Tis’ still the season to be jolly and our next guide covers all sorts of phones we recommend under Ra. 10,000 check it out.
Android Phones
Samsung Galaxy Y (Rs. 7150/-) Android 2.3, a cheap price, 3 inch capacitive touch, 835 Mhz processor, a good 2MP camera and decent performance. We recommend it.
Alternatives
LG Optimus Net (Rs. 9999)
Dell XCD 35 (Rs. 8599)
Micromax Andro A70 (Rs. 7500)
Android Qwerty
Not a lot of options in this category
LG Optimus Pro C666 (Rs 9599) Android 2.3, 800MHz processor, full QWERTY, 2.8 inch touchscreen, that the best you can get in this price. The only other option is the Motorola Fire, which we don’t recommend.
Blackberry
There are not many blackberry devices that can fit in this price bracket but you can get lucky.
Blackberry Curve 8520 (Rs. 9800) The blackberry messenger, push mail, and enterprise ready support, along with upgradability to BB OS5. not much you can ask for in the 10,000 price bracket. The device is a favorite with Blackberry addicted college going ladies, as says Deviana, So if you have a girlfriend a good holiday gift would be a pink/purple version of this.
Its not always fun and frolic, but if you are really lucky you can snag a brand new Blackberry 9000 (original bold) for about Rs. 9500 if someone still has stock.
Nokia / Symbian
Symbian is almost dead, but its popularity in India is nowhere near extinction. People still love Nokia phones, simply because they can’t seem to grow out of it to try something else. Nokia phones are built to last, and have a friendly and easy to remember OS. Although not our top recommendation, if you must buy a Nokia and your budget is 10k then here are our recommendations.
Nokia C5-03 (Rs. 9750) : Features include 3G connectivity, 3.2 inch resistive touchscreen, 5 MP Camera and LED flash, VGA video, Nokia apps world, Facebook and Twitter.
Nokia E5 (Rs. 9730) : Symbian v9.3 OS, 2.36-inch Display, QWERTY keypad, push mail, ARM 11 600 MHz processor, 5 megapixel camera with LED Flash and VGA video.
We mentioned in our review that the Micromax A70 was not upgradeable to 2.3, after we published that today, we got a call. According to our source Micromax the A70 will run Android 2.3 and there seems to be an easy way to do it. We are trying to get the process and will give a quick tutorial, possibly a video tutorial on how to go about it soon after we have tried it ourselves.
Also to make Fring Video calls, an easy fix was recommended by one of our readers. All you need to do it fire up Fring, then quit it , open the camera and switch to the front facing camera, and then reopen Fring, Voila Video calls will now work
Note : if Video calls don’t work : jump into bring settings and make sure video calls is ticked. Thats all , we tested it and it works fine.
The Micromax Andro A70 was one of the most anticipated phones of this quarter, especially in the sub Rs. 8000 bracket. To be honest, at first we thought of it as just a minor upgrade to the existing Andro A60. But as we reviewed this little marvel we began so see a major change in its operation. Lets see why the Andro A70 is our pick for the price range.
Build Quality and Design
Reminiscent of the Nexus One’s design, the Micromax Andro A70 is built with sturdy plastics. Nice curvaceous ends make it an extremely attractive design, and very comfortable to hold in the hand. The screen on the front is tough and provides the extra protection required for a touch phone of this nature. The buttons are tactile and easy to use, the overall standard of construction is quite impressive.
The front of the display is also glass and not plastic unlike its predecessor, Which makes the overall build of the device impressive. The phone is sturdy and does not make rattling noises even when tossed around.
Hardware
Android 2.2 (Froyo)
Camera Primary 5.0 MP Secondary – VGA
600MHz Processor
3.2 inch Multi Touch Capacitive Screen
Mi – apps – application store by Micromax
Full Android Market
WCDMA 2100 MHz
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
Mi-Fi Pocket Wireless Internet
GPS
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Battery 1450mAh
Proximity Sensor
Gravity Sensor
Camera and Multimedia
A surprisingly interesting 5 MP camera with autofocus that delivers exceptionally good pictures. The camera displays great skill when it comes to auto-focus and cannot be tackled down by any other device in this price range. Although colors appear washed out at first but a little playing around with the settings gives a good picture.
Video on the other hand is simply OK, you cannot expect much from the VGA video capability. A simple tweak, by changing the video quality settings to custom in the camera we were able to get VGA video. If you leave the video quality to high, it captures a much lower resolution video. A sample of the video can be seen in the videos below.
The Front facing camera, is a simple VGA camera and can be used for nothing but clicking self portraits and video. We tried several times to initiate a camera response from Skype /fring etc, but failed to do so.
The screen of the Andro A70 is great for watching videos and browsing the internet. It is also a capacitive 2 point multitouch screen, so pinch to zoom works great and with the 3.2 inch 320x480px screen text is crisp and easily read.
Speakers are loud and clear when it comes to watching videos or simply listening to music. Overall multimedia experience was satisfactory and a lot more than you can expect from a device which costs only 7500 Rs.
Phone and Messaging
No complaints here, the phone call capability was excellent , little or no dropped calls, clear speaker and earpiece. the microphone also pics up sound aptly and delivers to the other side. One thing with mentioning is the number of connection errors faced in process of dialing a number were far more than any other device tested.
Messaging and emailing has also improved vastly over the previous A60 thanks to the inclusion of the capacitive screen. This makes the device almost brilliant, keyboard is nice and spread out and easy to type on even with relatively large fingers. The keyboard can also be easily replaced with customizable keyboards from the Marketplace, including Better Keyboard. Swype however does not work with the Andro A70.
Internet and Portable Hotspot
This section is dedicated to connectivity and utilization of the Internet, Data and WiFi.
The A70 has a very weak WiFi antenna, and mostly requires you to be relatively close to the router to get a decent signal. This was kind of a let down especially after the excellent WiFi antenna on the Andro A60.
The Portable Hotspot also fails throughout the board, dropping WiFi and asking for reactivations several times.
Apart from the above, browsing works great on the A70 especially 3G networks perform as good as high end phones.
Battery Life
We were quite impressed with the battery life on the A70, with over 5 hours of talk time, and a good 7-8 of internet usage, upto 3 days of standby, make it an excellent device in terms of battery life. But with Android as an OS, you never know what app you install, suddenly battery life is critically lower than before. Overall great battery , be sure to inspect your apps if you face battery issues.
Conclusion
While its an extremely awesome device for its price, it definitely has its ups and its down . With limited WiFi range and useless front camera this device lacks little and gives more. Good things include impressive build quality, a great photo camera, Android 2.2, wifi hotspot, easily root-able ( with possibility of custom rome). This device is a little understated by the company. The UI is much improved and a launcher from the market like ADW launcher can make this device a gem with pinch home screens, and smooth scrolling.
The Micromax Andro A70 is a good package for someone who wants to enter the Android ecosystem, or even a good upgrade for an A60 user. This device is also an excellent secondary device for a expensive smartphone.
India’s most recognized mobile phone manufacturer Micromax Mobile, has just launched its Maldives operations in partnership with Sense Wood Maldives (Pvt) Ltd. Maldives is also SAARC’s most tele-dense market , with more per man cellphone usage than any other nation.
Micromax is already the number one domestic mobile phone company with its partnerships around the world in Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri-Lanka, UAE and Brazil., it seems that a global presence is not far for the Domestic Mobile Giant.
Micromax strengthens its foothold in Asia with the launch of its Maldives operations
Partners with Sense Wood Maldives (Pvt) Ltd. to enter SAARC’s highest teledensity market
Maldives, August 04, 2011 – Micromax Informatics Limited (“Micromax”), India’s leading handset manufacturer today announced its foray into Maldivian telecom space, as a part of its aggressive global expansion activities. Micromax will launch 9 mobile phones competitively priced between 425 MVR to 4,500 MVR. Through an exclusive partnership withSense Wood Maldives (Pvt) Ltd, Micromax willmake the handsets available through all leading outlets across the country, reaching out to the market with 150% mobile penetration.
Micromax aims to focus on consumers of all age groups, especially youth through their wide range of innovative products.
Innovative products have been a strong growth driver for Micromax in India and the company plans to bring the same innovation and quality products for Maldivian consumers catering to their advanced telecommunications needs and hence establishing a connect with the consumers of Maldives. Micromax will also be the first company to have exclusive service centers in the country.
This launch marks another milestone for Micromax, which aims to set its roots deep into the market and emerge as a leader in all the market territories it operates in.
Mr. Vikas Sahni, General Manager SAARC, Micromax Informatics Limited present on the launch said, “In 2011, we will continue our growth trajectory by developing our existing markets and expanding into newer markets. Today, I am delighted to offer an extensive range of innovative products designed to meet the communications needs of the highly evolved telecom users in Maldives. In addition to this, we will also bring the first ever exclusive service center through which we are confident to offer a delightful user experience in the region. With the younger generation accounting for 60% of Maldives’ total population, our focus will be to bring advanced mobility devices meeting the trends of the youth culture in the country.”
He further added, “To begin with, we are introducing 9 models ranging from less than 500 MVR to 4,500 MVR. These include feature-rich mobile phones with dual SIM, utility phones, QWERTY chat-phones, music-touch phones and Android based smartphones.”
Micromax has been at the forefront of providing innovative and path breaking phones to the consumers across India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, UAE and Brazil. Through this launch, Micromax will become the first company to have a mobile phone distribution network in Maldives. As another step to enrich users’ experience, the company will offer 6 months warranty on all phones it launches in the country.
To attain positioning and to enhance brand visibility in the territory, Micromax aims to undertake a 360 degree branding exercise and focus will be on activities like, store branding, merchandisers in key retails and channel marketing.
About Micromax:
Micromax, is the largest Indian mobile handset company, in terms of units shipped during the quarter ended March 31, 2010 and the third largest mobile handset seller as at March 31, 2010 (Source: IDC’s India Quarterly Mobile Handsets Tracker, 1Q 2010, June 2010 release). Micromax has domestic offices across India and global presence in Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri-Lanka, UAE and Brazil.
Here it is, we got over a thousand requests for the Andro A70 Unboxing and Review, while the review process is on, check out the unboxing and hands on below.
It also appears to have a secondary VGA front facing camera
Although the device images are rendered , we have a strong feeling that the device will not look like the Image. We also have enough reason to believe that the device will not have a trackball or a trackpad. But, hey at-least we have something to look forward to.
Looks like the company is planning to launch the A70 and the A55 to target both male and female markets. Giving Micromax the edge over their competitors. Check out our exclusive on the A55 Bling 2 here.
Samsung Galaxy Y (Rs. 7150/-) Android 2.3, a cheap price, 3 inch capacitive touch, 835 Mhz processor, a good 2MP camera and decent performance. We recommend it.
Blackberry Curve 8520 (Rs. 9800) The blackberry messenger, push mail, and enterprise ready support, along with upgradability to BB OS5. not much you can ask for in the 10,000 price bracket. The device is a favorite with Blackberry addicted college going ladies, as says Deviana, So if you have a girlfriend a good holiday gift would be a pink/purple version of this.
Nokia C5-03 (Rs. 9750) : Features include 3G connectivity, 3.2 inch resistive touchscreen, 5 MP Camera and LED flash, VGA video, Nokia apps world, Facebook and Twitter.
Nokia E5 (Rs. 9730) : Symbian v9.3 OS, 2.36-inch Display, QWERTY keypad, push mail, ARM 11 600 MHz processor, 5 megapixel camera with LED Flash and VGA video.
