Karthik
March 17, 2008 at 8:19 am
To use all the web based features like RSS you need an expensive connection to the net. So let’s not consider them as features.
Marc
March 18, 2008 at 11:08 am
@Marc,
Yea, I may not be using them right away. They are not all that expensive either. 1 Rupee per 100kb as per Airtlel rates. (GPRS)
Karthik
March 18, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Not worth it. You’ll see. Once upon a time I thought the same as you.
Marc
March 19, 2008 at 9:31 am