Geeks,

Please HELP me with a cell around 8-10K +/- for my aunt.She is not much of a gadget freak. Touch screen is not preferable....but can do with it if no better models are available..And only choice of make should either be a NOKIA or SAMSUNG

Buying a mobile phone can still prove quiet challenging in Mumbai. Its either they don't have it in stock. They only have packed one and not one for testing. Only have for testing but does not have one for sale. Or only for display .

I went through 5 big shopping malls including 2 cromas ranging from Bandra to Thane. I still couldn't get the one I want Super-power indeed .

Anyway. The point is, I wanted a new phone for my wife. A phone that is
1. easy to use
2. 3g
3. Built quality
4. decent music capability
5. decent camera
6. hope that connectivity/clarity during talking on phone is good when all above criteria are satisfied .
7. Not forgetting reasonably priced.

In that order. I have narrowed down to two phones
HTC Wildfire & Samsung wave.
According to several reviews I read. Samsung wave outperforms HTC wildfire in almost all areas. The only issue I found with Wave is the platform which is based on samsung's own Bada. I would much rather have a phone running on Android as in wildfire.

I know the wildfire has only half the processing power of the wave's 1 ghz. But considering, my wife is not tech savvy and heavy user. I wanted to first try out both phones to see if there in any significance difference between the two. Like in navigating menus, speed, smoothness/responsiveness. dialing, sms-ing etc. But I could not get my hand on a wildfire despite searching in so many shops. And I had to get it fast as her birthday approaches. So with half hearted I settled for the wave. It was the only choice. Besides the wave's built quality is excellent.

The super-amoled screen is nothing like I've ever seen before. Its brilliant. The multi touch screen works without a hitch. Its extremely responsive. Even my wife who is using touch screen for the first time finds it so easy, right down to texting. Though she did admit she gets dizzy when everything scrolls so fast . She has yet to get used to it.

I have very little respect for phone cameras as I use DSLR for taking pictures. But I must say the wave's 5mp camera does take pretty decent pictures. 'More than good' enough for web-application. Now she can update her face book album without my help . Yeah, the HD video recording capability is a bonus which was not in our priority list. But we're not complaining.

The phones external music speakers just makes squeaky noise as far as I'm concern. Just like any other mobile phones. But plug in the ear phones and its totally different. Sound is fantastic and equally important, navigating through songs is dummy proof. Its very easy.

While talking, the voice clarity and tone is very good. And even the other party can hear you clearly. This was tested while talking to my wife on my phone. And the proximity detection is greatly welcomed. For those who does not know. The proximity detection locks the screen when the phone is put in your ears so that your face will not accidentally activate some application while talking.

Texting is a breeze. The 3.3 inch screen makes sure there is decent space to lay down big buttons/keys. Tilt the phone on landscape and you can't missed the keys. Though the predictive text feature is down right annoying and is better turned off.

Other features has yet to be tested as it comes with almost everything the latest hi-end phones comes. This will come later as the primary requirement has more than been satisfied. Anyone can simply goggle them to read the features.

Was a little apprehensive with 'bada' initially. But considering the latest bada does borrow ideas from the android. It should be a welcome change from previous samsung platform. Anyway, for my wife, or for that matter, the average user who will never download and install additional application will not make a difference. We're very happy with the wave.