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Smart, But Not Pricey [Money Today (India)](Money Today (India) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) In this age of mobile connectivity, everyone - from corporate executives to students - wants a smartphone. Till now, there weren't many on offer in the mid-range price segment that came with reasonable features. Those available for under Rs 15,000 usually sported a resistive touchscreen (so hard to adjust to) with a small display, mediocre camera, cramped keyboards, outdated operating systems and below par processors. But with phones at the higher end pushing specs and pricing, the lower price segments have started packing in some power as well as decent specs.DISPLAY The painful 2.8-inch resistive displays that required the use of a stylus, with their minimal real estate, have been replaced by capacitive touch displays of 3.5 inches and above. The improved display responds to finger touch and offers more screen space and has considerably enhanced overall user experience.PROCESSORS Until now, most Android smartphones had processors clocking 600MHz or 800MHz, which found it difficult to handle multitasking or heavy graphical applications. Now, 1GHz processors have become the norm, with some manufacturers even adding dual-core processors. For instance, the Micromax A90 has a dual-core processor, despite the price tag of just Rs 9,999. But this is an Android phenomenon and devices on other operating systems have not been so magnanimous. The Nokia Lumia devices running Windows Phone 7.5 have 800 MHz processors, but the operationg system has been designed to handle most tasks without any lag.OPERATING SYSTEM Android phones in India don't always run the latest version. While high-end ones got upgrades, it was a whole different story with mid-segment phones. Now with consumers more aware, manufacturers have started loading devices with relatively new OS versions.OTHERS Smartphones have also evolved with manufacturers looking to use better material and improve build quality. Even a 5MP camera is now becoming a default feature, while others are packing better batteries to last at least 24 hours.Nokia Lumia 610 (Price: Rs 12,380) 3.7-inch capacitive display; Windows Phone 7.5; 800MHz processor; 256B RAM; 8GB internal storage; 5MP camera; Wi-Fi; 3G;GPS; 131.5 gm; 1300 mAh battery.Micromax A90S (Price: Rs 12,699)4.3-inch display; Android 4.0; 1GHz processor; 512MB RAM; 4GB memory, expandable to 32GB; 8MP camera; Dual SIM; 3G,Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS; 1600 mAh battery.LG Optimus L7 (Price: Rs 15,000)4.3-inch display; Android v4.0; 1GHz processor; 512MB RAM; 4GB internal storage, expandable to 32 GB; 5MP camera; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS; 122 gm; 1700 mAh battery.BlackBerry Curve 9320 (Price: Rs 15,000)2.44-inch display with QWERTY keypad; BlackBerry OS 7.1; 512MB RAM; 512MB ROM; expandable up to 32GB; 3.15MP camera; Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth; GPS; 103 gm; 1450 mAh battery.Nokia Lumia 710 (Price: Rs 14,990)3.7-inch capacitive display; Windows Phone 7.5; 1.4GHz processor; 512MB RAM; 8GB internal storage; 5MP camera; Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G; 125.5 gm; 1300 mAh. Reproduced From Money Today. (c) 2013 India Today Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] |