Plannning to buy a cheap Android phone? Think again

Android Smartphone, with Quad Core Processor, 1GB RAM, Android 4.2, HD/FHD screen for Rs... only!

Sounds familiar? Well this is how the tag line of more or less every newly released smartphone in India goes. And with prices often hovering in the 8-12000INR it often seems to be a tempting bargain to jump right in and get that smartphone you are looking for from a small or unknown phone company.

Well that is mistake number one! and one of the biggest one you will be making. 

"But all those reviews in the internet said this product was 4-5 star and a must buy!" you would ask.

Well for starters all those "experts" are paid to do what they do best. Its nothing unethical too, for example if a reviewer finds the battery life is bad he would say "Battery life was not upto our expecations but the overall package is simply wonderful...." so you see they do warn you, only subtly so. That is one way you ensure you don't find yourself on the wrong side with the phone company and ensure the ad revenues keep running the show.

One of the long standing readers of GizChai Yash Khatri learned this bitter lesson the hard way. Like any one of you reading this post right now he is a tech junkie and researched high and low before buying a new smartphone, only to find himself cheated not once but twice! Read on to learn why you need to do a due diligence on your own before spending your hard earned money that new smartphone.

(Note:All views expressed below are of the author and does not reflect views of GizChai.com)

Mohit

GizChai

Zen ultraphone 701

The phone is a really good proposition if one is the lucky one among the few people who really have got good and undamaged phones. After all the research I did I decided to buy this phone as most reviewers had given it a great review and getting a 12k phone with HD screen, 1GB RAM and Android 4.2 was too good to be true!

Unfortunately the phone I bought had a lot of quality control issues in my usage the phone developed green lines on the  top and bottom of screen within 8 hours. 

I also had a problem getting GPS lock but once it locked on it was good. The quality of free flip cover provided was really bad and overall the phone was kind of slippery to hold.

On the brighter side the phone has a really nice sound output from the speakers also the plastics used are of nice quality and  mostly matte. The android is also good and stock. Camera was awesome the design was good. However within a few days of usage I realised that the battery life was nowhere near what was expected and had to recharge the phone multiple times a day!! Finally I went to the shop and exchanged it for a Videocon A55 HD. Only to realise I had made a bigger mistake. 

Videocon A55 HD

One of the worst phones I have ever used and take my word for it I have used almost all brands non brands and even the china made phones I am well aware of the quality of the phone I have

This phone has a lot and lot of android bugs and software glitches the capacitive buttons light up some times and the rest of the times you have to try and try to get them to life also the sensitivity of the buttons is worst.

One of the bugs for example is you cannot get the phone synced with Google contacts  however hard you try it just won’t sync it will sync Gmail, Whatsapp, Facebook and a lot more but not Google.

There is a tint on screen kind of like a thin layer of pinkish colour ever present on the screen making it irritating to view. The camera part is one of the worst again -8MP images looks like they are taken from a 3MPplis the Camera flash is useless, no panorama available, auto focus takes a whole lot of time.

Again the A55HD was Battery eater the battery got over in less than 8 hours of normal usage on 2G and a bit of gaming and calling. 

Simple games like subway surfer and temple run had problem running smoothly whenever I swiped  up the game/touch sensed it as down and you lose in the game.The quality of plastic was really  poor and very thin of a bad quality also it was glossy so it was a finger print magnet. Sound output in speaker or in ear piece was bad I was hardly able to hear what the person was saying 

Very bad GPS was unable to get a lock for like 5 minutes 

Front camera always had a mirror image whenever clicked also quality was bad and didn't seem to be 3.2MP as claimed.

The last straw came in terms of the screen which is very fragile and it broke in 2 days! As it was a OGS they asked me Rs.7000 to replace it which was almost half the price of the mobile! Had to get into a big fight with the shopkeeper and Customer Care for nearly one hour to convince them that it was not a Smartphone but a piece of junk they had sold me. Fortunately I got a refund and happy that the nightmare had finally ended.

Guys before you buy a smartphone please don't go by the hype and online reviews, unless you use it you never will know what the phone will bring you.

Guest Post by: Yash Khatri