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Man with the Android!!

It sounds little phony, but it is!! Yes, I have a got a Android phone couple of weeks back after a nerve-wrecking decision making process!! There are two aspects to this Android phone which I would like to tell, one is the process of identifying the phone itself and second is the post-purchase experience of using a Android.

Before I move any further, I just want to make it very clear. I am not a gadget freak and can be considered a novice in these areas. You can understand better when I say that used my old phone's USB cable first time in 4 years to transfer the phonebook to the new phone.

When I decided to change my good old Sony Ericsson W810i after 4 years of use, the hottest thing on the phone circuit was the touch phone. Coupled with the pressure from the Junior, I didn't have a choice of buying different phone. He wanted a touchphone and probably that started the discussion on changing the phone.

Once it was decided that its going to be touch-phone, Android, seems to be the logical choice. I limited my budget to Rs10K knowing my usage habits and who is going to use it more. So I started shortlisting Android phones in that range, which resulted in Samsung Galaxy 5 and Micromax Andro as the top contenders. Doubts were also raised about the Android apps, so I started looking at alternate platforms like Symbian, Bada etc., Iphone was never in contention because of the huge price tag of Rs30K. No doubt why Apple is sitting on USD59.3 billion cash!!

It was a nerve wrecking 3 weeks period where I spent most of my time looking at the options available in the market. Somewhere down the line, the gut feeling was telling me to go for a time tested Symbian Qwerty phone from the Nokia stable instead of a touch phone. So it was a competition between my gut feeling and what I read and heard about the usefulness of Android phones. Finally, I over-ruled my gut feeling and bought a Samsung Galaxy 5 phone! It was definitely a moment of great relief if not ecstasy!

Its been two weeks since I started using the touch screen phone, I have to admit that it is very addictive. The build quality of Samsung Galaxy 5 is very good for the price point and I enjoy the silky smooth touch screen experience. I use the phone on a 2G network and even then the internet speed is good. The sound clarity is good while on the calls as well as when you play the music.

What annoys me the most is the battery drain. I charge the phone for 4 hours on the trot and I use it for 1 hour of browsing, half the battery is gone. I tried reducing the brightness of the screen to the barest minimum, downloaded the Android apps killer and didn't use the music at all. Even then a fully charged battery cant sustain you beyond 8 hours or so. This is ridiculous and I getting fed up with this phone already. If anybody has any idea how to extend the battery life, please mail me or drop me a comment.

Secondly, the data usage on the internet browsing seems to be way too high. This is not related to the phone per se, but I guess this is something to do with the Android OS. I have run a bill of Rs1200 on internet usage just for facebook /twitter updates and checking emails. I have hardly browsed other sites on the net like youtube or something, but still the data usage seems to be very high. It may be related to the service provider as well, but need to check that next month.

Overall, the phone is good if you have an appetite for charging it frequently, which I find totally annoying. In a country like India where during summers you go without electricity for 4 hours or so, this is not an ideal phone at all. Also when you travel, you need to remember to carry your charger even if you don't carry your undergarments!! If these Android phone manufacturers find a way out of this battery problem, I think Android would rule. Else, people would slowly revert back to time tested T9 keypad phones is my guess!

4 comments:

Sudhar said...

Don't worry, you won't miss iPhone, bcoz Samsung G is almost copy of iPhone.

iPhone also has this battery draining problem. Here i am using 3G service (for browsing etc), thats the reason for the battery draining, they are saying.

U r right, whether u carry undergarments or not, have to carry the charger.

Why all companies not coming with standard chargers. This may solve lot of this problem.

Venkysdiary said...

@ Sudhar: I was told that if I switch off the internet connectivity when not in use, it helps to save the battery. I tried that and the battery life is better now. But I am using my phone on the 2G network and not on 3G. In 3G, I guess it would be even more bad.

Anand said...

Switching off bluetouth and wi-fi could save battery usage. All phones with big display screens drain the battery a lot. No quick fix for it unless the technology behind changes.

Venkysdiary said...

@Anand: first of all sorry for replying so late to your comment.. yeah, switching off bluetooth and wifi really helps.. thanks!!