For Android enthusiasts, it's difficult to choose a right handset out of numerous options. Although, reading through reviews can help you make a decision, not every buyer is willing to go through heaps of articles to buy one device. We, therefore, have created a buyers guide specifically for the Android platform.
Since performance and pricing are the most important aspects that most customers consider, we've provided two choices for each of the price category.
Low-End (Under Rs 10,000)
Samsung GALAXY Y (Value For Money)Street Price: Rs 7200 (BuyThePrice.com); Rs 7500 (IndiaPlaza.com)
With many domestic brands testing waters in this segment, there are plenty of handsets below the Rs 10,000 mark. Sadly, most of these either have poor build quality or a laggy interface. However, the GALAXY Y does a good job of handling Android 2.3 with its 830 MHz CPU. Apart from that, the handset packs in a 3" capacitive touchscreen, a 2 MP camera, and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Motorola FIRE XT 530 (Performance)Street Price: Rs 8900 (BuyThePrice.com; Flipkart.com)
I'm not a fan of Motorola's custom UI. However, this phone wins my recommendation, thanks to its 3.5" touchscreen and 800 MHz CPU. This combination offers a good multimedia performance, which is hard to get at this price point. Additionally, it features a 5 MP main and front VGA camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a microSD card slot.
Mid-Range (Under Rs 20,000)
HTC One V (Value For Money)Street Price: Rs 17,000 (IndiaPlaza.com) Rs 18,500 (Saholic.com)
Google announced the Android 4.0 last year. However, ICS-based phones were still nowhere to be found in India, except for half-baked custom ROMs that came with a flurry of connectivity woes. Thankfully, HTC's One V brought the ICS OS to the table, at an affordable price. The handset's 1 GHz CPU handles the latest version of Android quite smoothly. It comes with a crisp 3.7" screen with pixel dimensions of 800x480. Overall, priced just over 18 grand, this handset is great deal for Android enthusiasts.
Sony Xperia Sola (Performance)Street Price: 19,500 (Flipkart.com; Saholic.com)
This Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) device features all the bells and whistles expected from this category. What's more, it is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core CPU, which lets you enjoy most games from the Google Play Store. Its 3.7"screen has pixel dimensions of 480x854. Apart from that, it includes a 5 MP auto-focus camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 32 GB microSD card slot. Needless to say, Sony wins a few brownie points for the handset's bold design.
High-End Phones (Above Rs 20,000)
Samsung Galaxy S III (Performance)Street Price: Rs 38,900 (BuyThePrice.com)
Samsung latest flagship managed to live up to the hype, in terms of its performance. Like its predecessor, the GALAXY S III managed to shatter competition. It's quad-core Exynos 4212 chipset can handle every Android game with ease. It terms of UI, it brings some nifty software tweaks to the table. Additionally, it's Super AMOLED screen with pixel dimensions of 720x1280, feature-packed 8 MP camera, 16 GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot justifies its price tag.
HTC Sensation (Value For Money)Street Price: Rs 22,300 (Saholic.com); Rs 23,500 (Flipkart.com)
It was one of the most desired phones last year. Thanks to recent price cuts, it's now available for just over 20k. For this price, Sensation's dual-core 1.2 GHz CPU coupled with an Adreno 220 GPU offers great user experience. Other features include 768 MB of RAM, an 8 MP rear and VGA front camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, a 3.5 mm jack, and a microSD slot.
