[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar

I am thinking of buying Sony Xperia Mini for my wife. Her need is to have good looking phone within 10,000 range. Please let me know if this is a better choice? She doesnt do SMSs. Her priority is to have good music system in phone.

Even myself travelling on the same road.
Thinking to get x10 mini for my fiancée.

Requirements:
Should be slim, sleek, cute
Good music player
Average camera

No hi-fi usage except for calls, text (max 25 sms / day) & music.

Is it a good choice or should I think of some other models?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Hi All,

I am planning to get myself the Samsung Galaxy S2.

My previous phones till date were- Nokia 3315 -> Sony Ericsson k750i -> Nokia N73 -> Karbonn K46. (I bet this sounded strange, but i just love the Karbonn. It was my first qwerty phone and i just loved it since i use sms facility a lot).

This is going to be my first android / smartphone experience. Any other options to consider than the Galaxy S2? Are there any drawbacks to the S2? I intend to keep this phone for atleast 3-4 years.

[genesis]

Originally Posted by xingmaster

Hi friends,

This dusshera I am planning to give a new cell phone to my father. Since he is quite aged, I want to give a him a cell phone that is easy to use and handle.

The main features being:

1) Ease of use. No need for fancy stuff.
2) Large display for easy reading.
3) Bigger sized buttons for ease of dialing and calling.

Can you guys suggest a phone that will meet all these requirements.

It is not dusserah yet but I have the same need. A senior citizen phone.
Any suggestions for a Nokia phone which fits the bill? Need a built in camera also so please dont suggest the iball

Thanks a ton!

[rohan_iitr]

I had purchased a Nokia 5230 as a gift for my fiance (now my wife). All of a sudden, the microphone in the mobile has stopped working. The called party can't hear us. (But called party can hear us when we use headset with 5230)

I had also suggested this model to a friend, who purchased it as a gift for his sister. In this handset, the ear-piece went kaput. We can't hear the called party. (But we can hear the called party when speakerphone is used in 5230)

Both handsets were purchased in Aug-Sep 2010 with bill from a reputed store. Both handsets have been handled very carefully, they have never been dropped or suffered any liquid damage.

I was never a fan of Nokia handsets, but at least Nokia handsets were supposed to be robust and reliable. But with these 2 experiences, I am having some serious doubts about Nokia quality in the recent times. Has the quality gone down because Nokia has started manufacturing in India ?
Needless to say, I would not be buying a Nokia again for a few years.
Since the mobiles are under warranty period, will they be serviced absolutely free of charge at Nokia Service Centre ?

Will take it to the Nokia Service Centre tomorrow. I hope they are open on Saturdays. I hate going to the Nokia Service Centre after reading the thread about the horror stories at Nokia Service Centre.

Rohan

[tj123]

My wife bought a dual Sim Motorola EX128 touch screen phone last Dec 10, since last two days the touch screen is behaving erratically eg. If I press 1 it comes up with 2 etc, literally have to struggle with it. She has used a lamination sheet on the touch screen to prevent scratches ,since it was purchased.
Since the phone is still in warranty should I remove the lamination sheet from the screen to claim warranty or leave it as-is ?

[julupani]

Rohan, there is something called the law of large numbers. When you sell as many phones as Nokia sells in the Indian market, you are bound to hear a few horror stories of phones malfunctioning, and service apathy. But overall Nokia is still the best out there.

I can give you a story on the other side. I had a Nokia 3120 ( the older one not the 3120Classic) some years back. I had an accident on an a friend's Activa, and unfortunately the phone was in my shirt pocket. It jumped out and the Activa shockingly ended up landing on it. I was surprised, though the outer plastic cover had cracked and got scratched badly, I could still make calls with it.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

...All of a sudden, the microphone in the mobile has stopped working. ...

...In this handset, the ear-piece went kaput...

Both handsets were purchased in Aug-Sep 2010 with bill from a reputed store. Both handsets have been handled very carefully, they have never been dropped or suffered any liquid damage.

I was never a fan of Nokia handsets, but at least Nokia handsets were supposed to be robust and reliable. But with these 2 experiences, I am having some serious doubts about Nokia quality in the recent times. Has the quality gone down because Nokia has started manufacturing in India ?
Needless to say, I would not be buying a Nokia again for a few years.
Since the mobiles are under warranty period, will they be serviced absolutely free of charge at Nokia Service Centre ?

Will take it to the Nokia Service Centre tomorrow. I hope they are open on Saturdays. I hate going to the Nokia Service Centre after reading the thread about the horror stories at Nokia Service Centre.

Rohan

Unfortunate that the handsets have to be taken to the service center. But I can assure you that Nokia handsets made in India have the same quality as those made elsewhere. The quality processes, materials, machines, etc are all the same across their production plants. There are quite a few hoax emails being spread around, that even go to the extent of providing some sort of "code" for identifying the actual origin of a particular handset, which is absurd. It's just unfortunate that you happened to get two odd faulty handsets, and cannot be taken as a generalisation for Nokia 5230s - I have at least 4 people in my office sitting the adjacent cubicle, all of them using the handset for quite some time.

AFAIK, Nokia service centers are open on saturdays, but please do check with them beforehand. Service centers are run by franchisees, and the technicians who work there are their employees, and not Nokia's. However, there will be a Nokia service engineer present there, in most cases, to supervise and assist the technicians.

Since the mobiles are under warranty, you WILL get the service done for free. However, if the service center personnel try to tell you that the handset has water ingress, insist on seeing the damage first before you settle for a paid service. I've "heard" people talk such stuff, but I must say that a Nokia Service center repaired my brother's 5130 which endured a torrential rain before its screen conked off, under warranty, and they never said a word about "water damage" - must be that the indicators inside had not absorbed moisture, I don't know for sure.

Make sure that you get the job card written the way you want it - mentioning your problem, not the way they want.

Just my 0.02. Go there early, and you can beat the crowd.

Originally Posted by julupani

Rohan, there is something called the law of large numbers. When you sell as many phones as Nokia sells in the Indian market, you are bound to hear a few horror stories of phones malfunctioning, and service apathy. But overall Nokia is still the best out there.

+1

Originally Posted by tj123

My wife bought a dual Sim Motorola EX128 touch screen phone last Dec 10, since last two days the touch screen is behaving erratically ... should I remove the lamination sheet from the screen to claim warranty or leave it as-is ?

Since the issue is with the touch screen, the service center personnel will remove the lamination sheet in all probability. No need to do it yourself.

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by julupani

Rohan, there is something called the law of large numbers. When you sell as many phones as Nokia sells in the Indian market, you are bound to hear a few horror stories of phones malfunctioning, and service apathy. But overall Nokia is still the best out there.

I can give you a story on the other side. I had a Nokia 3120 ( the older one not the 3120Classic) some years back. I had an accident on an a friend's Activa, and unfortunately the phone was in my shirt pocket. It jumped out and the Activa shockingly ended up landing on it. I was surprised, though the outer plastic cover had cracked and got scratched badly, I could still make calls with it.

I don't believe in the law of large numbers. Maruti also sells a large number of cars in the Indian market. Neither has their reliability gone down, nor the service centre experience.

I agree that the earlier Nokia's used to have amazing build quality and managed to survive such impacts. I am suspecting the quality of Nokia phones in the recent times, especially after manufacturing started in India.

I totally agree that newer models, especially touch screen ones, can never be as rugged as the older basic models. But, handsets should not go bad in less than 1 year without any abuse.

Originally Posted by silversteed

It's just unfortunate that you happened to get two odd faulty handsets, and cannot be taken as a generalisation for Nokia 5230s - I have at least 4 people in my office sitting the adjacent cubicle, all of them using the handset for quite some time.

AFAIK, Nokia service centers are open on saturdays, but please do check with them beforehand.

Make sure that you get the job card written the way you want it - mentioning your problem, not the way they want.

Just my 0.02. Go there early, and you can beat the crowd.

Lets hope that this is a one off case and that Nokia quality has been maintained over the years.

I'll be at the Nokia Service Centre as soon as it opens tomorrow. Will also update the Service Centre experience in the dedicated thread.

Rohan

[julupani]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

I don't believe in the law of large numbers. Maruti also sells a large number of cars in the Indian market. Neither has their reliability gone down, nor the service centre experience.

Rohan

I am sorry, but dont you hear horror stories of Maruti and my parents have been the victim of bad Maruti service. Maruti service has become much worse. We had a M800 for 8 straight years and was always serviced by the same service center. And I can tell you, things got worse, much worse with passage of time. And when we were looking to buy a new car, when I had gone with my father, thinking about an SX4, the dealer almost didnt take notice and sort of dismissed us. It took us 2days to get our car evaluated by Maruti TruValue, who offered us less for it than Tata did. But overall, I still say Maruti is the best out there.

Also, comparing an automobile manufacturer to an cellphone manufacturer is not very fair. Nokia sells about hundred times the number of cars Maruti sells each year.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Both handsets were purchased in Aug-Sep 2010 with bill from a reputed store. Both handsets have been handled very carefully, they have never been dropped or suffered any liquid damage.
Rohan

If both were manufactured around the same date, then I'd think it more than likely that it is an issue of poor quality components used during that period at least. And its pretty obvious that Nokia quality is now not what it was known for.

But to be fair, these particular handset (and hopefully its cousins) are supposed to be durable. I have a friend who dropped his while attempting to take a call at 60 kmph or so on a bike. It fell. When he got down and found it, it was in 3 pieces, battery, its cover and of course the transceiver. He put it all back, and its still working without a hitch. Did not even seem to have any easily visible scratches. But as far as I recall it is a 5233, the lower end cousin of the 5230.

And FWIW the 5230s I'v seen were made in Korea.

[ramzsys]

my everyday use phone is a nokia 2700 classic and due to frequent sim changing the cover got loose.

so whenever the phone falls down, it is a 3 piece- the battery, cover and the body and i am thanking nokia each time because it works without a fuss.

Earlier Motorola phones too were solidly built.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

so whenever the phone falls down, it is a 3 piece- the battery, cover and the body and i am thanking nokia each time because it works without a fuss.

Well, this may not be because of the loose cover. According to some tech websites, its a crash absorption mechanism. This happens with quite a lot of phone models

[vsh]

hi
i am using nokia 6303i and more than happy with it. main use is for calling and seeing messages. internet browsing through laptop only. now i want to upgrade. as now on travelling will be more so i got the reason to try new mobile/smart phones. my requirements
1) usage- mainly calling and receivng. sms and few emails. no need of camera-music games etc. my 6303i works for two days on single recharge. so battery backup should be atleast for 2 days.

2) should be easy to use. no recurring problem of OS as read somewhere.

3) budget - around rs 10000.

4) should not be too delicate. should be solidly built and ready for rough use.

5) preferable brands- nokia, samsung. how are LG and HTC?

i have searched through the net but could not make it out. please suggest me a good mobile.

[julupani]

Considering your kind of usage and budget, two phones come to mind, the Nokia E5 and the Samsung Galaxy Pro. I am assuming that as your internet browsing will be limited, you are not looking to go in for a touch screen phone.

[vsh]

Originally Posted by julupani

Considering your kind of usage and budget, two phones come to mind, the Nokia E5 and the Samsung Galaxy Pro. I am assuming that as your internet browsing will be limited, you are not looking to go in for a touch screen phone.

yes, internet usage will be limited. but after using keypads all these years, touchscreen will be fun to use. so touchscreen phone which satisfy my other conditions would do.