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The only phone that fits your bill is the Moto G4 Plus or the Lenovo X3. Check them out. Xiaomi phones are out as they don't have decent cameras or near stock rom. One plus doesn't have expandable memory and is out of your budget.

I don't remember coming across a 9-12k budget phone with a dedicated sd card slot. These guys are all going the hybrid route nowadays.

Coming from the nexus, you might enjoy theMoto G4 Plus as it is closest to your budget with the features you want(14.5k roughly). It has a dedicated sd card slot but only 3000mAh battery and will get Marshmallow if not gotten yet.


Moto has only 3000mAh battery and is costlier than his budget by about 2k. Lenovo X3 has hybrid slot. Conflict again.

I have an Xperia z and I need to have it upgraded to the latest and greatest. Can an expert here please share an idiots guide to doing this safely on my phone? Still stuck on kit Kat.

A little over your budget, How about Asus zenfone max ZC550KL?
5.5 inch screen (only 720p resolution),snapdragon 615, 3 gb ram, 32 gb memory, 2 micro sim + micro-sd slot, android M, 5000 mah battery. Retails for 14K on flipkart.

Very difficult to get this combination. Only Moto G4/G4+ and Honor 5X have dual sim + SD card as far as I know. I think both come with 3000 mah batteries but since your stated usage is just 1 hour SOT, I think it will suffice. Moto has stockish android, while Honor comes with EMUI, but I think CyanogenMod build is available for it. But either one will exceed your budget slightly. All phones under 12k seem to have hybrid slots only.

A lot of requirements there. :)
Except the Battery criterion, I think the Moto G4 plus is a phone you can't go wrong with.

Am experiencing problem with the Moto X Style (9 months old, no screen cover/guard/tempered glass on in).

Since yesterday evening, the Back, Home n Multi-Screen buttons (bottom 3) are not responding to touch. At times, it starts working normally and then all of a sudden it would go bust again and not respond at all. Then again, it may come to life, registering all the failed attempts and executing them in that order all of a sudden.

When it does not work, my only option is to rotate the phone such tha the volume rocker is on the bottom and then the location where these buttons appear works just fine.

Any Moto users who would have experienced something similar and who would suggest what could be done to fixed it? Phone runs on Android V 6.0.

Could this be a software/hardware issue. As I type this, I opened the phone to double check the version and the three keys worked perfectly again.

Any inputs?

On a related note, should I have to give my phone to service center, what all should I back up and how? Should I just connect to computer and back up all pictures, videos, contacts are on google account? What about WhatsApp chat etc.? Sorry but am totally clueless about smartphones and this is the first one which I have owned (yeah !!! my kind does exist).

Cheers,
Sukhoi

The Xperia Z has codename 'YUGA'. And being the OG Z, it still has people developing for it. You can check out the XDA page for ROM's and kernels.
However, I would recommend Resurrection Remix 6.0, as it doesn't have official CM13 releases, or other popular ROM's such as Chroma or PureNexus. RR is a really solid ROM jam packed with features.

A major utility that you should have in the beginning is Androxyde Flash Tool. You can Google for it (I'm on the phone, so searching for links would be difficult, else would have attached respective links) and download the tool (~100MB setup exe). It's a specifically Xperia based tool, and has drivers and device libraries preloaded.

There is a specific and detailed guide on XDA on how to use the Flash Tool.
Then you'll need to unlock your bootloader. For that you need an unlock code from Sony. If you Google 'Xperia bootloader unlock', the results will get you to the Sony Developer World website, where you need to enter your e-mail and device IMEI. The site has well defined instructions so it should be a cakewalk. Then it will immediately e-mail you the unlock code. Once you get the code, save it somewhere and open the Androxyde Flash Tool.

There a BLU option is available, which is used to unlock the bootloader.
Before starting with the bootloader, you need to download the ROM and GApps zip files in your phone from XDA page of the ROM for the XZ (UC browser has a good downloader) and keep these files in your SD card (keep the SD card out of the phone after backing up for safety).

Then, in your Fastboot root folder, there is a 'drivers' folder, from where you need to install fastboot, flashmode and your device specific drivers. (This is important, ensure the drivers are all properly installed before proceeding)
You now need to connect the phone in fastboot mode. Factory reset the thing, power it off, and connect it to the USB cord while keeping the vol up button pressed (device specific button may be different, Googling easily gives details).

After the bootloader is unlocked, you need to flash a recovery. Download the latest version of TWRP/CWM (TWRP 3.0 is really good) in your PC and flash it through the Flash Tool. To flash a new recovery, you need to select 'flash kernel via fastboot' in the menu of the current-like icon on the top left. The recovery file should be in the img format ideally. Connect the phone in fastboot mode, and the flashing is quite easy. Once the recovery is flashed, you have to reboot the phone into recovery (power on, and immediately repeatedly press vol up button till the notification LED turns blue).
(Here, while factory resetting, you need to have backed up the ROM and GApps zip packages into the SD card). In the recovery, wipe data, cache and dalvik cache, select 'install zip from ext SD card', navigate to where you kept the two zip files and select install.

There are numerous (device-specific too) tutorials available on YouTube about using the flash tool, booting into recovery and flashing the ROM.
Here is the XDA page of the ROM http://[http://forum.xda-develop...5-6-5-t3338734 from where you can download the ROM and GApps. Check out the later posts on the thread for bugs if any and the YouTube tutorials as well for a better idea. You can PM me too in case there's any problem. Hope it helps!

Never seen this kind of issue before, so no clue. Whatsapp takes a backup on Google drive and it automatically restores when you reinstall and register with the same mobile number. It automatically backs up daily at night, but you can do an immediate backup from the settings ( Settings-> Chats -> Chat backup). I usually take a fresh backup from there before doing a factory reset.

I usually take backup of calls and SMS using SMS Backup+ which saves it to gmail. Haven't tried restoring using that app though, since i can search for it in gmail if i need to.

Other than the above, I copy pics and videos if any to a laptop.

Thank you every one for the suggestions. Stretching on budget can be accommodated if Must criterias are met.

What are the weaknesses of Moto G4+ & Asus zenfone max ZC550KL. Does Asus come with lot of crap preinstalled apps?

Thank you guys. My sis purchased the 32GB model last weekend. Used one of my colleague's phone here and it seems to be as stock Android as possible. It was fluid in navigating the different apps. Hope it stays the way at least for the next couple of years.

The camera was fast and decent IMO (comparing it against my Nexus 5).

Thanks to all who pitched in with their views.


Now to my another question: Is it worth buying the Nexus 6P now? I am seeing it at 39K on Amazon for the 64 GB model. I know it is of the 810 variety but my N5 (almost 3 years old) itself isn't that bad considering its processor is another couple of generations old.

If I were you, I would have sticked with Nexus 5 till it dies. It's a great phone. :) Right now, you will not get any major advantage for day to day use ( except its 100% compatibility with Reliance Jio SIM )

And you have very exciting features coming up within a few months as well like the Gorilla Glass 5 which will not break from the normal heights at which we drop a phone. :)
And prices will come down as well.

PS: The alternate solution ( ie, to stick tempered glass on top of a good display ) will spoil the display quality by making it reflective like a mirror and will also attract finger smudges like a magnet!

You are absolutely right in telling that the N5 is a great phone. If it got Android N, I wouldn't even think about going for another phone.

Granted, the battery life can be better. But it still holds good till the evening mostly. It performs the same way it did on the first day.

If I wait, the 64GB model of the Nexus 6P would be discontinued. The 128GB variant never hit our shores. Would have to go with the 32GB variant then.

I am not sure if the new phone will have many advantage over the current one but for the 820/1 processor.

The camera is good, battery is big and the phone is a huge piece of AMOLED screen. It will get another two updates of Android software.
Finally, the price is just right. Kind of hard to put up an argument against buying the phone now lol:

The price will get reduced. In the USA it is immediate. Unfortunately in India, it trickles down. And then there is discontinuation of certain variants and making only 32GB available.

I saw the Note7 as well. If it was manufactured by Google, I would have bought it eyes closed. Samsung is the big red blot on it currently.

The pure Android experience cannot be matched by Samsung IMO.

The next range of Nexus phones are supposed to hit the markets by end of next month. Wouldn't the prices for Nexus 6P fall further once they are launched?

I have myself been suing the Nexus 5 from the day of its launch, until 2 months back when I managed to break its screen. I had a used Iphone 5 lying spare at home and hence thought of giving that a try rather that getting the screen repaired on the Nexus 5, more so since I was planning to buy a new phone this year anyways. Currently I am sold on the Note 7 but then reading your post has made me think again. I have never bought a phone above Rs. 30k till date ( a sort of self imposition) but this time the Note 7 is tempting me to spend almost double that amount. Confused!

Why the Note7? Especially for that kind of money in today's fast moving market it isn't making much sense. Unless you really need that stylus, there is no point in splurging that 60k on anything, let alone a Note7. I agree, the hardware might be stellar for now, but in no time it'll become stale and appear way overpriced. Even the S6 in its day looked like a complete revolution, but soon even 10-20k budget phones started sporting those slim metal and glass bodies.
HTC is releasing two new Nexii this time around, the larger and more premium one should still be well under 50k and good enough competition to the hardware of the Note7. In that, there is the peace of mind of support and security, and the extra 'cool' factor of having the latest Nexus.