Team-BHP - The Mobile Phone Thread - Queries, decisions, discussions all here

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKR (Post 2020585)

Also I am looking at the X6 from Nokia or Samsung Wave S8500 for myself. I am looking to use the free ovi maps for navigation, 3G for internet and wifi features. I checked up the phone at Sangeetha, but was disappointed with the build quality. I mean the back cover was already giving creaking noises and didn't fit properly.

Samsung's super amoled screen is leagues ahead of the X6, it also has better build quality and a 1Ghz processor!! compared to ~400Mhz of the X6. But lack of free gps navigation and relatively new OS(Bada) goes against it.

Anyone here who owns Nokia X6 or the Samsung wave s8500, would you be kind enough to give a detailed review?

My sister has a X6 while I have the Wave. Sis bought it a week before Wave was launched (I bought Wave the very day it was launched) and after a month of using the X6 and having experienced my phone on a number of occasions she now wants to dump it for the Wave.

The creaking battery cover at the back of X6 is one of the problems. Also the panels on the side of the screen have developed some gaps and there are little specs of dust on the screen. I would say all this is unlike Nokia. Other thing she dislikes (and I agree) about the phone is the same old Symbian platform (all devices work same - no difference between a 6k Nokia touchscreen and a 15k one) as far as the feel of operating a phone goes.

Wave beats the X6 in almost all departments. The screen is leagues ahead. The build quality is also excellent (all aluminium body is compact and tight). The OS (ably aided by the processor) is zippy - the X6 OS is sluggish by comparison. In almost 2 months of using the phone it has never stalled (touchwood). I have a fully filled 8 GB card on it right now.

The multimedia experience on the Wave blows away the one experienced on X6. The phone plays as well as shoots HD videos. Watching videos is so much fun on the phone - you have to try it to experience what I am talking about. The camera does a good job too as compared to the one on the X6. The one thing I particularly like is the speed with which it clicks photos. By the time the X6 clicks one photo, the Wave would have clicked at least 2.

In terms of connectivity both phones have full connectivity options but the browser on Wave has support for Flash. Also pinch zooming makes a nice difference while browsing on the Wave.

There are other smaller but delightful details on Wave that makes the phone a joy to use. Dialling and sending messages with a simple swipe is one of those (swiping to the right on a contact calls the person whereas swiping to the left opens up the text window).

Route66 (the GPS software) on Wave lets you download maps on the phone itslef. I downloaded a map of India for free from Route66's website and it serves me well-enough for my limited location-finding needs.

Gaming experience is also good (I utilized their offer for downloading the free NFS Shift). The app store is limited though. But with over a million Waves already in the market the app store is growing and I feel it will be there in a year or so.

I must also mention that I bought a Samsung after a really long time. Last one I bought was in 2003 when Samsung had launched the first stylish colour screen phone (called true i). I bought that phone for 24k and it went kaput within 6 months. I vowed never to buy a Samsung again but the Wave seemed too good to pass. I have not been dissapointed till now.

IMO the premium of around 2.5k Wave commands is a small price to pay for what the phone offers in comparison to the X6. However my views are only mine and stem from how well the phone satisifies my requirements. Based on my personal requirements I would have bought this phone even if it was priced a couple thousand higher.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammyboy (Post 2021587)

Guys,How much is the Nokia X6 for these days?

Last I saw the 16GB version was retailing for 14,800 in Gurgaon. BTW Nokia has also launched a 8GB version of the X6.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gandhi (Post 2023147)

Thanks for the detailed comparison.

How do you rate Route66 to Google Maps or Ovi maps? I have used Ovi maps on Nokia 5230 and it is quite good. I think the navigation on Route66 is not lifetime free and one has to purchase the same. My only concern with Samsung wave right now is their app store and the GPS navigation solution they have. Are there any alternative navigation apps available for Wave?

Till date Route 66 is the only GPS Nav application in Wave and you have to pay for navigation. Sygic mobile maps (Used by mapmyindia) is currently under development for Bada. It will be just a matter of time for all big players to come in Bada platform.
But if the requirement is mostly GPS navigation, I think Nokia is a better bargain now. I have 5800 XpressMusic and I have 3 different Navigation apps running. One is Nokia's own Ovi maps with life time free navigation, Sygic Mapmyindia & Garmin with Satnav maps. Nokia's Ovi maps has poor coverage compared to others.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gandhi (Post 2023147)

As Arun has already pointed out, Route66 is the only navigation app on Bada as of now and navigation is not free. For my limited needs the downloaded map serves just fine because it helps me search places as well as chart routes from point A to B. If you need to use GPS extensively then as of now Wave would not be able to completely fulfill your needs (unless you plan to contribute to the coffers of Route66 :)). Ditto if you are an app loving person. IMO the app store will take at least 6 more months to stop being counted as a handicap.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cesc (Post 2023052)

The creaking battery cover at the back of X6 is one of the problems. no difference between a 6k Nokia touchscreen and a 15k one) as far as the feel of operating a phone goes.

The screen is leagues ahead. The build quality is also excellent. The OS is zippy - the X6 OS is sluggish by comparison. In almost 2 months of using the phone it has never stalled (touchwood).

The multimedia experience on the Wave blows away the one experienced on X6. The camera does a good job too as compared to the one on the X6.

Route66 (the GPS software) on Wave lets you download maps on the phone itslef. I downloaded a map of India for free from Route66's website and it serves me well-enough for my limited location-finding needs.

Gaming experience is also good (I utilized their offer for downloading the free NFS Shift). The app store is limited though. But with over a million Waves already in the market the app store is growing and I feel it will be there in a year or so.

I must also mention that I bought a Samsung after a really long time. Last one I bought was in 2003 when Samsung had launched the first stylish colour screen phone (called true i). I bought that phone for 24k and it went kaput within 6 months. I vowed never to buy a Samsung again but the Wave seemed too good to pass. I have not been dissapointed till now.

IMO the premium of around 2.5k Wave commands is a small price to pay for what the phone offers in comparison to the X6. However my views are only mine and stem from how well the phone satisifies my requirements. Based on my personal requirements I would have bought this phone even if it was priced a couple thousand higher.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thelightening (Post 2020690)

I use a X6. I agree the back battery cover of x6 is bit light, But the phone performs great and improved a lot. Its included with a 16gb mass memory which can be accessed pretty faster too.

But when compared to Wave, again Wave is 2.3k costlier and it has 1 Ghz processor, Amoled Display and Bada Os.

@thelightening: Thanks a lot.

@Cesc: the comparison netween X6 and the wave has been really helpful and couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks a lot for the same.

I always had a feeling that the wave was better in most of the aspects but thought it would be a good idea to seek opinion from some one having first hand experience on both.

As per your observations, solid build quality, better screen, better hardware specifications, superior performance and video capabilities seals the deal in favour of the wave.

Actually I have also had similar experience with samsung phones. I had bought one of the earlier foldable models, one of the first with color screen. Even though the screen had no much use other than the bling factor, it was a head turner at that time, but after a while the screen had problems and hence the phone was rendered useless. My next phone was sony ericsson w850 slide model. Had really cheap plastics and the sound was terrible. Then I came to know about nokia N91. I was floored by the build quality of the thing, nothing came close to it in terms of build. Another aspect was music reproduction, it was simply awesome so much so that I sold my two week old w850 and bought the n91. I had similar expectations when I went to check out the X6 but was dissappointed to find out that current Nokia phones are only a shadow of its former self.

I feel the 2.5k premium for the wave is more than justified by the package on offer. I am planning to buy the wave this weekend itself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cesc (Post 2023461)

Pardon my ignorance but am I correct in saying that only voice guided navigation is paid service or do we have to pay for charting routes from point A to pint B as well? Because I am fine even without voice guidance as long as I am able to chart routes and the device displays my position real time on the route.

Quote:

Originally Posted by srishiva (Post 2019037)

A couple of days ago, the Nokia CEO made it clear that they will never use Android. They don't want Google to control their phone.
MeeGo on Intel or ARM processors would make Nokia shine again.

Nokia's new N9 is a Nokia N8 with MeeGo.

What is MeeGo?
MeeGo is an embedded Linux 2.6.33 based OS, formed by a merger between Nokia's Debian-based Maemo and Intel’s Red Hat Fedora-based Moblin.

It uses the Btrfs (B-Tree File System) file system as default. Btrfs is a 64-bit file system, it can address up to 16 exabytes. That's 16 million Terabytes !!!

As data is never overwritten, Btrfs is very robust. Features such as snapshots, compression, high efficiency in the mgmt of many small files, built-in defrag, etc., suit MeeGo very well.

The UI is based on Qt 4.6, but GTK+ and Clutter will also be included.

Is MeeGo better than Android?
Independent benchmarking site Carrypad carried out a benchmark competition between Android 2.2 and Nokia Meego.
Specifically the Sunspider Javascript test on the MeeGo-based Intel "Moorestown" Aava prototype smartphone, running the Firefox build, completed pretty quickly within around 4,215 millisec. This is way too fast for a mobile device. Even Android 2.2's browser finished the test in around 5,765 milliseconds, which before Meego, was the fastest performance on a mobile.
The Sunspider Javascript test is a processor intensive test that measures how quickly applications get displayed in a web browser.
So, Meego gets the Crown now. And according to the Sunspider benchmark -- Meego is faster than Android and Android is faster than Apple's iOS !
Meego flies in benchmark test - The Inquirer

Ram

Quote:

Originally Posted by ishaanranderia (Post 1967059)

...the n8 will be the last symbian high end phone and is an important model for Nokia...

That's because Symbian will flood the market for low and medium price range phones.

For the high end, Linux is the way to go.
Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and Nokia's MeeGo are all genetic variations of Linux !

Nokia's new N9 will have MeeGo.

How does MeeGo stack up against Android?
Independent benchmarking site Carrypad carried out benchmark tests to compare the performance of Android 2.2 and Nokia Meego.

The Sunspider Javascript test on MeeGo running the Firefox build, completed within 4.2 seconds. This is way too fast for a mobile device.

Before Meego, the fastest performance on a mobile was Android 2.2's browser which could do the test in ~ 5.8 milliseconds.

Results?
Meego is faster than Android and Android is faster than Apple's iOS !

Meego flies in benchmark test - The Inquirer
Android 2.2 demolishes iOS4 in JavaScript benchmarks

Ram