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12K-18K: The Over Budget Phones

Frazier Barretto, Dec 22, 2006 1313 hrs IST

This is the third installment of the Mobile Buying Guides. Today, we will continue where we left and push the budget all the way to 18K.

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EXPERT REVIEW

This is the third installment of the Mobile Buying Guides. Today, we will continue where we left and push the budget all the way to 18K. The phones here are not only feature-rich but could also be ones like KRZR, which is an all out style phone. Let's move on with the list of phones we suggest you to look at if you have a similar kind of budget for buying a phone.

The phones mentioned below are all equipped with standard features such as GPRS, Bluetooth, pop-port/USB, and a 256K TFT screen. That said and done there will be no more repetitions of the same further. I would like to bring it to your notice that we won't be listing PDAs in these guides instead a separate guide to PDAs will be done later in 2007.

Nokia

Nokia always seems to have a good list of phones and the same applies to this price range. Here the phones cater to different people with different lifestyles. Nokia is really trying hard to keep up in this market as well with other phone manufacturers making it a difficult choice for the end users.

Nokia 3250 (Rs. 14,500)

The Nokia 3250 is the first music phone from Nokia. The phone, though it looks like the 3230, has a very different design and weighs a lot more at 130 grams. The design is questionable, because any movable part always calls for problems sooner or later. The phone otherwise has a 2 MP camera and comes bundled with 512 MB microSD card. It has 10 MB of internal memory and runs on Symbian OS v9.1. The phone even has EDGE for browsing. Being a music phone, it has an MP3 player and an FM tuner as well. The phone comes bundled with 3.5 mm jack headphones to attach your own choice of headphones. The phone has a short battery life of just about 2 hours of talktime and 2-3 days of standby time.

Nokia 5500 (Rs. 13,000)

The Nokia 5500 is a sports phone. The ads on the TV will surely help you depict the kind of activity one can perform while using the phone at the same time. The rubber body and the dust covers keep the phone in perfect condition in the most rugged situations. The phone comes bundled with a lot of accessories to fit in the sports phone category. The phone features softwares like Sports Tracking (stopwatch, steps calculator, and calories burned.) This phone runs on a very stable Symbian OS v9.1 OS. It has 64 MB of total internal memory out of which 10 MB is for user data and the remaining is allotted to the OS. The phone has a microSD card slot to expand memory, which is placed under the battery cover for protection. The phone is equipped with EGDE connectivity and Bluetooth 2.0, Infra-red, and pop-port USB v2.0 for quick transfers. The phone has a 2 MP camera and is equipped with a flashlight as well. The phone has music capabilities like audio player and FM tuner as well. The battery life of the phone is about average providing about 3 hours of talktime and 2-3 days of standby time.

USER COMMENTS

what are the advantages and disadvantages of N72 model? i need to buy one.

by priya, chennai, on Aug 27, 2008 03:14 PM, Report abuse Reply

i want to buy nokia N72 ON REALLY LIGHT INSTALLMENT BASIS.IAM IN URGENT NEED OF A GOOD PHONE. HOPE YOU WILL NOT DISAPPOINT ME.

by WESLEY CHERIAN , THIRUVALLA,PATTANAMTITTA DISTRICT KERELA, on Jul 02, 2007 11:07 AM, Report abuse Reply

Hi, i wanna to buy a cell but in installment basis.could u pls suggest me is there any procedure.

by Shreekant nayak, Bangalore, on Jun 09, 2007 11:35 AM, Report abuse Reply

Beware of buying the grey market products be it mobile phones or memory cards or any other electronic products. Although the prices in grey market are attractive but the stuff they sell is duplicate. Yes you have read right, all the grey market electronic stuff is duplicate. The product is made in unauthorized smaller factories in China and exported to India without labels. Then our great Indian seller thugs get the phones labelled and boxes made and sell to innocent people like you and me. Since I have come to know of this racket, I will tell to everyone. Also this grey market stuff goes bad after sometime and we blame the company for a bad product which they never made in the first place. All these companies have ruined their business by transferring their manufacturing technology in China. Chinese people have replicated everything. So if you are getting a memory card or mobile very cheap without bill, God can only help you with your duplicate goods purchase.

by Rockman, Rockville, on May 01, 2007 09:30 AM, Report abuse Reply

Hi i want to buy mobiles phone on installment in Bangalore...Can anyone let me know any place??

by Andrew, Bangalore, on Apr 28, 2007 11:00 AM, Report abuse Reply

choclate is a nice looking phone and thats all with it. the camera is not up to mark and I doubt if it is a 1.3mp. The phone can only be used as a second phone. Are LG guys introducing new colors in choclate?

by Gurpreet, Amritsar, on Jan 19, 2007 10:41 AM, Report abuse Reply

nice

by sha, cochi, on Jan 18, 2007 04:30 PM, Report abuse Reply

Good

by govindarao, Hyderabad, on Dec 22, 2006 08:21 PM, Report abuse Reply

Hai Very nice to see all mobile i need a good mobile of FM

by Jisha, thiruvallur, on Jan 18, 2007 11:00 AM, Report abuse

joisjose chakklath (h)

by jois, kerala, on Jan 17, 2007 09:55 AM, Report abuse Reply

I think Nokia N70 ME, SE K790i, Nokia N72 and SE W810i are the best phones in this range

by Arnov Sarkar, New Delhi, on Dec 23, 2006 10:02 AM, Report abuse Reply

se k800i is the best ever since now than all n series its a gr8 buss phone as well is loaded with all features a gr8 formal phoe

by sys rocks, mumbai, on Jan 16, 2007 07:43 PM, Report abuse

Its look like a very sexy....But price is too high. Features good. Its not my budget.

by Sandeep Bhardwa, New Delhi, on Jan 16, 2007 05:11 PM, Report abuse Reply

i like it

by aadambanani, mumbai, on Jan 14, 2007 05:17 PM, Report abuse Reply

nokia e50 is not at all economical and agood phone it would be better for the company to close this model

by akshita, amritsar, on Jan 09, 2007 08:47 PM, Report abuse Reply

nokia 5500 is a better option for those who want a nice phone but in there budget and if anyone wants a nice phone andwants to spend especially for ladies then n series and nokia 3250 are the best option

by akshit, amritsar, on Jan 09, 2007 08:38 PM, Report abuse Reply

price of nokia n70-14,500 & soneyericsson w810i-15,000

by raj, patna, on Jan 05, 2007 03:14 PM, Report abuse Reply

Nokia E50 is the worst phone I ever had! It hangs on receiving some calls and the speaker phone becomes activated by itself and one has to take outthe battery and reinsert it to put it back to normal. Nokia, We did not expect this.

by Gurpreet Singh , Amritsar, on Jan 02, 2007 11:44 AM, Report abuse Reply

w810i rocks, especially the headfon works damn good.... chk it out for urself!!!!!!!

by eben, tura, on Dec 31, 2006 03:19 PM, Report abuse Reply

good

by robin, nasik, on Dec 31, 2006 02:28 PM, Report abuse Reply

Regarding Nokia E50, sometimes the phone on its own receives the incoming call and at the same time switches to speakerphone. After this the call can be completed on speakerphone but all other keys of the phone become unresponsive and it freezes in its state (even the display light continues to remain on). The only way of restoring the phone is to remove the battery. The caller ID of the last call (that was received on its own by the phone) is not recorded. The whole experience is very embarrassing.

by J Singh, Chandigarh, on Dec 26, 2006 01:13 AM, Report abuse Reply

YES, I HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE TWICE ON MY NEW E50...IT WAS SCARY !! ALSO, DOES ANYONE HAVE THE BLACK EDGED ONE ? I COULD ONLY FIND THE WHITE EDGED ONE IN THE MARKET.

by RMANAKTALA, NEW DELHI, on Dec 29, 2006 05:14 PM, Report abuse

Where is the Moto Ming ?? Its available for 17K and a great smartphone.

by Tanmay, Mumbai, on Dec 23, 2006 08:32 PM, Report abuse Reply

it seems u dont read the reviews properly!!..they have mentioned in the beginnng itself dat pda cells will be reviwed later on.

by Sid, Thane, on Dec 28, 2006 08:53 PM, Report abuse

these phones are pricey

by yogin, kolkata, on Dec 28, 2006 06:08 PM, Report abuse Reply

IMATE MODELS NOT SEEN AT ALL... ADD THEM TO YOUR LIST AS WELL.

by MOHAMMADI, VADODARA, on Dec 28, 2006 03:56 PM, Report abuse Reply

hi i wanted to know whether the N-series phones tend to become slow if a memory card of 512MB or more is put?

by Karan, New Delhi, on Dec 28, 2006 10:45 AM, Report abuse Reply

Hey, I didnt see the prices !!!

by aee, Trivandrum, on Dec 22, 2006 05:44 PM, Report abuse Reply

what about the K790i. It has a 3.2MP camera and cost just under 18K.

by S. Arun Kumar, Chennai, on Dec 22, 2006 09:19 PM, Report abuse

how about the 850 i . *orgasimns* http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&template=pp1_1_1&zone=pp&lm=pp1&pid=10447

by Anonymous, hyd, on Dec 27, 2006 05:10 AM, Report abuse

Best of all phone is W810i.....

by MobileExpert, MobileDuniya, on Dec 26, 2006 05:31 PM, Report abuse Reply

hey can u guys tell me may i buy nokia 5300 and whats is its costs and some good and bad things abt it

by jyoti, jalandhar, on Dec 24, 2006 01:37 PM, Report abuse Reply

Guys i think its a time to do review on different enhancements and accessories for cell phones,wat do u think?

by Bibby, changanassery,kerala, on Dec 23, 2006 11:55 PM, Report abuse Reply

Nokia 3250 could be my favourite for its multifunction system.Does combination with GPS possible for supersatisfaction ?

by Sailendra R.San, Tura, Meghalaya India, on Dec 23, 2006 09:00 PM, Report abuse Reply

can we have a frist installment of the "motherboard guides "?? its been WAYY too long since you did an article on this.... the AM64 is out... so is the core 2 duo... or are you wating for the quad cores to turn up ??

by v0rt3x, kolkata, on Dec 22, 2006 09:27 PM, Report abuse Reply

yup we want a mobo review and a cpu review but ne ways good work bout the cellphone review

by chintan, mumbai, on Dec 22, 2006 10:12 PM, Report abuse

naaaaaaaaa dont wait for TT for reviews on motherboards and processors. nowadays they are more keen on adds and other stuff.anyways even if there is a review they would miss out many a thing about it.and they wont be posting about where and how u can get it and they will be pricing with their own methods.

by shaan, chennai, on Dec 23, 2006 08:58 PM, Report abuse

you should have added more walkman phones to your list and ya one thing, please guys, dont buy a new phone just coz you have to without knowing any of the features. I have seen guys with with walkman phones who listen to music thru the file manager!!!

by Remus Lupin, delhi, on Dec 23, 2006 07:39 PM, Report abuse Reply

I suggest to embed the hyperlink of the phoneon their parent company

by Munish, Delhi, on Dec 23, 2006 01:20 PM, Report abuse Reply

which feater is compare to Nokia 'N' series.

by Ashish Chokshi, Mumbai, on Dec 23, 2006 12:37 PM, Report abuse Reply

Nokia 5500 (Rs. 13,000) I think it is highly expensive than comper to other mobile.

by Amit Chokshi, Mumbai, on Dec 23, 2006 12:13 PM, Report abuse Reply

Good coverage of phones. Well Done Techtree!! As someone else has said, now can we see Motherboard guides / reviews.

by Ravinder, Hyderabad, on Dec 23, 2006 12:00 PM, Report abuse Reply

What happened to moto Ming (A1200)???? its 17K only

by aloy_raj, Chennai, on Dec 23, 2006 11:16 AM, Report abuse Reply

I am surprised that the k790 doesn't feature here! And yes, we do need a mobo guide...Anybody at Techtree listening?!!

by Ameya Sohoni, Mumbai, on Dec 23, 2006 09:15 AM, Report abuse Reply

very bad ..not much phones featured here ..looks like its just been done for the heck of it ...there are more phones in ur neighbourhood petty shops ...

by hmm.., chennai, on Dec 22, 2006 07:23 PM, Report abuse Reply

Name a few better ones plz else STFU

by Rahul, Mumbai, on Dec 23, 2006 12:16 AM, Report abuse

Good comparision, But I wished you people had given a final verdict about phones, as buying of mobiles depends on the ranking of many good websites, I purchased Moto L& based on rankings from you and Digit Magazine.

by Vinit Bhatt, Surat, on Dec 22, 2006 10:18 PM, Report abuse Reply