[null]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

... Ah, this is indeed timely. I would be very interested for my mother as well. she is rather tech unsavvy but she has similar needs and I've been thinking of this or a tablet for a while...

A windows phone would be ideal for them if you want to keep it under 10K and enable them to use it as a phone / facebook / whatsapp device. Check Lumia 520 or 620 which suits the need.

[TheTeacher]

Another request for suggestions for a mom phone!

My mother is 83, and her 5-year old Nokia 6303 Classic is either slowly dying or her hearing is getting worse, or both; she claims she can't hear the other party clearly. My wife had the same phone before, and truthfully, I could never ever hear the other party clearly even when that phone was new.

The phone will be used only to make and receive calls. Nothing else.

Requirements:
1) Loud and clear audio (for conversations only, no music etc.). For example, clarity in my Galaxy Grand is very good, and it can be so loud I have to turn the volume down.
2) Need to be able to store a pic of each contact in the address book. She can read only Kannada, and is handicapped with English. The pic solves the problem. Many phones will support only a few pics - 8 or 10 (limited memory). She has 50 - 60 contacts. Alternatively, if the phone can support Kannada, the requirement for pics can be eliminated.
3) She's an amazing person and I don't want to underestimate her abilities by precluding an Android touch phone.
4) Reliable brand / model. Horror stories abound regarding the Indian brands - Micromax, Karbonn, Lava, etc. The Nokia Windows 8 phones also seem to suffer from quality problems. My Galaxy Grand is simply the best phone I've ever owned.
4) Budget under Rs. 12k please.

Nice to have:
a) Speed dial by one-key press (if not a touch phone).

My only exposure to Android is through my Galaxy Grand that came with 4.0 and is currently running 4.2.2. Many phones under Rs. 10k come only with Android 2.x. How different is the interface from 4.x?

[kash_pegasus]

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

Another request for suggestions for a mom phone!

Since she is 83, have a look at the iball Aasan- senior phone. Lovely big buttons. Loud sound. SOS button- handy features for a senior citizen. Have a look.

Price is around 2.4k - 2.7k.

Ideal for non tech savvy and more than enough if the usage is limited to calls.

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

Another request for suggestions for a mom phone!

My mother is 83, and her 5-year old Nokia 6303 Classic is either slowly dying or her hearing is getting worse, or both; she claims she can't hear the other party clearly. My wife had the same phone before, and truthfully, I could never ever hear the other party clearly even when that phone was new.

The phone will be used only to make and receive calls. Nothing else.

Check out the Nokia asha 501.

[TheTeacher]

Thanks guys. But not sure these two phones meet requirement #2?

[woof]

So, wife's birthday is nearing. Planning to get her a new phone.
She is currently using Sony Xperia Sola which lags a lot. Budget is around 25 to 30k.

Suggest the best phone available in the market in that price bracket.

Requirements:
1. Should be an android
2. Should not be from Sony
3. The camera should be capable enough to take good pictures indoors
4. Should be lag free
5. The display should be nice and crisp

So far, I have shortlisted Note 2 for which I got a quote of Rs. 27k from a nearby retailer.

Request your inputs and suggestions.

[adg_andy]

Guys, I had bought my galaxy grand duos from malaysia about 5 months back. It came with 4.1.2 by default. Now, I hear that 4.2.2 is being rolled out. However, on trying to update, my phone says" all latest updates have been installed". Help please

[Saanil]

Originally Posted by woof

So, wife's birthday is nearing. Planning to get her a new phone.
She is currently using Sony Xperia Sola which lags a lot. Budget is around 25 to 30k.

Some suggestions from my side:

1. Samsung Galaxy S3.
2. Nexus 4 (Rumors are that Nexus 5 will be out soon so you will have to decide whether Nexus 4 is worth going for now or not).
3. Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.

In my opinion going with the Samsung will be the safer choice (in terms of all your requirements). I find display/camera of Samsung to be the best.

[sadnabrina]

Dear all,
I purchased a Galaxy S4 in July 2013. The initial experience with the phone was quite satisfactory. However since the last few weeks the battery life started decreasing. One full charge in the morning was becoming insufficient to take the phone through the end of the day without another charge. All this while I thought I was probably using too many applications and made it a habit to stop unnecessary applications frequently (several times in a day).

However the problem continued and one fine day around mid October the phone automatically switched itself off while I was shooting a video. The charge level before I started the video shoot was around 60% and it was about 30 seconds from the start of the shoot that the phone switched itself off.

Now it won't start at all. So I take off the battery and reinsert it and the phone starts up again but now the battery level has gone down to 8%. So I plug in a charger and charge it for about 2 hours to reach back at 100%. But after 3 hours of idle standby time the battery again fell to 50%.
I was scheduled to go for a quick vacation to Puri (yes, post Phailin Puri) and went ahead with the plan on 13th Oct. Throughout the trip the phone continued to play its tricks and I had to take the battery off and charge the phone every now and then. In one such situation while I was taking the battery off I accidentally pressed the memory card and it fell off. I did not notice it then and realized the loss only after returning back to our hotel.

On returning from the trip I immediately took the phone to the nearest Samsung service center on 18th Oct. After the initial inspection they informed me that the battery has deformed (swelled) and such a damage is not covered under warranty. I need to buy a replacement battery. When asked for a reason why this has happened, they told me (verbally only not in writing) that it is due to overcharge. I got furious and started blasting them - the flagship smartphone model does not have a overcharge protection circuit?

So the service center in-charge walks in and says that they will check with Samsung and get back to me. Next day I get a call that my phone is ready for delivery. I reach the service center within a few minutes only to find that they have not done anything and was returning the handset as it is claiming that Samsung's policy is not to cover such damaged items under warranty.

I got hold of the service center manager and gave a her a long speech on how such rejection can affect Samsung's image etc. The only thing I could manage to extract from her was a photo copy of the service record where the she wrote "Battery not replaced in warranty period as it is found deformed".

Meanwhile I was discussing the issue with a colleague of mine when he recollected that he have seen something on similar lines on the internet a few days back. So we start searching the net to find out that since early Oct there has been reports of several such cases of battery failures (mostly swelling issues) in UK and Germany. Once site claimed that Samsung Germany has acknowledged that there may be a limited number of users affected by a defective battery and they will provide free replacement if such a battery is brought into a Samsung service center. One of the forums claim that the issue is limited to some batteries which has serial number starting with "BD".
In another forum an user from India has complained that Samsung India is not offering a free a replacement however when he contacted Samsung UK they offered him a free replacement provided he can send the handset with original proof of purchase to them through a friend/relative located in the UK.

Armed with some background information now, I decided to take this up with Samsung India. I posted a detailed problem description with images and scanned copies of the bill and service record on their web site through the "email support" option on 21st Oct. The rest of the day went on without any response or acknowledgement from Samsung.
Next day morning (22nd Oct/today) seeing to response from them , started searching the Samsung India web site and found an option to escalate such complaints to the CEO. So I drafted my complaint again and emailed to the CEO's office.
After a few hours I get a call from a "Senior Executive - Customer Experience". "Sir, I am calling from Samsung CEO's office and would like to discuss...." ... however the gist of his response was - "by policy Samsung does not provide a replacement in such cases".
I gave him a mouthful... so your "policy" is to sell defective products and fleece customers? No point in discussing with you then... let's meet at the consumer court then.
Then he says that it is not in his hand to take a decision on this and will have to pass this on to the concerned department who will take necessary action. He emailed me back a response in similar lines from a no-reply mail box.

Now I am waiting fingers crossed for the next set of response from the "concerned department". Will post progress tomorrow.

As it stands now, I am not using the phone as the swelling in the battery is increasing fast and have now started to affect the back cover which looks bloated now. I have taken the battery off and kept the phone separately stored to avoid any further damage to the handset.

Meanwhile if there are other T-BHPians having similar problems with Samsung smartphone please take up with Samsung India here - http://www.samsung.com/in/support/.

Do also post in your issues here at T-BHP to make other fellow users aware of such potential problems before they buy a new product.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by sadnabrina

battery has deformed (swelled) and such a damage is not covered under warranty.

By any chance, do you use this phone for GPS navigation in car? If you do, is phone in direct sunlight near dashboard?

[anmolbedi]

Originally Posted by sadnabrina

Dear all,
I purchased a Galaxy S4 in July 2013. The initial experience with the phone was quite satisfactory. However since the last few weeks the battery life started decreasing. One full charge in the morning was becoming insufficient to take the phone through the end of the day without another charge. All this while I thought I was probably using too many applications and made it a habit to stop unnecessary applications frequently (several times in a day).

Raise a grievance on pgportal.gov.in find the appropriate ministry that caters to mobile industry.. Should be mobile and telecom. Give complete details of your case and then see the action.

[h@r$h@l]

Originally Posted by woof

Requirements:
1. Should be an android
2. Should not be from Sony -
3. The camera should be capable enough to take good pictures indoors
4. Should be lag free
5. The display should be nice and crisp

So far, I have shortlisted Note 2 for which I got a quote of Rs. 27k from a nearby retailer.

Request your inputs and suggestions.

Note 2 is a good deal. and now with prices dropped, you should be able to get your self a deal.

I would also recon you look at Nexus 4, Its loaded. Well speced. And you get plain vanila OS. If you wife is not going to use the S Pen and other features why carry the Note II. Its a BIG phone. With nexus, you have first OS updates. Never have to wait. And since its completely Plain OS, you can customize it as per your preference, in your case, wife's preferences.

Nexus 5 is round the corner, But i dont think it will be launched in India soon. Nexus 4 was launched around Nov 2012 and it made it to our shores only around mid 2013. So i expect the same.

The display should be nice and crisp
True HD IPS Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
768 x 1280 pixels, 4.7 inches (~318 ppi pixel density)

Chipset : Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon
CPU : Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait
GPU : Adreno 320
RAM : 2 GB

Lag will be a thing from the past for you with this phone. Flipkar has listed Nexus 4 for ₹24285/-
&
Get Extra 10% Cashback on purchases above Rs. 10,000 on Standard Chartered Cards.

Effective price ₹21856/-. Cant get any better than this.

Regards,

[Diamond_dawg]

Originally Posted by sadnabrina

So we start searching the net to find out that since early Oct there has been reports of several such cases of battery failures (mostly swelling issues) in UK and Germany. Once site claimed that Samsung Germany has acknowledged that there may be a limited number of users affected by a defective battery and they will provide free replacement if such a battery is brought into a Samsung service center.

show them a couple of articles where Samsung is replacing the battery

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/s...y-replacements

Email it to them so you have proof later on that they refused to change the battery

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by sadnabrina

Dear all,
I purchased a Galaxy S4 in July 2013....

As it stands now, I am not using the phone as the swelling in the battery is increasing fast and have now started to affect the back cover which looks bloated now. I have taken the battery off and kept the phone separately stored to avoid any further damage to the handset.

Sad to hear about your ordeal but then I have heard too many bad stories about Samsung's customer service.
Most of the people when arguing between Apple Vs Samsung tend to ignore that excellent after sales service Apple provides. Even if it is a minor issue, they replace the phone, no questions asked. When we talk about Apple ecosystem, it starts right from when you purchase the phone to an unfortunate circumstance, where you have to take it to an authorized service center.

[nishantbhatia84]

Originally Posted by AbhishekB86

Hi Guys,

My mother is looking for a phone which can support whatsapp, email and a decent camera. The catch being she's never used a smart phone or a touch screen before. I am looking for a phone with a qwerty keypad and basically it narrows down to either a Nokia or Samsung.

My mother is technologically challenged when it comes to the kind of phones we use. She just wants to catch up with friends while on the go (since her entire social circle in on whatsapp) and check her email with attachments while at work. Knowing her she's going to keep the touch phone aside and go back to her old phone if she's uncomfortable with the interface.

On the above mentioned requirements I look forward to your suggestions. I don't think she believes in spending more than 10 k for a phone so please do keep that in mind.

Hi Abhishek, there aren't many good options available in querty phone with Android. Nokia is the only option i see for you if you want that.
If you're ok with a touch screen handset then i would recommend the Samsung Galaxy Ace. It's a decent handset, fulfills all your requirements (whatsapp, email, camera) and fits within your budget as well.
I realize your mom is skeptical about touchscreen phones, my 86yr old grandmom also was, but she's now comfortable with this phone as it's really easy to operate and fulfills all her requirements. What worked for me is taking her to the phone shop and letting her fiddle nd get used to the phone before making her decision. You might want to try that!
All the best!