Hi all
Here goes....
There was a time when i used to change my mobile once every 6months but that changed when i purchased Imate jammin in 2005. I never had the need to change it again since december of 2009 when the battery died and the comany has shut shop and no spares were available. Tried in the grey market but did not go well.
Decided to change my mobile and come back to symbian which i had used and am very comfortable with. My requirements of a mobile precludes necessity of a camera. The must haves are good audio clarity (cant live without music) and surfing (gprs, wifi). Almost went the symbian way when android started tempting me. Decided to wait it out for some time. For 6 months i was using a spare phone (Motorokr E6) and finally took the plunge.
Researched enough to realize symbian is not making much headway (Maybe the next version will) and android is making things much more user friendly. Iphone was never a option for lot of reasons that i dont want to highlight here.
Phones that were considered
Google nexus - Great phone but available only in grey market and no service back up. Some of my colleagues have it and works like a charm. No issues though. All of them have the froyo update already. But i did not want to risk money when there is no service back up.
Sony Ericsson Xperia - Ruled out because the screen though big lacked the clarity (only 65k colours). Few issues with the loudness of speakers and headphones, more expensive and probably will never get updated to the newer version.
Motorola Milestone - Neatly build device. Lower processor speed and poor service backup. I called the service center to enquire and the number is already out of service. The number was provided in the motorola website. Pity.
HTC desire - Again not launched in india. No service backup. But the main problem is that the lack of space for loading softwares. You would have to remove softwares to create space for newer softwares. Will get sorted out with the 2.2 update which allows you to install the software in SD card. HTC sense user interface is a big plus in this.
HTC wildfire - Cheap but lower processor speed, inferior ram, screen resolution is not upto the mark.
HTC Legend - Good screen resolution but inferior processor and RAM. Much similar to HTC wildfire except for the screen resolution. Not worth the price.
Samsung Galaxy I9000 - When i saw what i can get out of this mobile there was truly no other competetion still decided to wait for one month before the reviews were out. I have purchased this mobile one month earlier and am truly impressed with this. The resolution of the screen is great. If you are into watching videos, youtube etc on your mobile this is it. It has got youtube client integrated into the device. Audio clarity is great. Though the headphones are good i prefer to use Bose noise reduction headphones. Browsing is good and google has made the interface so simple i dont know how i have put up with windows and symbian so long. Lots of softwares are available and i have to really confine myself to what i need. There are 7 homescreens available and i have configured it to my requirement. Believe me or not i have very rarely pressed the home button. Camera is good if you have adequate lightning, but xenon flash would have been great. But the videos are great and it records seamlessly. Playing 720p resolution videos in this baby is smooth. I have ensured service backup is available. Anyway have taken extended warranty for one more year and theft insurance also. GPRS and WIFI works without any hiccoughs. Have not tested GPS yet. The best thing about android is that all your google accounts get synchronized automatically once you activate it. You can synchronize upto 10 email accounts. Google docs, picassa etc gets updated automatically.
I had purchased it from Mobile store, RK salai, Chennai. The guys there knew what they were talking about unlike the idiots from Univercel and poorvika. Vasavi was ruled out since they were also dealing with grey market pieces.
Anyway guys hope this helps. Cheers.
