Smart phone under Rs 12000/-

[islandman]

Hi All,
As the title suggests, I am really hard on cash and have broken my existing phone.

I need to buy a smartphone under Rs 12000/- The only thing that comes close to this budget is the Imate sp5m. Any clue on the reliability of this phone and are there others which I am unaware of?

Help would be really welcome. Thanks to all responders in Advance...

[finneyp]

Nokia 6233 is not exactly a Smart phone, but has almost all the features of a Smart phone!

Do check-out!

[Sahil]

Check out the 6300, its not really a smartphone but its best nokia VFM in a long time!

[srasania]

How about this man..cheap..smartphone..but don't know how reliable !..
I think conversion comes to just around Rs12,000..

eBay: Dual Sim 3.2 Mega Pixels Touch Screen MP3 MP4 512mb (item 320087023539 end time Mar-05-07 11:44:40 PST)

-sr

[rishibravo]

I would suggest moto ming. just lil more expensive than 12000

[chanapli]

Have you considered E50? Its a wonderful phone with business functions.

[sreedotk]

Originally Posted by islandman

I need to buy a smartphone under Rs 12000/- The only thing that comes close to this budget is the Imate sp5m.

Islandman,

The Sp5M ( i guess is the win mobile 5.0 version) is a great phone. Only downside is the Camera is not so great

If your corporate can support the phone then it will let you push email. Both Airtel and Hutch have solutions for the same.

It has great PDA functionality and you can sync the phone over Bluetooth with your Computer. I have a Win Mob 2003 version and i loved the phone.

My present phone is a Blackberry 7100 series phone and you can get this version for less than 10K. Other than the fact that both the imate and Blackberry are not edge enabled i find both the phones great

BTW where are you getting this phone for 12K i will be seriously interested to look and exchange

regards

[Steeroid]

Plenty of chinese phones available these days that run MS Smartphone or Windows Mobile pocket PC edition. Most of them come within the budget you mentioned.

I've found the chinese phones to be hassle-free, VERY economical (okay, CHEAP) and equivalent in functionality to most of the big names around. Since they run a generic OS like MS Smartphone or Win Mobile, support isnt an issue unless it is hardware specific. Most of us that use iMate and other brands are stuck with useless support anyway -we are rather self-supporting.

[babhishek]

Steeroid,
Could you name some brands or models?
I would love to check them out.

[islandman]

Thanks for the Nokia 6230,6233 and E50 advices.. I am thinking about them but would love a windows mob based phone...I know I should not dream too much with budget but after steer's post my dream's takin wings.

Originally Posted by sreedotk

Islandman,
The Sp5M ( i guess is the win mobile 5.0 version) is a great phone. Only downside is the Camera is not so great.
BTW where are you getting this phone for 12K i will be seriously interested to look and exchange
regards

Sp5m is about Rs 10500 - 10800/- (after a lil bit of haggling) with all imate dealors in Bangalore. It is best to buy these phones from a guy who can load additional software like blackberry connect and so on.. plus a knowledgable guy could help you during (as steeriod put it) in self support.

Originally Posted by babhishek

Steeroid,
Could you name some brands or models?
I would love to check them out.

Yes Steer, Some info with models and prices would help us in India to negotiate as many mobile dealors here are extremely smooth con artists.

Cheers

[shuvd]

islandman, the SP5 seems to be your best bet. My cousin had it for about 2 years and was quite happy with it. Yes, the camera IS crappy and support in India is not great but Imates seldom go kaput. In Calcutta, it sells for about 10.5.

[MC Mayank]

how about treo phones? any idea how much the latest models are priced at and whether they are available in bangalore?

[islandman]

Hi All
Bought the Sp5 and not the Sp5m because the keypad in Sp5 was better laid out than Sp5m plus the Mrs thought the Sp5 looked classier.

Please browse to the following link for more details Club i-mate - i-mate SP5

Bought it for Rs 11000/- in Blr on CC. Also bought a 1gb mini sd card for Rs 900/-

Thread can be closed or kept open for further opinions on economy smartphones as per the moderators choice.

Thanks everybody for your feedback.

Cheers

[islandman]

Hi Guys
Almost a month into my Sp5 purchase. Here are some of my experiences.
Cons
1. S/w and hardware not userfriendly compared to a Nokia.
2. Reception quality low compared to Nokia

Pro's
1. Fantastic features for rs 11000and all of them work
- Push Mail
- Wifi
-Calender/task sync. I love the automatic profile which automatically keeps the phone silent during meetings.
- Msn Messenger
and a host of others.

2. Can play video in 3pg format with a 2gb card one can safely watch DVD movies on the go.


Do I recommend the phone. Yes but be prepared for a small 1-2 week getting used to period.

I have 2 questions with regards to the SP5

1. Need a link to free software To help me Convert entire DVD's to 3pg file. Presently I find s/w that allow for 10 minute conversion only.

2. I am using a player called Core Pocket media player. I am not very satisifed by the same. Would like a better player. please give me a link...


Thanks in Advance
Islandman

[satish_appasani]

Core Player is the best available player for Windows mobile phones. It can play most of the formats. It is commercial and tcpmp player is a beta version of Core player and is very widely used. It is free but doesn't support few formats compared to core player. Google to find it.
Usually the freeware sites for PocketPC phones are FreewarePPC.com - Freeware Pocket PC: the one and only site for downloading freeware files for Pocket PC handhelds. and PocketPCFreeware. I am not aware of any sites specific to Windows Smart phone (There is a difference between Windows Mobile Pocket PC phone and Windows Mobile Smart Phone).