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Get Nexus 4. But is it available now? Last I heard, it was sold out.

Nexus 4 is outdated. I suggest you wait for the Nexus 5 which is launching soon and is gonna be priced like the Nexus 4.

Micromax or Karbonn fluidity comparable to an S4 or S3? Are you serious? If that was the case then Samsung wouldn't have sold 30 million S3 and 40 million S4 by now! Similarly, even the touchscreen experience of the S4 is no match against the IPhone 5 or 5S! That's a premium you get with the higher price you pay!

Unfortunately there is no release date on the nexus 5. Supposed to have been sometime next week in the US but apparently has been postponed now. But even after its release in the US don't know when we folks in India will get to lay our hands on it.. So might be a couple of months at the very least.

Latest IDC report says that Micromax owns 22% of market share in India trailing Samsung by 4% points.And Karbon is third. Last quarter Samsung had to take drastic measures (Zero EMI, 10K on old Phone exchange etc.) to ensure that sales doesn't tank.

I agree that there is a difference between the S4 and the Micromax phones. For the average joe who uses a smartphone for facebook, SMS, whatsapp, some casual gaming and making phone calls, does it make a difference??
IMHO,Weigh the above against the price differential of 20K and it flips the equation in favor of Indian brands.

Its gonna get worse for Samsung with players like Xiamoi (thanks to Mr Bara)and other Chinese brands waiting in the aisles

Need New Battery for Defy+

Any recommendations where to buy? Original or Equivalent?

Same here... & the battery usage (not drain this time) is back to normal :). Now I am away from BBM for good. Few other are complaining the same (even on HTC phones as well). You can't upload video files as well.

BTW I upgraded to Android 4.3 last week & initial impressions of the same is very good.

Nexus 4 without a doubt. it is correct that the Nexus 5 i expected soon, but going by the Nexus 4 story, although it was released in the US in Nov 2012, due to the high demand it became easily available only by Jan -Feb and it came to India officially only around April-May. So I assume the Nexus 5 will be available in India only sometime next year.

Its available in most online sites and stores. In fact it is available on Amazon.in for ~Rs 21800 which is an awesome price for this phone.

If you compare android phones in same price bands, most of the Micromax /Karbonn phones are equally or more fluid than Samsung (Samsung definitely. Not sure about HTC). There might be service issues but I have not experienced them as the phone (A110) is working fine for about a year now.

I own a samsung Galaxy Note 2. A family member has that Karbonn Titanium S5.
His phone lacks a magnetic sensor and some other gyroscopic sensor stuff(both parts cost around 1$ for a manufacturer if not less).
I often wonder, how did Karbonn do it.
Of course, there are some other differences, like 1GB RAM and lower internal storage, but then if I compare it to Note-1 (which retails for 20K I think), Karbonn offers the same, if not better experience at the same price.

That said you have to realize, that a large part of Samsung phones price is marketing budget.
Cost of manufacturing is not so much more.

If I look at at a 12K Samsung phone and the 10K Karbonn, the 12K samsung phone feels like an ancient low powered relic from the stone age. However, how good is the reliability, I dunno. Only time will tell.

With the amount of time we spend with our phones these days, imo it's important to consider the overall experience of the phone we choose.
1. The ergonomics: shape, size, thickness, build quality - here Samsung / HTC / LG are definitely better than the local brands. (Nothing beats Apple, but that's a different price range)
2. Screen resolution & quality: LCD displays are available in various quality ranges, therefore you'll find a considerable difference in the color reproduction, sharpness, viewing angles, etc when compared to an lcd display of htc/lg phones or super-amoleds on Samsung phones.
3. Processor & graphics performance: It's not important how many cores the processor has, it's important how it's built and the technology used in the same - this makes all the difference.
4. Camera: It's easy to pump handset with 8mp/13mp cameras, but the camera sensor quality makes all the difference. Try comparing an 8mp/13mp camera from a Micromax to a similar mp camera from Samsung and you'll see the difference.
5. Other nitty-gritties: Sound-quality, regular ota-updates, accessories range and quality, etc are some other things where brands are Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony excel!

No offence to any users of Micromax, Karbonn and other brands, I have nothing against these companies, but i just don't agree with their attempt to pitch their products against high-end devices from other companies. Why not create a market segment of their own - for their price range instead of trying to fool customers into believing they are getting a handset similar to a high-end Samsung, HTC, Sony for about half the price! That's not fair to the consumer.

I agree with you on that, but take a closer look and you'll notice an obvious quality difference.

1.The biggest difference between Samsung/Sony etc against Micromax and et all is the display quality. Sony has come out with Truluminous display while the AMOLED display of Samsung is far better than any of the Micromax et all brands. The colors and display feels quite uninspiring on the local brands.

2. The next big difference is the customization of the UI over and above vanilla android done by Samsung/Sony

3. Customs ROM's due to popularity of the devices world wide. These ROM's are a great way to keep your phone up to date with the current features and lag free. I have a Samsung Galaxy Y which has a stand by battery life of 6-8 days because of a awesome combination of custom ROM + kernel

Shape and size are generic. Samsung's build quality is quite bad - even for S3 and S4s. Compare them to the HTC flagship and then as you said, you'll notice an obvious quality difference.
Samsung's offerings in the price range feature phones with 480*800 resolution (which arent AMOLED). The local players ship their devices with a 720p display.
Good enough for everyday use. The most people expect is to run Temple Run 2 whilst listening to music without any lags. These phones are capable of delivering on that front.
The updates are lacking for a majority of the Samsung devices too. Its only the flagships that are ensured updates. With a 20+% market share, I would expect good community support too. Which accessories are you referring to, arent they generic?
What is the problem if they were to pitch their phones against these high end devices? IIRC the Suzuki Baleno had claimed to have an AC rated higher than the Mercedes S Class.
They are doing precisely that, creating a market that caters to the VFM populace of the country. In the age of the internet, no consumer is that naive to believe they're getting the same phone for a 50% markdown. There are a few tradeoffs and the buyers are aware of them.

Mate, i guess you're getting me wrong. I'm not going pro-Samsung or any other company here. I'm talking about all major phone brands (htc, Samsung, sony, lg, apple) compared to brands like Micromax & Karbonn. I've never said or pointed at Samsung being the best.
But since you've bought up this topic, looking at the ridiculous amount of phones Samsung is selling, I'm sure they've got something better in their phones compared to others!

On a similar note (heh), if Samsung have done well to capture 26% of the Indian market, due credit to Micromax for doing something right. They're at 22%. Link

Absolutely! Micromax is doing everything right in the sub 20k handset range. My point is that still have a long way to go before they can match the flagship devices of other companies. So instead of trying to sell average phones as flagships to unsuspecting customers, they should focus on delivering a handset to really match flagships! That's what my point has always been.