[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by Cedia2013

Hi, can anyone give me a rating for Nokia lumia 520 which is newest of its lumia? Planning to buy one. I want to know if I can share my mobile Internet with devices via wifi (Wifi hotspot like android). Also planning to buy it from CROMA retail online. Is this website a trusted one? I thought of lumia 620 but 520 seems to pack what I wanted in much cheaper price. Any suggestions?

All WP8 phones can be used for tethering.
For confirmation, refer to GSMarena.com for 520 Review.

It is available for 9899/- at http://www.saholic.com/mobile-phones...ia-520-1006174

[Enigmatic]

Okay so here it goes ...

I am currently using a BB Torch 9800... Had to upgrade to a S3 last year but delayed the decisions and got a DSLR..
Wanted to go for the S3 later, proposed the same to my parents, got a shouting in return with the all time favorite Parent - Student line..YOU ARE A SUTDENT (the Uppercase being used to augment the sternness of the reply ) !!

Having saved some cash now, I am back looking for an upgrade...

I have also got an Iphone 4 lying around, my dad had got the same for himself but he soon realized he is " too OLD for this stuff "and went back to his faithful Nokia.

So I plan on getting rid of the Iphone(immaculate condition) and the torch(used for 2 years ,does show signs )- any estimates on the selling price would be beneficial.

What I am most confused about is what to go for ??
My budget will be under 25K.

I do like apps but not crazy about them . Honestly anything would be better than my aging torch.

Not a fan of the S3 any longer. My sister got one for herself and she has advised me not to go for the same.
My other sister(I think you can see the trauma i had to go through as a child??) got a Lumia 920 for herself and is pretty satisfied.

Any pointers would be appreciated..
Cheers.

[engrohit]

I can't find nexus 4 on google play store. Can anyone else check and confirm?
A colleague is going to US next week and has agreed to bring it for me.

[engrohit]

Originally Posted by Akhilash95

My cousin in USA has a sealed nexus 4 which isn't going to use . Can he send it through an international courier . Do I have to pay customs here in India ?

As per arup.misra's post regarding Nexus 4 on this forum, custom duty is approx 500 rs and courier charges another 560. He had paid approx 1150 rs for the shipment from US.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by engrohit

As per arup.misra's post regarding Nexus 4 on this forum, custom duty is approx 500 rs and courier charges another 560. He had paid approx 1150 rs for the shipment from US.

Indian Custom duties depend on the mood of the Officer.

A friend ordered a Nexus 4. He had to pay just 500 as the duty. When he ordred another for his cousin, he had to pay over 5000/- as duty.
and frankly, if you have to pay 5-7K over the base price of Nexus 4,
SGSIII makes for a better deal, since you also have service backup.

Also, you can't see the USA Play Store while browsing from India.
You need to get a proxy that gives you a US IP Address. only then, would you be able to see the Nexus 4, 7 and 10.

[neoonwheels]

Bought myself a mid range Android phone at 15500/-. Its a Gionee Dream D1. The phone is NOT available in Maharashtra as of now so opted for the online store "ManiacStores.com" to get it to Pune. Initially I always invested in branded phones like Nokia 6600, Motorola Ming, Nokia 5800 etc but then my last phone was Dell XCD35 (Originally ZTE) and it kind of changed my perspective towards good chinese brands.

Gionee is one of the leading mobile companies in China and their phones are mostly reliable. I got this info from my QA team members in China. According to him their flagship model (Dream D1) is doing good.

After using it for couple of days, following are my inputs:

Pros:
1. Awesome 720P HD super AMOLED display. It has 326 ppi and trust me the display is just awesome. I had Dell XCD35 which had 267 ppi and it was a plesant surprise for me. Now with D1, I have graduated to a super AMOLED
screen.

2. Gorilla glass 2 protection. Of course, I did not test it first hand and would not want to for sure. According to the reviews and specifications, its a Gorila glass 2 protection layer.

3. Quad core processor. This mediatek quad core is at least as good as dual core of Samsung.

4. 1 GB RAM, out of which around 600 MB is free all the time. This would reduce as I go on installing multiple Apps.

5. BIIIIG screen and yet manageable. It has 4.65 screen out of which around 4.3 is usable due to touch buttons at the bottom of the screen (as Nexus 4) instead of on the bezel. The phone is quite thin and easy to hold. My other choice was MMX Canvas HD which is kind of too big for pockets.

6. Finally a rooting is available for this phone. Gionee is actively discouraging people to root their phone so had kind root locker but a member on XDA is successfully rooted the phone.

7. Wide service center network. Pune is yet to get its own but couple of options available in Mbai. When I spoke to their toll free number came to know that within 3 months the service network would be expanded to cover mostly all prominent cities. Suprising to see they have SC in Kolhapur, Nahisk and not in Pune. The SC list is available on their website.

8. A 16 GB card is provided with the phone along with a couple of back skins. The build quality is way better than MMX phones.

Cons

1. No custom ROMs avialable yet. Recently a rooting is available so I hope people would carry on from here.

2. Battery is non removable. I am not sure if its a deal breaker or not but for an amateur user this should not cause a concern.

3. The headset provided is not a good quality accessory. Nokia has always given classy headsets with their mid to top range phones. Will have to separately buy Nokia headsets.


Would update my experience down the line once I root the phone and try different apps.

[Jignesh]

Hello,

I read on forums online that manufacturing cost of Samsung Galaxy S4 is not more than USD 250 which is equal to approx Rs. 13,750. Similarly for Galaxy S3 the Manufacturing cost is not more than Rs. 11,500.

Same goes for Apple iPhone where the manufacturing cost is not more than Rs. 12,000.

Now, imagine the profit margin these companies command due to their brand value. The phones that cost to manufacture Rs. 12,000 are sold for Rs. 30,000 or more.

Though the above costs do not include software development & research / development costs.

This means that the manufacturers like Micromax, Karbon etc are really not cheap ones. Also their software development cost is very low, as they do not offer many value adds to Andriod operating system.

Though their exterior build may not be as good as Samsung & Apple, but the hardware is by no means cheaper than global brands. Anyways most of the latest S3, S4 & iPhone 4 & 5 would be out-dated in next two years, I feel if a Micromax can last trouble free for 1.5 years, it is definitely a good deal.

Thanks,

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello,

I read on forums online that manufacturing cost of Samsung Galaxy S4 is not more than USD 250 which is equal to approx Rs. 13,750. Similarly for Galaxy S3 the Manufacturing cost is not more than Rs. 11,500.

Same goes for Apple iPhone where the manufacturing cost is not more than Rs. 12,000.

Now, imagine the profit margin these companies command due to their brand value. The phones that cost to manufacture Rs. 12,000 are sold for Rs. 30,000 or more.

Though the above costs do not include software development & research / development costs.

This means that the manufacturers like Micromax, Karbon etc are really not cheap ones. Also their software development cost is very low, as they do not offer many value adds to Andriod operating system.

Though their exterior build may not be as good as Samsung & Apple, but the hardware is by no means cheaper than global brands. Anyways most of the latest S3, S4 & iPhone 4 & 5 would be out-dated in next two years, I feel if a Micromax can last trouble free for 1.5 years, it is definitely a good deal.

Thanks,

They keep at least 50% margin .

The manufacturing costs of some MMX mobiles was revealed and it had only 10-20% margin. In some cases even less than 10%.
Frankly, I would take pure vanilla android at a lower price than TouchWiz over 20k over it.

[h@r$h@l]

Hello Guys,

Just have a query related diverting your number. I am travelling abroad for a week and want to divert my mobile number to my office desk phone. It doesnt seem to work. I am using a Vodafone sim. It lets me divert to another mobile number but I wanted to divert it to my office desk phone so that after working hours no one else is bothered with people calling on my cell phone.

Has anyone else tried this?

thanks

[saurabh159]

I guess, that's disabled by service provider to divert call to landlines.

[superutp]

Anyone knows where I can get a HTC One x+ from??

Seems to be out of stock everywhere.

[engrohit]

Originally Posted by saurabh159

I guess, that's disabled by service provider to divert call to landlines.

It was available at e-zone, Haiko Mall, Powai couple of days back.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Same goes for Apple iPhone where the manufacturing cost is not more than Rs. 12,000.

Now, imagine the profit margin these companies command due to their brand value. The phones that cost to manufacture Rs. 12,000 are sold for Rs. 30,000 or more.

Though the above costs do not include software development & research / development costs.

You completely left out marketing cost, that is a huge cost, often more than manufacturing cost or R&D cost.

Originally Posted by h@r$h@l

Just have a query related diverting your number. I am travelling abroad for a week and want to divert my mobile number to my office desk phone. It doesnt seem to work. I am using a Vodafone sim. It lets me divert to another mobile number but I wanted to divert it to my office desk phone so that after working hours no one else is bothered with people calling on my cell phone.

Originally Posted by saurabh159

I guess, that's disabled by service provider to divert call to landlines.

Diverting the call to another number within the same network is simple. But diverting the call that has landed in your network to another network is lot more complex. There is also a question of revenue share between the networks.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by h@r$h@l

Hello Guys,

Just have a query related diverting your number. I am travelling abroad for a week and want to divert my mobile number to my office desk phone. It doesnt seem to work. I am using a Vodafone sim. It lets me divert to another mobile number but I wanted to divert it to my office desk phone so that after working hours no one else is bothered with people calling on my cell phone.

Has anyone else tried this?

thanks

I have configured my service the exact same way, and it works.
My service provider is Airtel, Pune.

You need to raise a ticket with Vodaphone, because there is no reason why call forwarding to landline should not work.


PS: did you put in the complete landline number with STD codes etc? Remember call forwarding = calling from mobile phone.

Originally Posted by Samurai

You completely left out marketing cost, that is a huge cost, often more than manufacturing cost or R&D cost.

Per piece marketing cost doesn't work out to be too high. If this was not true, Apple wouldn't have swung its fortune (from penury) after introducing iPOD.

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello,

I read on forums online that manufacturing cost of Samsung Galaxy S4 is not more than USD 250 which is equal to approx Rs. 13,750. Similarly for Galaxy S3 the Manufacturing cost is not more than Rs. 11,500.

Same goes for Apple iPhone where the manufacturing cost is not more than Rs. 12,000.

Now, imagine the profit margin these companies command due to their brand value. The phones that cost to manufacture Rs. 12,000 are sold for Rs. 30,000 or more.

Though the above costs do not include software development & research / development costs.

This means that the manufacturers like Micromax, Karbon etc are really not cheap ones. Also their software development cost is very low, as they do not offer many value adds to Andriod operating system.

Though their exterior build may not be as good as Samsung & Apple, but the hardware is by no means cheaper than global brands. Anyways most of the latest S3, S4 & iPhone 4 & 5 would be out-dated in next two years, I feel if a Micromax can last trouble free for 1.5 years, it is definitely a good deal.

Thanks,

You know a bald guy may not even require a hair-comb, but he may still pay a fortune if he becomes a believer and starts lapping up every thing that the seller (and his cronies like reviewers) tells ... (which is known as marketing).
Buyers' willingness to pay dictates the pricing levels ... not the cost of manufacture/R&D/marketing/features.

This is called "value" selling - create a value (fake/true/applicable/not-applicable - whatever be it), and sell it for premium.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Per piece marketing cost doesn't work out to be too high.

In hindsight, may be. Apple always super-sized their ADs and promotions. If they hadn't sold in such large numbers, the marketing cost would have loomed large.

Originally Posted by alpha1

If this was not true, Apple wouldn't have swung its fortune (from penury) after introducing iPOD.

Apple was out of the dog house by 2001, even before iPod was released. Thanks goes to the first iMac. Remember that lamp shaped iMac, that was really sexy.