[Athani]

Originally Posted by Gadgetfreak

Ya I agree it could just be my assumption but this is what is being discussed across all threads to, so I am not the only one talking about this.

No hard feelings, bro. Just offered my 2 cents. All the discussions on this topic are just a case of Android fans sulking and Apple fan boy's rejoicing.

[bluevolt]

Guys I am confused big time between HTC One V & Xperia Sola. Please help me out.

Looks like 20K is very poor budget to buy a phone.

[Gadgetfreak]

Originally Posted by Athani

No hard feelings, bro. Just offered my 2 cents. All the discussions on this topic are just a case of Android fans sulking and Apple fan boy's rejoicing.

NO NO, I did not take it as a negative comment against me, for me an IPhone is worlds most beautiful and expensive paper weight, I does not have any feature as compared to any of android phone specially SGS3 or HTC x series and many more in that league.

[Athani]

Originally Posted by Gadgetfreak

NO NO, I did not take it as a negative comment against me, for me an IPhone is worlds most beautiful and expensive paper weight, I does not have any feature as compared to any of android phone specially SGS3 or HTC x series and many more in that league.

I agree. But they have such superb marketing and PR machinery. They can sell anything, that too at a premium.

[rambo1o1]

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

There goes mine too! I finally compared a one x and razr maxx in flesh. Although the one x behaves and delivers a better bang for buck, I decided and fell head over heels for the razr maxx's impressive battery life (its selling point) and sturdy build quality.

Heck! flipkart and sahoil all have it out of stock now. In fact, none of the shops have it. Any idea what's happening? Are they bringing in an ICS upgrade version? AFAIK, the ICS has been a failure on the razr maxx.

Both the razr and razr maxx are running ICS 4.04! I have heard that ICS is great on the razr/maxx, its now almost vanilla, no Motoblur stuff, so who said its a failure??A couple of BHPians have the Razr/Maxx so please get in touch with them(R2D2,mrohit17)
I too have decided on the Razr(not maxx), feel its a great phone in the 25k price bracket.Service is ok in my state(BB,HTC,Moto same service center) so the service angle is not bothering me at the moment.Please ask any moto users about the service in your area,If bad then i feel its as good as no warranty,If not then dont worry and just get the phone.

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

. Considering the battery life, I think the only other option for me is the NOTE. Unfortunately a Sammy. That's just my personal opinion so don't put me on the guillotine for it yall.

The Lg optimus 4X too is a worthy phone, if u have no grudge against the brand!
I feel the Razr MAXX biggest USP in that price bracket is its battery life, the rest(HOX,optimus 4x,Note ...) have better and bigger screens ,cameras,and processing power.Alot of comparisons are made between the maxx and the newer quad cores so Google it up and decide slowly.
Happy shopping!!

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Well they were possible as featurephone where battery consumption is low but with multicore processors with clocks exceeding 1Ghz and apps running all the time solar cell efficiency does not match up.

Second reason is markt did not incentivise these products though they were not costly.

Smart phone power requirements may be higher, but have many manufactuers kept that in mind before deciding a battery capacity of a smartphone? I think not. For eg. a Nokia BL-5C that does duty on the likes of the very basic Nokia 1112 (small, monochrome screen) and the like are rated at about 1050 mAh, IIRC. On the other hand, we have have smartphones with batteries starting from about 1290 mAh or so. So battery capacities have not really kept up.

Further, phones have gone from big bricks to small and very slim to big screen unpocketable gizmos which have significantly larger surface areas for fixing larger solar panels. So I doubt that reasoning.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

Well, one weak point that I thought would be resolved by now is the call reception and voice quality. I am not happy to hear that 2012 models still have the same issue.

You hit the nail head on. Reception is excellent, comparable/better to my BB and other phones. Voice quality - not great. That is the only sore problem I still feel this phone lacks. I'll be using a Btooth if I am not able to handle this -ve aspect, as of now I'm able to live with the current voice quality.

Do they provide software to sync/ backup with the computer via USB/ BlueTooth?
I hope they don't expect users to use the age old PC Companion software.

The box came with no CD or software. On connecting the phone via USB, I can access the internal & SD memory. Not sure if there is an sync/backup option in the settings, haven't seen one yet.

Originally Posted by sameerg001

Thanks for the help

BTW how's the camera quality ?

Can you please post some clicked pics from your phone and How old is your phone, Any issues faced till date ?

How's the build quality ?

too many questions, I guess

Originally Posted by Athani

Hi. Can you please do a little review of the A100. I'm planning to buy it. Do you know if it can be rooted and bootloader unlocked? Dev support and custom rom availability? Thanks.

Ok - here are my views on the phone. Please understand I have had access to mainly BB phones and Symbian before that; the only Android phones I have had a bit of access is Galaxy S1, LG Optimus One(?) and a few <5k cost phones, so pardon me if some of my points sound wayward or basic. I have had the phone for a total of 4 days, so (also) pardon if any of my below points are proved wrong later.



1. Build Quality - Very good (4/5)
The back is not plastic nor metal, but with a soft but durable rubber finish. The rest of the body is plastic, and probably of the same quality of most phones in the 10-15k range. Opening the back is quite seamless as they have provided a tiny slot on the right to pull out the back cover.

2. Buttons - Good (3/5)
This phone is devoid of buttons. Some may like it, others like me who are used to BB phones may want a few more buttons on the phone. There is a volume up/down option on the left, and a lock/unlock button on the right. The unlock button, if pressed hard, acts as the power off button.

Contrary to most android phones, there are no buttons on the front. If your touch screen conks off, then the phone is quite useless.

3. Touch Screen Functionality - Good (3/5)
Ideally I should rate this higher, but when you have access to a Lumia 710 and a Samsung Tab 2, your expectations go up. The screen does not lag. Touch works fine, and has 5 touch points (thanks to igyaan for this). One feels the Lumia and Tab2's screens are more sensitive, however that is only my impression. Most of my colleagues (including the Lumia owner) feel there is no difference.

4. Camera - Good (3/5)
Basic 5MP camera, with tap to focus, and basic functions with led flash. The igyaan review talks of the camera having a software issue, however I experienced nothing of the sort. Have attached a few pictures, if required, I can post a few more later.

Video quality is nothing to gloat about - just a 480p resolution. The below video should give you an idea about the quality.

Micromax A100 480p Indoor Sample - Unmodified - YouTube

5. Battery Life - Good (3/5)
2000 miah battery - easily handles a day of heavy usage. Did a test run last Sunday, with a fully charged battery and heavy usage (games/applications/internet/calls), by EOD the battery was around 30% remaining. However if I had used it for watching any movies, then the battery wouldn't probably have lasted that long.


6. Voice Clarity - Ok (2/5)
The bane of Micromax phones, I'm not sure why they can't work on this. I haven't compared other phones with this, but compared to my earlier BB phone, the (call) voice wasn't clear. Thankfully there were no issues for the caller on the other side (earlier MM phones had that issue too). The handsfree isn't of any improvement here. The one offered with the phone is hardly ok-quality. I'll probably be getting a bluetooth handset later if required.


7. Processor - Good (3/5)
HD movies do not run smoothly on this phone. I'm not sure if this a (video) application error, but I have tried with several video players, and the result is the same. Ironically the igyaan review shows a HD movie being run on the phone.

As i mentioned earlier, TempleRun/Angry Birds/plethora of games run fine on the phone. I haven't tried any heavy games on this, however the igyaan review clearly mentions that games like FIFA 2012/Nova 3/Asphalt 7 do not work on this phone. Overall, I presume this phone will effortlessly handle all most of the apps that we might use on a daily basis.


8. OS - Good (3/5)
Thankfully the MM guys have kept the OS completely stock. The phone comes with a few widgets and applications, which one can delete/un-install immediately. The rest of the phone is stock ICS. I look it as a +ve aspect.


As of now, I can't think of anything else. If anyone has any queries, please do mention. Btw I feel I should give this disclaimer, I do not have any affiliations with igyaan , just that I found their reviews/videos very helpful in evaluating this phone since there is very less info online, considering its' been only 1-2 weeks since the phone has been launched. For people evaluating this (& A90), give their reviews a view. You should get a fair idea about these phones.

[Athani]

Thanks for the review, ninjatalli.

Can someone tell me where the Thanks button went?!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Athani

Thanks for the review, ninjatalli.

Can someone tell me where the Thanks button went?!

This will do . Some of the forum sections don't have a thanks button - recent updates to the forum by the mods.

As for your other question - I queried it to a friend who's done quite a bit of rooting & used custom roms. As per him, rooting/bootloader unlocking should be possible for this phone too, however for custom roms availability, it's still too early; wait for some time and we should get the clarity on roms availability for this series of phones too.

[neoonwheels]

Thanks NinjaTalli. That is helpful. I am stuck whether to go for a 5 inch phone or a 7 inch tablet. I came across this MM 100 and found it good on igyaan and geekyranjit youtube videos. However, there are 3 contenders in this 5 inch space.

1. MM A100
2. Karbonn A18 (4.3 inch)
3. Wammy Note

The advantage of Karbonn A18 is that it has got dual core processor and 1 GB RAM. The Wammy Note and A100 are more or less similarly spec-ed. Do you know where I can see A100 ? Any Mall or shop you visited?

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Ok - here are my views on the phone. Please understand I have had access to mainly BB phones and Symbian before that; the only Android phones I have had a bit of access is Galaxy S1, LG Optimus One(?) and a few <5k cost phones, so pardon me if some of my points sound wayward or basic. I have had the phone for a total of 4 days, so (also) pardon if any of my below points are proved wrong later.

Thanks for the detailed review. This phone looks interesting.

Any fellow developers here? Given this phone:

1. Has mostly stock ICS
2. Not "that" expensive
3. Likely to be ignored by international community (XDA developers et el)
4. Likely a straight copy of some Chinese phone (so would be "googelable")

Might be a good starting point to jump into world of rooting / modifying.

Dont really need a phone (tied to corporate BB), but this definitely looks tempting to try out for DIY root.

[naveenroy]

Thanks for the review and your views, ninjatalli! Appreciate it.

Yup, I am also looking to root the phone but since it is a stock ICS, might wait for atleast 6 months before I attempt that. But not so sure about support from XDA forums et al for this phone - though there are lots of developers from India there.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by Athani

Whether Apple should have been granted patents is immaterial. Even if it's argued that they should not have been granted the patents Samsung ought to have raised the issue. Samsung either did not counter sue or counter sued and did not succeed. So however much people here may dislike Apple (myself included), they won this fair & square.

Depends on geography, Fair & Square in California but lost fair and square in UK and were forced to Apologise on their website also in Apple vs HTC case in UK same patents were invalidated by court.

Actually in USA patent revocation is function of Patent office and courts can not revoke. So the jury in ongoing trial can not do any patent revocation. Only patent office can do it

Originally Posted by Athani

In any suit for patent infringement,, the Defendant can counter sue for revocation of the patent on any of the available grounds.

In USA a trial court can not term a patent invalid contrary to UK where high court termed Apple patents for bounceback , pinchzoom etc invalid in UK

US relies predominately upon the process of ‘reexamination’ for arguing against the validity of a patent. Reexamination is conducted by the USPTO, with a course of appeal lying with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

[srishiva]

Today Apple has got a patent for one of my ideas :(. It senses where you are and turns off messaging, changes to silent etc. I always wanted this to do be done when people enter meeting rooms (annoying people)
Just like Motorola did by docking its phone and enabling it be the 'cpu' to the accompanying keyboard, mouse and display!

(Disclosure: I will be getting couple anyway on network side, so no hard feelings.) Its a disease actually. Bosses will force you to get into this mode and then you see ideas for patents everywhere

The most childish one was the one that they got for the glass staircase in their Apple stores. The engineering firm got separate ones for the same contraption from the engineering angle.

[Athani]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Depends on geography, Fair & Square in California but lost fair and square in UK and were forced to Apologise on their website also in Apple vs HTC case in UK same patents were invalidated by court.

Actually in USA patent revocation is function of Patent office and courts can not revoke. So the jury in ongoing trial can not do any patent revocation. Only patent office can do it

In USA a trial court can not term a patent invalid contrary to UK where high court termed Apple patents for bounceback , pinchzoom etc invalid in UK

US relies predominately upon the process of 'reexamination' for arguing against the validity of a patent. Reexamination is conducted by the USPTO, with a course of appeal lying with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Alright, I'll take your word on that. What's important is that there is some remedy against wrongful grant of patent. When Samsung infringed the patent, it knowingly took the risk that the patents may not be set aside before the suit for infringement against them is decided. And things came to a pass. I don't think Samsung has any great grievance here.