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| Handy handsets |
| Priyanka Joshi / New Delhi May 11, 2009, 00:46 IST |
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Consider the last 130 days that we have come in 2009, and you will realise that a global slowdown has not affected the mounting number of mobile phones that can easily put last year’s phone models to shame. While the most important decision is how much to spend on a new phone and what features to watch out for, remember that more features also mean a higher price tag.
Basic user
We can broadly club half the mobile phone population into basic users’ category. What a basic user of a mobile phone really needs is a phone service, backed by a steady SMS platform along with a good keypad, ample phonebook memory to stash away his contacts and an intuitive user interface to organise his SMS and phonebook. Such users have the maximum choice, in terms of price and phone vendor, and as a result, they end up buying too much in the way of equipment and services.
One such cheap, basic emergency phone for talking, texting is Motorola’s MotoYuva EM325. Available at a best-buy price of Rs 5,149, this slider phone also has practical functions like one-touch access to music library and FM Radio. Don’t fret yet, this entry-level set does not leave you without a camera. The EM325 has a 1.3 megapixel camera, a USB port to help you in quick data transfer and back-ups, Bluetooth and a cosy 1.8 inch colour screen. Being a basic phone, its battery time is up to 7.5 hours.
If you want a funky-looking Nokia at as low as Rs 5,800, then ask for Nokia 5130 XpressMusic. Being a mass-market handset, Nokia caters to music lovers on a budget. A 2-inch TFT display along with a stereo FM radio, a 3.5 mm standard audio jack for your earphones, Bluetooth and a passable 2-megapixel camera make this a very efficient candybar phone. The best part - it has a 1GB internal memory (considering it’s a basic phone, after all) which is expandable to 8GB via microSD slot (at an extra cost).
Clamshell shaped Samsung E1310 costs just Rs 2,650. A battery that will last you up to 7-9 hours and stereo FM are its strong points. A mobile tracker feature is a bonus and so is the impressive speakerphone.
Travellers
Music, camera and a good memory to stash away data top the list of on-the-move users. The 3.2 inch touchscreen-based Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is striking, complete with a plastic casing that ensures that the device survives the occasional drops during travel. Inclusion of a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, which comes with a dual-LED flash, along with music attributes like the 3.5mm headphone jack and 8GB memory to store all your songs and music pieces makes it a worthy travel companion. You can get it for around Rs 20,000. The battery does tend to run down quickly if power-hungry features like Wi-Fi and GPS are used extensively.
Nokia’s closest price match is the Sony Ericsson W705 Walkman, a slider phone that retails at Rs 17,786. Although a 2.4 inch display seems inadequate for viewing pictures taken on its 3.2 megapixels camera, the W705 also has jazzy features, including shake control that enables you to toggle music tracks and control volume with a smart flick of your wrist. The music player matches what you expect of the Sony Ericsson’s Walkman series, including the packaged in-ear earphones that produce a responsive sound with plenty of depth. W705 does not have GPS, nor a touchscreen. It is far from a smartphone’s cleverness and here it loses some ground to Nokia 5800.
If you are looking at a pocket-friendly phone, then for as little as Rs 9,249, you can get the LG KM335 music phone. It does not compromise on features too. It has a 3.15 megapixel camera, MP3 player, FM Radio tuner with recording, anti-theft mobile tracker and support for microSD memory slot. The good news continues as the phone also offers 90 MB of internal memory, which can be easily enhanced up to 8GB.
(Next week: A round-up of phones for executives and fashion seekers)
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