What Mobile ?

A complete noob in mobiles (I still love my dead Nokia 1108 Had short flings with a motorazr and motorokr but again bought a 1200 !!)

Now, because of a new job where i won't be having access to the net i will need to upgrade to a new phone.

Requirements
1. Doc/pdf/xls viewing capability atleast.
2. Push email (like in bb) - Would like to configure a few accounts.
3. a big screen (accessing fb on mobile seems like a pain on those small screens)
4. IM capability (which corresponds to an easy to type interface)
5. Battery life.

Would like to have:
1. GPS capability -- But i wonder whether it can be a substitute for a navigator.

Things that don't matter
1. Quality of music player.
2. Quality of Cam.

I am not particularly for or against touch phones and have zilch idea about pros and cons of an android over a symbian. Nor do i see myself downloading too many apps etc.

Budget: Upto 15k. Might stretch if its worth it.

I was suggested the Nokia E5. Do let me know any other phone which fits the bill. No motorola though (have suffered because of two of their phones :P)

A Seperate Query::
Currently, i can source a phone from the US. However, no idea how to get it from there and how the whole jailbreak/unlock thing works. As far as i know, US phones are contract bound, so can one just bring here without any issues?

Samsung wave is a great phone,especially the super amoled display which is best in business.and good hd video capture . At 17k its a great buy too. But yes its not available everywhere(not discontinued, i checked with a local dealer here and he said they will get new stocks on 11 dec) and wave2 is simply not worth the price.
i would choose n8 over wave any day. 12MP cam, usb on the go,hdmi,scratch proof body and screen,16gb storage,and a proper os. ( if u are going to buy n8 wait for a month, or buy only if its manufactured in december coz theres been issues with n8 powering, ( google 'n8 crash,or n8 dead'). and n8s amoled is not that bad BTW. AT 22k its the best camera phone till date.

after reading that n8 dead issue when it came out i restarted my phone upteen number of times and thank God i dont have any issues (touchwood)

U are lucky, not all phones are defective ,but nokia acknowledged the fact That atleast some of em are defective only by nov 18, so its better to wait till new batch reaches stores (hopefully with no problems). and waiting drives me crazy !.

Try LG optimus1(p500) ,price 12.5k. Android 2.2(latest android version) 3.2 inch hvga capacitive touch screen(read multi touch,pinch to zoom ) 3mp cam, 1500mah battery, also check out galaxy3, lg gt 540. Both are androids.androids application base is huge compared to symbian,and symbian is an out dated os(comaring with android) but E5 is a nice phone too if ur ok with the os

Please don't suggest Windows Mobile OS to a user who wants more out of his devices...
No possible updates can correct the Winmobile problems like no multitasking, no copy paste, not a decent gallery, etc.etc...
WinMob can only be suggested to a new mobiles user, or the one who has less demands, not an old and experienced user..

Try these 2 sets:->

Nokia C7 - Full phone specifications

Nokia C6-01 - Full phone specifications

If you get the E5 you get a built in document reader already. It fits your bill finely.

Symbian is a great platform. Android is more on the rise due to a fantastic apps store and google aid to ensure enough free apps.
For example, The Documents/ Presentation editor on Symbian costs something, but its free on the Android.

So, if you don't download much apps, Symbian is ideal for you, as its a mature OS with good usability... Android is a comparatively a new OS.

If you STILL want an android, you can get Samsung Epic 4G or a Galaxy 551.

About GPS being a substitute, I can say that it can be a substitute if you get a good external Bluetooth GPS Receiver and use it. Internal GPS's are somewhat slow at getting a lock on & they can't perform around buildings and city level obstructions...
Although, my N8 has real quick lock-ons & strength, so it substitutes a navigator to the extent of my basic needs... Maybe Companies are giving better GPS's hardware now than before?


If you get a US Phone, pre-ensure where you'll unlock it. Plus you won't get warranty for the phone here... There are unlockers online and in US too, and they charge a certain fee... Once unlocked you can use any network on it.

HTC's

Wildfire - around 13K - Value for money
Desire - 26K - U get everything.

@above.. +1. Also, Win Mob 7 does not have support for SD cards as of now and less compatible apps than even Bada.

@Anyone looking for a SuperAMOLED, Samsung Galaxy S i9000 is your one and only option. But the Nokia Clearblack AMOLED (on the C6-01 and C7) is not very far behind.. in fact almost as good as SAMOLED. Read Mobile phone display mega shootout: The full picture - GSMArena.com for more details.

@ everyone looking for Samsung Wave S8500 and cannot find any... the above 2 mentioned by Samarth are the new S8500s At least till the January launch of Wave II S8530.

@All looking for budget androids(< 15k), Do not give the LG Optimus One P500 a miss. It may be specced and priced similar to the Galaxy 3 (At approx. Rs.12k) but it has 5 basic advantages over Galaxy 3. A slightly higher 320x480 resolution (vs 240x400 gor Galaxy 3), Android version 2.2 (Vs 2.1 for Galaxy 3), 512 MB RAM (vs 256MB for Galaxy 3), HSDPA 7.2 (vs 3.6 for Galaxy 3) And preinstalled MapMyIndia voice guided GPS Navigation software worth all India maps which costs Rs. 1990 to buy and is arguably the best GPS Navigation software you can find for India.

As for Samsung Galaxy 3, the only advantage is the 667Mhz processor (vs 600 MHz for P500) which is not necessarily a good thing w.r.t. battery backup.

Anyways both can play standard definition Divx/Xvid and other formats very well, both have preinstalled document editors and decent audio playback so now, the recommended budget Android in my books is the LG Optimus One P500

@Mik, Try the LG Optimus One P500 or Ping me if you want an Epic 4G (Will work only on Tata and Reliance CDMA as Epic 4G was never made for GSM). Also, it wont cost you <15k.

@111diablo111 Samarth's recommendations are working for you.

C7, and c 6 01 ? if Ur main priority is camera i wont recommend this phones , (c7/c6 01 fixed focus as opposed to n8/waves auto focus ,when it comes to picture taking auto focus really counts.google to know the differance)
Windows phone7 os does have a lot of drawbacks, but for a brand new os (ver 1.0, (remember ios and anroids early versions?) it is simply great.(ms already released an update enabling copy-paste, and more such updates are on their way ,check engadget for more info) BTW.windows phones hardwares specs and UI are awesome. But have to wait and see if its going to be any serious threat to android.

galaxy s is one of the best android phones in the country. 4inch super amoled display is awesome. but be carefull,if it managed to kiss the ground and its goodbye for 4inch awesomeness .
And wave2 its going to cost 21+k when its launched in india, with similar specs to original wave, just a 3.7 inch screen alone is not worth the extra buck it commands(and that too, just a Lcd)
@antz.bin ,Lg optimus one have map my india app preloded in it? Thats new.thanks for the info

@All: Any idea when the E7 is going to be released in India? I've prebooked&waiting impatiently...

@Samarth 619: Any news on this?

1) When would be Nokia C2 (dual Sim) available in the market. As I know it has already been launched along with C1 but its not available in the market. Dealers say it would be available this month (December). Moreover, as I understand it is not a dual-sim gimmick like the C1 and dual sims simultaneously work on it.

2) Do we have any chances of Galaxy S with a manual qwerty something like the Samsung available in US( I guess its the epic or something but thats CDMA)?

Source the Google Nexus S from US. You'll get a legally unlocked phone for $529 ~ 24K Rs. It has everything you want with 4 inch super AMOLED (yes this phone is manufactured by samsung) and the latest Android 2.3 Ginger bread.

Google Nexus S goes official

the Nexus S has only been announced. Wouldn't it take a while before it is released ?

^^^It will be on stores frm dec16(us).