[_raVan_]

Originally Posted by sriturl

I was an illiterate when it comes to smart phones/ relate gadgets, and looking out for a new smart phone to join the bandwagon !
I am not willing to spend a lot, but looking for a basic to semi advanced version, and I kind of short listed three options based on budget and the little knowledge acquired (no particular order)
HTC Wildfire S (I liked the build quality of HTC generally)
Samsung Galaxy Ace
LG Optimus p500

Any feedback on the above would be helpful to finalize.
A novice question - I liked the e-book reader in some tablets, and Galaxy S2 at a store, is it possible to download that app and install it on any of the above phones?

My requirements are simple. Good email support, GPS is good, preferably support static maps, not connecting to internet for GPS functionality(through satellites only). Good quality speaker phone to attend long meetings(I dont want to hold it to ear for long durations)
Does any of these phones support conferencing clients like netmeeting etc. atleast to view?

thanks in advance

Samsung Galaxy Ace is a really nice phone of the lot. It suffers from low battery life though.

If you can extend your budget to 20k, then check out HTC Desire Z (has physical keyboard), Desire HD and HTC Desire S.

[woof]

Guys,

I have the Moto Defy running on CM7 RC0. I am unable to send or recieve MMS.

What to do? (I have Airtel 3G connection)

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by djkher

Hi Guys,
GPS locking was never an issue for me, with A-GPS i used to get locks within 15-20 seconds.

For the battery i am not seeing any visible improvements for my usage pattern.(2 Hrs Wifi, else EDGE full time,3 email accounts Sync, FB sync, 1 hr of talktime,2-3 hours of Music etc). Is the battery improvement visible in specific scenario ???

WOW! That's pretty heavy usage!How many hours does the battery last with such usage for you?

[Sprucegoose]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

Yesterday, I went hunting for a Motorola Defy in Pune. Checked most parts of Kalyani Nagar (including some malls). No one has a Defy. In fact, most shop owners did not keep any Motorola phones.
Does anyone know why shops are not keeping Motorola phones?
Any place in Pune, where I can see a Defy in working condition?

Motorola has never been big in India.
Regardless of the quality of the hardware.
And i think Motorola has shutdown their India operations...
that's why no new phones have come out lately

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Updated my Desire to the latest CM 7.1.0 RC1 based on Android 2.3.4 and flashed the latest Radio 5.17.05.23. Flashing was done without any wipe, everything is working fine after the update.
Need to check whether the call connect delay issue which was introduced after I installed CM 7.0.3 earlier is resolved or not.

Looks like CM 7.1 beefed up the performance of my phone by a small margin, slight improvement in quadrant scores. This is at par with Nexus S stock results.

My earlier scores used to be above the HTC Evo before.

[umvarma]

Originally Posted by _raVan_

Samsung Galaxy Ace is a really nice phone of the lot. It suffers from low battery life though.

If you can extend your budget to 20k, then check out HTC Desire Z (has physical keyboard), Desire HD and HTC Desire S.

I would recommend LG Optimus p500 over the other two you listed unless you are a heavy camera user. It has decent build quality and much cheaper compared to the other two and offer tremendous value for money. I would avoid the HTC wildfire and prefer to spend a few more grand and buy a Motorola Defy than purchasing a Samsung Galaxy Ace. I would also recommend you to buy a good headset in addition instead of using the speaker phone.

Whatever mobile you buy, I would advise you to spend an hour or two with it, root it and flash a good custom ROM to get rid of the bloatware and custom UIs provides by the handset makers. My optimus p500 with CM7.1 ROM (Miks' ROM and Franco's kernel) is highly stable, much faster and provides very snappy interface. The battery lasts for a minimum of 2 days (5-6 calls per day lasting 2-5 mins, wifi always on, 1-2 hours per day of gaming/ puzzles/ drawing and painting use by my daughter) to about 3.5 days(my daughter got a new Adam now).

[djkher]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

WOW! That's pretty heavy usage!How many hours does the battery last with such usage for you?

I get around 12-13 hours with this usage.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by umvarma

Whatever mobile you buy, I would advise you to spend an hour or two with it, root it and flash a good custom ROM to get rid of the bloatware and custom UIs provides by the handset makers. My optimus p500 with CM7.1 ROM (Miks' ROM and Franco's kernel) is highly stable, much faster and provides very snappy interface. The battery lasts for a minimum of 2 days (5-6 calls per day lasting 2-5 mins, wifi always on, 1-2 hours per day of gaming/ puzzles/ drawing and painting use by my daughter) to about 3.5 days(my daughter got a new Adam now).

Isn't it a dangerous advice, considering that rooting voids the warranty? And if anyting goes wrong during rooting process, manufacturer will not take responsibility?

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

As posted couple of days back, I just switched on my Samsung Galaxy "Mini" S5570 (the Samsung India site lists only "pro", and not "mini" - guess this is because the phone was purchased in DBX) yesterday. Did not charge the battrey at once. Instead, waited till the phone asked me to, and it was a good 12 hours later that the phone asked me to plugin the charger.

Initial "effects":-

1 10 minutes to figure out how to remove the back cover.
2. 1 minute to put in the SIM, battery etc.
3. Another 10 minutes to figure how to put the cover back in.
4. 15 minutes to figure how to switch it on. (mistook the key - and was pressing the wrong key - obviously not the manuals' fault).
5. 20 Minutes to figure out how to unlock the phone.
6. 1 minute to change the input method from keypad to handwriting method. (what do you guys think teh better method is?)
7. 1 minute to figure out that there is an orientation sensor built in.
8. Half an hour searching for GPRS settings - only to find from IDEA cust. care that we need to manually fill it in.
9. 4 hours trying to figure out how to browse the memory card.

Pretty steep learning curve, eh? I do admit that age is catching up on me.

:-D

Frustration? NO.

Some menu inside told me that it is running Android 2.2.1, with kernel version too (just forgoe).

Some questions -

1. how to take a screen shot?
2. With the nokia phones, I could map one of the direction keys to the voice recorder application, and when a call came in, (or while talking face to face), I could turn on recording with touch of a key. ANy similar jugaad for this? I really need recording - I get too much "commands" over the phone.
3. How to browse the memory card?
4. Is Firefox browser available for this?
5. What is difference between CayonegenMod and xda forums? WHich is better (philosophy / GPL compliance / technology, etc. wise).

TIA.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Some menu inside told me that it is running Android 2.2.1, with kernel version too (just forgoe).

Some questions -

1. how to take a screen shot?
2. With the nokia phones, I could map one of the direction keys to the voice recorder application, and when a call came in, (or while talking face to face), I could turn on recording with touch of a key. ANy similar jugaad for this? I really need recording - I get too much "commands" over the phone.
3. How to browse the memory card?
4. Is Firefox browser available for this?
5. What is difference between CayonegenMod and xda forums? WHich is better (philosophy / GPL compliance / technology, etc. wise).

1. You have to first root the phone. The most popular ones on Samsung are z4root and OneClickRoot. Then get a package like ShootMe. A shake will capture the screen. I am not ure if there are any apps worth the name which do not require root.
Remember, if you root you are doing it at your own risk, and the warranty is void.
2.You may be able to set shortcuts. Look under Settings. Also, we tend to miss out the Menu which is normally three horizontal lines. The results change with context.
3. I use the App named Astro file Manager. The default file manager should also work.
4. Yes, but is huge and a pain. I have switched to Dolphin HD.
5. CM is a totally independent group working on Android development. XDA is a forum primarily for Android users, incl. a lot of software and tips. You can also try androidforums, etc. but all ultimately refer to XDA.

Go to the MarketPlace and search - seek and you shall find. Also, one very useful app is sms backup & restore by sahu.

First thing. I hope you have a Gmail account. You can synch your phone contact list with the contact list there. Very handy - you never lose the info!

Hope this helps. I have beenw ith Android for only four months and a bit so am also a beginner.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

1. how to take a screen shot?
2. With the nokia phones, I could map one of the direction keys to the voice recorder application, and when a call came in, (or while talking face to face), I could turn on recording with touch of a key. ANy similar jugaad for this? I really need recording - I get too much "commands" over the phone.
3. How to browse the memory card?
4. Is Firefox browser available for this?
5. What is difference between CayonegenMod and xda forums? WHich is better (philosophy / GPL compliance / technology, etc. wise).

TIA.

There is an app for screenshots, for unrooted handsets.
I dont recall the name right now, but am using it on a galaxy tab.will udate with the name.
its sits in the top drop down bar.you drag it down, click on it, and it takes a snapshot of whatever is on the screen after a predefined(user) time(i have it on 3 seconds.)

FIle manager, you could take a look at "OI file manager".
quite basic, quite easy.

For browsers, you could look at opera and UCbrowser.
I sort of like UC, its fast, but its rendering makes the page look quite different from a proper notebook/pc.

XDA is most prolific, as far as i have seen.I used it extensively for flashing my X1(windows).They have hungry roms from 200MB to ultralight ones at 40mbs, no frills.
and everything in between.I flashed close to 20 roms, before i finally moved to Android.They apparently have a similar level of customized ones for android too.
Ill be doing that soon.its slightly more complicated on android, it seems.

Its slightly intimidating at first, but searching, finding and following the right thread will make things very easy.

[rajanmehta]

Originally Posted by xotiq

HTC Evo 3D....much hyped, available at a bargain price of 18k brand new. So much for 3D and the hype. Looks like HTC is yet to tame the battery bug with the evo 3D.

Where it is available at 18K in India? And does that price include an MEID registered, activated handset on Reliance CDMA Network working with EVDO High Speed Data?

[vvrchandra]

What is the best way to share the photos from the phone gallery of SGS2? I tried using Picasa, but was not successful. Here is how I tried. I went into the gallery and selected a photo/image and then selected the share via option and then Picasa. It then asked me to specify a google a/c if it already exists else create a new one. I 've given my existing google id that is already confugured in my SGS2. It gave a message that the given google id is already added to the phone and nothing happened. Can't I use the same google id(gmail id) for sharing the photos via Picasa or should I create a new one? Am I not doing this in proper way? Experts please share your thoughts on this. Thanks.

[xotiq]

Originally Posted by rajanmehta

Where it is available at 18K in India? And does that price include an MEID registered, activated handset on Reliance CDMA Network working with EVDO High Speed Data?

Let's not start this discussion of MEID and Reliance all over again. Brand New evo 3D (good esn) plus shipping available between 18-20k.

MEID, EVDO? If you are using a phone meant for Sprint on other network, obviously reprogramming/meid/evdo....all these additional headaches have to be dealt with. After all sprint is not going to make it any easy in losing any of its network subsidised handsets.

[umvarma]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Isn't it a dangerous advice, considering that rooting voids the warranty?

Dangerous? No. It is too big a word. Risky? Yes. Is the risk worth taking? Yes and No. I would advise the same if the user is a colleague of mine as I feel the benefits outweigh the costs. If the user is happy with the stock device and feels it is not worth spending time in getting more juice from the device, the answer is no. It is a big no, if the user is not familiar with operating systems, administrator permissions etc.

I certainly would have avoided this advise. I missed the Sriturl's words that he is illiterate when it comes to smart phones. I was carried away with all the ROM discussions on this thread.

Originally Posted by DCEite

And if anyting goes wrong during rooting process, manufacturer will not take responsibility?

Many manufacturers do not honour warranty if it is rooted? That was a little over-the-top. Rooting only provides you the administrator permissions. Even a ROM flashing is analagous to wiping the existing OS and loading a different OS. It is not going to break the hardware, unless user fiddles with it purposefully (ex: overclock or undervolt the processor heavily). In most cases, user can flash the stock ROM back without providing a trace of the rooting and flashing, and take the handset to the service center.