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While the Touchwiz OS has become dreary to use, after using the S4 Mini for last three years and the S3 being used by my wife for an equally long time, with fairly demanding usage, both handsets continue to remain strong, albeit with quite a bit of slowdown as on date.

Reliability wise, Samsung has been top notch, and I believe that the fan following is largely due to this reliable nature of the handset. I have now switched to One Plus 3, while my wife has just shifted to a Moto G, with both of us seeking a bloat free Android experience. But the peace of mind factor is somehow missing which we enjoyed with the Samsung all this while. Largely perception, but there it is!

Got the Xiaomi Mi Max on the 15th of July. iPhone 6s Plus, Nexus 6 (Motorola) & all the mega's of Samsung, Sony, Huawei pale in comparison to the body-screen ratio and seem like like 5 inch devices beside this. The mi max is not purpose built curved edge screen like the BlackBerry Priv or the Samsung curved edge screens but the way your fingers wrap around the device makes it feel like a curved edge screen.

Miui highly customisable. You must keep apps running in background otherwise they are shutdown (unlike any iOS or Android i've used) leading to delayed IM's.

Waiting for the Miui 8 with dual app functionality as i need dual BBM, dual WhatsApp, dual Skype, dual Dropbox & dual team viewer for home and work. Presently use 2 devices for this very purpose.

Comfortable to hold in one hand given how thin the phone is. Battery last's 1.5 day's under hard usage of all popular apps, mail, youtube etc. Otherwise on 2g (self imposed due to horrible docomo n/w) & office/home Wifi + partial usage last's me around 2.5 days. 4850 mAH battery seems very good.

Build quality on par with many devices (windows, android) costing 40k +. The BlackBerry passport is now in the hands of another BB10 fan & i'm happy with the budget mega android phone. The 203 gms weight is hardly felt as its uniform throughout the body.

I had considered the SD 651 variant but the cost was not justified given the expandable storage on this 32GB variant. As of now most of the apps & hi end games i play use remain in memory without a app refresh.

I have been meaning to write the review for some time now. Here is a quick update.

My needs are very simple. Email/Browser on the move. Navigation. No Gaming. Option to read books/files. Whatsapp. Bank/Shopping. A decent Camera. Occasional puzzles. Considering these, I felt that a top of the line Models may be an overkill as I wanted to get Google released device when it is out or the new Nexus. Good that the one plus 3 I previously ordered gave me issues and I had to return them.

I decided to opt for the mid Range phones. Among these I was keen on processor in Snapdragon 650 range. Choices were 650 /652/ Kirin 650. Mobile options were Moto G4 plus / Xaiomi Redmi Note 3 / LeeCo Le2 / Honor 5c

Used Moto X 2014 for 18 months and loved that piece. But somehow I was not keen on the G4 plus - dropped it.

Had le 2 in cart. But the reviews on the web made me cautious. Finger print performance was not great which was important criteria for me

Redmi was available in Silver on Snapdeal but not in Flipkart/Amazon. Bad Camera reviews made me apprehensive. Further I did not have Yes Bank card (Was ordering it during sale.), so dropped it.

Finally Honor 5C. It was available in open Sales on Flipkart and I was getting 10% Cashback on Citibank. Net Cost was 9900. 2GB Ram was a concern. But having used Moto X 2014 for long I felt that 2gb should suffice my needs for another 2 years if not more. Alteast 600 MB RAM space available with around 20 apps open. (Chrome,gmail,whatsapp, gallery,etc)

Now for the Review:
Phone looks pretty Good in Gold. Would have preferred a better Body to Screen Ratio but I guess dual antenna needs that space.

Display
5.2" Full HD Display looks great indoors / in shaded areas. But under the sun there is good amount of reflection. At the brightest setting, it is manageable but for those who are outdoors all the time, it will be a pain. There is an option to set colour temperature

Fingerprint Sensor
Very easy to setup and responds immediately. Performs various other functions like camera shutter button, answer calls, see & clear notifications. Forefingers are the best to use for operation.

Camera
Took a few shots and they all seem good. Only full HD recording. No 4K. Has lot of modes but yet to explore them

Battery
With moderate to heavy usage easily lasts more than a day with auto brightness, 4g on all the time, wifi on, location on. Screen on time never checked as it serves me for a day. no games though.

Takes almost 3 hours to charge from 10% to 100%. No quick charge

Radios
One Sim is 4G and another will work as 2G only. Can switch between them without opening the SIM Slot. Dual card management is pretty good. Navigation, Wifi and all do there task.

Speaker Volume is a bit low. Call clarity is excellent. Chances of covering the microphone are high over long calls.

SAR Rating mentioned is 0.91 W/Kg

Software
EMUI 4.1 is well optimised. Gives feedback on power hungry apps, option to clear all apps easily, battery management etc. No app drawer. Can be added from play store. Some junk apps are preinstalled which can be removed. Navigation Buttons are on the small size but can be customized

Based on the body shape, there is space for capacitive buttons.
Screen casting and mirroring works well
There is floating dock

Warranty for an odd 15 months

Some missing features:
No USB OTG
No Gyroscope
No Double tap to power on
No 4K Recording
Higher Ram would have made it a little more future proof
Not Clear on how to turn of Mobile data for a specific SIM. As of now setting the mobile data limit as Zero MB seems to be the only option.

Overall it is decent MidRange offering @ 10k. Can't comment on the service as this is my first phone from them.

They valued it at around 2.7K
I would be selling the same on OLX. I have few offers for around 4K.

Thanks Guys!

This review came tad bit late. I ordered Xiaomi Redmi Note 3/32 GB device, on flash sale at flipkart. Camera is better on 'Honor 5C'. But higher RAM and online reviews made me lean towards 'Redmi Note 3'.

Thank You!

Hi Guys, any recommendations for a less than 5" screen phone? This is for someone who is using a Moto E at present (since 2 yrs) and is not a heavy/demanding user. Camera is of some importance, as is the small form factor. The other option really is the iPhone 5S.

I am on MIUI8 for a week and it rocks. clap:

The Dual App functionality, the second space, rolling screenshot - everything works fine, and there are many small but nice improvements over MIUI7.

--Anoop

Xiaomi Mi4 @ 10990 is a great deal. Comes at 5" has a pretty good camera for most lighting conditions and is still pretty fast for day to day tasks.

Looking for an android phone in a budget of 30k to 35k. My main objective is that the phone should have a good camera and a good battery. Any suggestions? I personally like the display of Samsung. Is S6 edge a good option to buy?

Just keep checking deals on eBay. I got a US unlocked version of S7 at 32K!

Wow!! I have never used ebay. Is it safe and is the product authentic? What about warranty?

Hi People,

Suggestions/advice for a new phone please. This is for my wife who will be moving from a Asus Zenfone 5.

Requirements, in order of priority:

1. At least 16GB, 32GB preferred.
2. Good camera.
3. Battery Life.
4. Sturdy Build.
5. Call quality.
6. Screen size - preferably 5".

Phones I have shortlisted:

1. OPO 64GB @ 11k
2. Mi4 16GB @ 11k
3. iPhone 5s 16GB @ 16k
4. Nexus 6 32GB @ 17K
5. Galaxy S5 16 GB @ 17k

The shortlist gives you a fair idea of my budget. If you can suggest one from the shortlist, that would be peach.

Thank you.

Samsung currently has a 10% cashback offer on the S7 at Samsung Cafes around India on most major credit cards which effectively brings the price to 44K compared to 41K on the S6 Edge 64 GB.
For the 3K price difference, the S7 gets expandable storage, water resistance, 4GB ram, Snapdragon 820 and the slightly larger battery over the S6 Edge.

If I am not mistaken, the S7 sold in India does not have a Snapdragon processor!

No, you're right. It indeed doesn't. Indian version runs on their own Exynos processor.

Got One plus 3, have been using it for the last 5 days. Battery life is great; dash charge feature is amazing, charges the battery in a jiffy; finger print scanner is excellent; screen is good enough, par for the course. Happy so far.