[MCR]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

^^^One significant issue about Micromax mobiles - they don't seem to mention radiation (SAR) levels. They also don't seem to undergo any such tests. I do not know if the Q5 is an exception.

So while it may be a worthy buy at the price, you may be putting your health at risk with these Chinese products.

Yep. The radiation levels are always a worry. I hope Nokia can come up with better specked dual SIM phones.

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

I was going to suggest that. take the best phone you can afford and just replace the camera with a solid filling.

Thanks vivek .I hope I can find a suitable dual SIM phone. Else this whole exercise of buying a dual SIM phone is worthless. I would just continue to use the 2 phones I have.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

MCR,

u wont get a phone at that specs which is good.

The closest is spice QT44 but the GPRS in all these phones simply sucks. 3G? Forget it.

I own a Fly BD430 Circle and while its snappy for regular stuff - move into apps/java or such and its painful. Ditto for most micromaxes - ALL are chinese phones with a okayish Java OS.

Thanks phamilyman. If the quality of GPRS and other JAVA applications is bad, then I would not venture into buying these phones.

[c-zar]

Anyone tried the Gigabyte Gsmart windows mobile phones? Seen them on Ebay recently and the specs seem good, especially the Cougar (model 1205, I think). Pretty reasonably priced too. If someone has used gsmart phones, please comment on the quality.

There are also htc so called "imported" windows mobile phones on ebay (which I suspect are fakes/copies). I'm very curious about them because the pictures they showed were remarkably nice. Anyone has any experience of them?

[Antonian]

For All CDMA fans, Samsung has launched a Qwerty Handset named Mpower Txt 369
It has got some good features with affordable price 6500
Features
Live TV
EVDO
Qwerty (IMHO the one and only branded Qwerty with price tag less than 7K)
OMH (open market Handset)
2 MP camera
3.5mm jack
good battery

Enoy the clarity ..!!

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by MCR

Yep.
Thanks phamilyman. If the quality of GPRS and other JAVA applications is bad, then I would not venture into buying these phones.

I have not heard about any issues with GPRS/EDGE on Micromax Q5 at least? Can't recall about Java. Actually the users I know only had issues with the poor cam quality. Else they have a lot of functions... possibly more than those found on phones from the bigger names. The music output from the q5 I heard was much better than what I'v heard in Nokias, etc., which coast twice as much.

The main concern is the radiation levels. Else, they seem v good value at the price.

You don't like the new dual SIM Motos?

[Jaggu]

Bought a Nokia C5 yesterday for wifee, a very good handset. Almost has everything except wifi and really value for money. UI usual Nokia stuff, nothing confusing and hardware sleek, light and pretty rugged.

Paid 7650 at spice shop in Koramangala 1st block and won a Reebok Tshirt from the scratch card festival offer.

Nokia Singapore - Nokia C5-00 - Specifications

[para_7k]

Talking about Dual sim phones, I have been using the Samsung C5212 for the last 1 month.

Good display, keypad, voice quality and a decent 1.3 MP camera and GPRS/EDGE works quite well.

The best feature of this handset is that both sims are active which means you can receive calls on one sim when you are busy on the other

Price at 4800/-, a definite VFM.

Samsung C5212 - Overview - Samsung Mobile India

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Bought a Nokia C5 yesterday for wifee.....
Paid 7650 at spice shop in Koramangala 1st block and won a Reebok Tshirt from the scratch card festival offer.

That is great VFM. For 7.5k you get GPS navigation + GPRS/3G + Sturdy and reliable phone.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

As for SAR testing etc., since there is currently no law in place in India, I doubt even big brands have any sort of testing. However, the smartphones do have their levels posted on some websites.
Moreover there is peer reviews research saying what level of SAR is unsafe, and also the health risks are disputed.

Well most of the phones models which are launched in EU have raditaion tests done. Indian models from big companies are derivatives and not new platform so they meet compliance.

About radiation level being hazardous I have a personal experience to share in the early days of UMTS I worked on certain prototypes where signal level was increased and also power consumption was quite high. ( Used to draw 1 Amp from a DC power supply). We had few unbilled test SIMs from operator so we liberally used them for making personal calls back to India.
These phones used to give headache in 10-15 minutes whereas normal commercial mobiles don't have this effect.
I can not quantify if it was noise / heat or SAR which caused this headache or it was just pure psychological thing as we were fully aware how many db we are radiating.

[Raccoon]

If radiation is the only concern for not buying Micromax or similar rebranded phones, using a BT headset (wired won't do) with the handset at some distance would be a good solution. In fact, its a good idea even otherwise (with any mobile phone).

[tsk1979]

Why won't a wired handsfree provide the same benefit? After all, the phone will be kept in the pocket or something, away from the head

[Raccoon]

Well, the wire has been found to act as an antenna and direct radiation to the head. In fact, some tests show that using a wired hands-free is worse than using the phone itself, in this respect.

BT headsets, while they too radiate, do so much less than the handset and are currently known to be the safest option. That is unless you can just use the speaker phone with the handset as far away as possible.

And btw, the head isn't the only part of the body that is at risk from EM radiation and that risk may even be higher than when the radiating source is near the head. Best is to keep the handset at several feet distance (further the better) and use the speaker phone (if/when possible) or a BT headset.

[tsk1979]

Most such studies are "reported" by snake oil manufacturers trying to sell their "radiation free" wired headsets
However, most peer reviews studies, show 5-8 fold "decrease" in the radiation to the head while using a wired headset
Headset mfrs were claiming "virtually zero" exposure, which was found to be untrue, as a 5-8 fold reduction is not "zero".
I am unable to find any link to any study which says that wired headsets increase exposure.
If you have link to such a study by a reputed journal or published in a peer reviewed journal, please post the links.

[Raccoon]

^^^Unfortunately, thats how it is - difficult to get hands on some concrete and apparently reliable source of studies. In the absence of this, let me mention my own personal experience:

I have observed that using a wired headset improves reception in some phones, when they are used in an area of low signal intensity. This suggests that the wire is indeed acting as an antenna. Now, it is impossible to generalize with couple such observations, since different phones may be more or less inclined to using the wire as an antenna.

Another interesting observation: If you have a phone in which the location of the internal antenna is know (top/bottom), try covering that area with your hands. I have observed that the signal intensity rapidly drops. You may not see this if the network of your operator is very strong. For eg. in my case Idea here operates at 900 MHz and signal intensity is almost always at its peak. In this case you may not see an appreciable drop. On the other hand Reliance GSM and even Aircel have a weaker signal at my residence, and the effect is immediately seen. Hence, the way you hold your cell phone can affect how much radiation you will be exposed to. Hold it in such a way that maximum surface area over the antenna area is covered, and you would be exposing yourself to lesser radiation.

One corollary of the 2nd observation could be that phone with wired hands-free gives better reception as maximum surface area of the phone is exposed and not because the wire is acting as an antenna. Its difficult to know what exactly is happening and drawing conclusions with crude observations like this. But in the absence of more reliable scientific tests, all we can do is use these MW devices in the way we deem relatively safer (which can be completely wrong... hehe!).

One more thing you can do to decrease radiation exposure is to choose an operator that has a strong signal intensity where you use your cell phone the most. For eg. in Poona, Airtel and Reliance GSM have amongst the weakest signals in most places. So those who use these networks will be exposing themselves to higher radiation from their phones.

[tsk1979]

Just because a wire is assisting in reception, does not mean it will be a radiation source.
All "peer reviewed" studies I found claimed "reduction".
I am unable to find any study which says radiation increases.

If you are member of IEEE or similar journals, you can actually download these studies with factual numbers.

Reliable scientific studies exist, but they are not available freely. OTOH, the internet is full of "snake oil" studies on most such subjects.

[Raccoon]

^^^Quite so, as I have mentioned myself. Maybe we should just go back to using wired landlines, at least most of the times, lol! It probably can't get safer than that.

Here is one interesting article - http://electricsense.com/tag/wired-headsets/ No idea how reliable it is, but looks good.

Actually, how reliable are these "reliable scientific studies"? Even they are quite questionable. Though it goes without saying they are more acceptable to us than the snake oil stuff you are referring to.

The last point of your car acting as a Faraday's cage and cooking us up like chicken in a MW oven is pretty scary.