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Smartphones (15-30k): Dell Venue, LG Optimus Black P970, Nokia 701

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PCQ Bureau
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Micromax A85 Superphone

Price: Rs 15,290



Pros: Moderate price, decent touch screen performance



Cons: Older Android (2.2) version, below par gesture control, no flash

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The A85 Superfone has predominantly been termed the Superfone because of its dual core processor. The phone also comes with gesture control which is supposed to register any movement before the front cam and translate it into a response as a substitute for touch-based gestures. The phone is loaded with Android 2.2 Froyo OS. This is a downer as most phones these days work on the 2.3.x Gingerbread version awaiting 4.0 ICS update. The sound on the phone was decent throughout.The secondary front cam is used for gesture recognition. Our experience of the gesture control was not mind-boggling though. It appears to be much more a gimmick rather than an actually usable feature because of its quality. The gestures had to repeat umpteen number of times before the phone actually recorded them to do something worthwhile.The phone is pretty handy and weighs 128 gms which is just about an average weight.

Bottomline: The phone is indeed economical but its features are also mediocre. The dual core processor fares well but the below average gesture control and the older version of Android OS, do not make for a USP.

Price: Rs 20,990

Pros: Touchscreen response, brightness of the display, audio output, comfortable headphones, FM, price



Cons: Battery backup

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LG Optimus Black P970

Unlike other LG Android phones, this smartphone captured our attention right out of the box with its flaunting thin frame and the beautiful 4-inch NOVA display impressed us with its brightness of up to 700 nits which is enough to outshine all its current IPS-LCD and AMOLED competition.

The overall design of the LG Optimus Black is minimalistic with no unnecessary buttons or lights anywhere in view. The curvaceous body of the handset not only reduces the device's slim profile even further, but also adds a nice comfortable grip to it.LG has blessed the handse witr 700 nits, which is the exact threshold for achieving perfect outdoor visibility, allowing the human eye to easily find difference in pictures even in direct sunlight. The connectivity options like Bluetoth, Wi-Fi or GPS system, all responded well.The only pitfall we see here is the battery back up which is a bit of a downer as it is a key factor.

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Bottomline: An excellent smartphone in the category which is not too highly priced keeping the competition in mind. The phone is desirable overall but the battery backup is a bit of a downer.

Dell Venue

Price: Rs 21500



Pros: Touchscreen, HD video playback, battery life

Cons: Camera, ordinary speakers

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Dell Venue rides on Android 2.2 OS with 512 MB RAM and Snapdragon 1GHz processor, rendering itself quick and responsive.Its primary attraction is the enormous 4.1 inch display, which wisely uses the entire front panel, with liquid crystal surface offering good clarity. Beside the display, it boasts of a sturdy build with dedicated external keys on the side panels.

GPS works as good as a GPS only device. Basic functions like call quality is flawless and is available with related tools like Call barring and workability with hearing aids. Music playback, FM and audio playback is a treat, especially video playback, on its amazing liquid crystal display.

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Dell venue boasts of features such as swipe option for typing messages, which makes texting appear just like writing with a pen. Dell Venue's camera is inadequate for an 8mp camera, and features options such as 4x zoom and touch screen focus that allows you to touch on the object you want to focus on. The voice search allows one to search files by saying the name and the contact's number will be dialled automatically. Other important networking options include the likes of Quick Office, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook. Dell Venue has a good battery life and lasted over 2 days.

Bottomline: big 4.1 inch responsive touchscreen and 8 mp camera are some of the features which hold this phone in good stead at the said price.

Nokia 701

Price: Rs 18,999



Pros: NFC, display, camera, fast UI

Cons: None.

Nokia 701 has most of the features of C7 at a much lower price and a much needed software update, Belle.Carved in metal with a compact and solid feel, this elegant looking phone hasan extra-bright 3.5 inch capacitive touch display with gorilla glass.

Moving onto the UI and the classy display, we found six displays that we easily flipped though. Response is quick, with bright and big icons. This is primarily because of the new Symbian Belle OS. With a resolution of 360x640, it is as good under sun-light.

Belle OS comes with new widgets, useful business apps and highly integrated NFC technology. Those using Symbian Anna can update to Bellefor free. In Belle, the number of home screens has increased from 3 to 6,giving instant access to all your apps. Belle is faster than its predecessor with better processor and 512Mb RAM.

701 will be known for its features and value, but what makesit a real deal is the NFC technology, a short-range wireless communication that takes place within a range of 20cms, preventing any unauthorized communication.It scores over various shortcomings of Bluetooth such as high power consumption and security concerns. All you have to do is tap your 701 with another NFC enabled phone and you can instantly share your pics, videos and apps. You can also tap to play multiplayer games or connect with NFC headsets with a tap. But, why should one use NFC when there is bluetooth? That is because, NFC doesn't require pairing to connect with other device and consumes little power, so won't drain your battery like bluetooth.

701 has a fixed focus camera and records 720p HD video at30fps. The quality is good under all lighting conditions. The device is integrated with social media apps, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook.Nokia Maps offers seamless navigation with an integrated lonely planet app. The 3.5 mm also serves as TV-out for watching recorded videos.

Bottomline: Nokia 701 is a great device with better RAM and processor than its predecessor Nokia C7, which also lacked the clear black display.

Nokia 700

Price: Rs 18099

Pros: Great display



Cons: No secondary camera for video calling, Typing uncomfortable in portrait mode

It comes with the Symbian Belle, the latest Symbian version and the device has got the specifications that a smartphone owner of this generation demands.

Weighing just 96 gms, it is a pretty light device with a petite design. The screen with the bordered design and the speaker just beside it, makes the design more attractive.

The Nokia 700 comes with the 1 GHz ARM11 processor, and a 512 MB SDRAM supporting the Symbian Belle operating system, the interface of which is neat and easy-to-use. The operating system supports the multiple formats of music and video, and apart from that it comes with the different applications for photo and video editing. The way Nokia 700 provides various options for playing around with the stuff, we see no much limitations for the multimedia options. We would give an 8 out of 10 for the operating system and the multimedia performance. Talking about the speakers that lie in the bottom, a step below the actual front display, we go back to a couple years back when Sony Ericsson had come with something similar, and Nokia hasn't disappointed us with this kind of speakers. The sound level is not very high, although the speakers size, but the quality is awesome and it is very crisp with a clear sound, scoring 8 out of 10.

The camera in the Nokia 700 is of 5-megapixel lens that comes with an LED flash and it provides a satisfactory quality of imaging, but what we are not impressed with, is the hinderance being a fixed focus which makes the capturing a bit inconvenient. A couple of the best features of the camera include the geo tagging, which automatically saves your location, and the face detection which makes the focusing easier and you don't need to try to focus on the face manually. Battery is not a showstopper, it gives an average performance with a test giving 7 hours of continuous talk time on a continuous charge. We expect more horus of usage from Nokia phones but the processor and Symbian Belle seem to have taken away most of the power. The battery scores 6.5 out of 10. The major selling point of the Nokia 700 is the Near Field Communication, which Nokia tries to flaunt a lot in the advertisements with the name "Just Tap", and it does function in the same way helping in the file transfer after a simple tap with the adjacent Nokia phone.

Bottomline: Ultra-slim design with ultra-fast performance, all wrapped up in stylish metal and glass.

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