Best Under-10K-Phones

To date, Rs 10,000 is like the budget most people look to spend when buying a phone. That budget is what I’m going to target today with what follows. The 10K budget sees everything from one rupee to ten thousand, so here are options all along the range. This will indicate what we think is the best, or at least give you an idea of a handset to compare your choice to. So, starting off with Rs 2,000 to spend, we have….

Sony Ericsson J120i

Keeping it really simple

The J120i costs around Rs 1,700, and comes with a one-year warranty. It offers exactly what you’d want in a phone if you’re spending that much — simple as that. It’s small, it weighs just 75 grams, and it has a basic color screen and polyphonic ringtones. I’d say it’s a good option even for a second phone. The phonebook holds 200 entries, and you get Wallpapers and Themes. Throw in an FM tuner, and consider the exceptional specified talktime of 9 hours — and you have a pretty good option.

Motorola W220/W375

Style that doesn’t hurt the pocket

The W220 has already gained quite some market share. The flip form factor and icon-based external screen mean it’s one of the more stylish handsets. It’s selling a lot in this bracket, but you have its big brother, the W375; the price difference is just 500 bucks. For that much more, you get a larger screen, 1.5 MB of memory for ringtones and themes and all, and most importantly, a VGA camera. The W220 would only be for those who can’t walk into office with a camera phone, else at just Rs 3,000, it’s time the W375 took over.

Samsung E250

Feature-packed; rather, stuffed — for 4.5K

Hitting the middle of the price-band we’re talking about, this is a brilliant handset. Sure it’s a low-end one, but it’s one of the most feature-loaded at this price. There’s a VGA camera, a microSD card slot along with 10 MB of shared phone memory, an FM tuner, and a music player. The phone is not only GPRS-capable, it also has EDGE and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support. (No other phone in its category provides Bluetooth with A2DP support, so those who fancy a Bluetooth headset might want to really look at this one.) A 1,000-entry phonebook and 5 hours of talktime is more than decent; the sliding form factor and light weight lend some style. All this at Rs 4,500 has meant good sales for the E250.

Sony Ericsson W300i

Think Walkman, think music

Not the cheapest Walkman phone from SE, the W300i is just next in line after the W200. The price difference is around Rs 1,000, but it’s completely worth it. It’s a pretty good buy at Rs 5,700: consider this. The 256 MB memory card means you can carry out quite a few songs. It has a VGA camera interpolated to 1.3MP, so you can capture images at 1.3MP resolution (but with VGA quality). It weighs less than 100 grams, and it has Bluetooth, GPRS, and EDGE. Specified talktime is 9 hours. Last but not least, there’s FM radio.

Nokia 6300

Not lacking in the style department, this

This Nokia is available for around Rs 7,000. While looking for phones at the 7K mark, I found the stylish Motorola RAZR and the LG Chocolate. These are stylish even now; take your pick from those, or opt for Nokia’s 6300 like I did. The RAZR has an outdated UI and the Choco handset doesn’t have a memory card slot. The 6300 looks good, has a Series 40 Symbian UI which is simple to use, has a memory card slot, and comes with a 128 MB microSD. A 2MP camera, FM tuner, GPRS, EDGE, and a 1,000-entry phonebook make it really feature-rich. The poor battery life — just 3 hours of talktime — doesn’t go too well with the phone, but it will sure last you a day and a half.

Sony Ericsson W610

Music.. Camera… SE W610

If you’re looking for a music solution for under 10K, the obvious choice sometime ago was the SE W810i. That handset is now outdated — so much so that we have a year-old replacement model, the W610. It has Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, and the Walkman v2.0 player, which gives it the edge over the former. The only problem I see with the W610 is that its auto-focus camera is poor compared to that on the W810, and the keypad is poor. On the other hand, the sound quality is good, and the battery life a notch better. The package remains the same: speakers, and a 512 MB M2 card bundled. I’d say the W610 is the best music phone you can get for under 10K; it’s available for around Rs 8,700.

Sony Ericsson K790i

The Cybershot K790i clix well

Now if a camera phone under 10K is what you’re looking for, you’re in luck. The price of the K790i has fallen a lot — it’s yours for Rs 9,600. This Cybershot branded phone has the best camera in the class of 3.15MP camera phones. The Xenon flash does wonders to capture images well in low lighting as well as in a pitch-dark environment. The phone has a decent music player and an FM tuner as well. Music can be enjoyed on a wireless stereo headset as well, courtesy the Bluetooth module that supports A2DP. The phone now comes bundled with a 1 GB card, which is enough to carry music as well as capture images. I’d say it’s the best camera-phone under 10K.

A Parting Word
I’m confident all the options above are worth the money they demand. Choices differ, depending on what form factor you like, or whether you want a better camera or no camera at all, or more functionality, so you might not think all these options are great choices. But whatever you plan to buy, buy it sooner than later: it doesn’t seem like the upcoming budget will be is much in favor of bringing down handset prices. See you next week with another phone-buying guide.