Guide on choosing an Android phone in Malaysia

There is a lot of Android phone in the market, every manufacturer have their on specialty, pros and cons. To name a few HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG and so on. How to choose an android phone suitable for your needs? or how to choose an affordable android phone within your budget?

So here I’m putting together a general guide for people to choose an Android phone because there are so many choices to choose from. This guide will likely be more focused on Malaysia market.

This is not going to be completely comprehensive, but it will be intended to be a good starting point for those who are considering for buying an Android phone.

What to look for when buying a new Android phone?

Write down all of the features you want. Then take a look at the phones available and the carriers. Remember that specs are not everything higher megapixel does not mean better camera and clockspeed does not mean faster processing.

When choosing a phone, remember that each manufacturer will have their flaws.

1. HTC

Expensive phones when buying unlocked), poor battery life, and poor cameras. On the plus side, HTC has the best upgrade record of the Android makers, generally good build quality, and easy to mod, although not always prompt at releasing source code. They use mainly Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs with Adreno graphics. They are known for their distinct “HTC Sense UI”.

2. Samsung

Samsung phones have worse build quality than HTC they seem to be very fond of soft-touch glossy plastic that makes their phones, even their flagships feel cheap and they have a bad reputation for their slow updates.

Samsung generally will have some of the best displays that is their speciality, although their SuperAMOLED is over saturated, good specs overall they are a massively integrated company and make most of the parts in their phones themselves. They are also prompt in releasing source code. Cameras are also decent on Samsung phones. They use a variety of different CPUs.

3. Motorola

Motorola has good update speed on the American phones, but in the rest of the world, updates are poor. One alarming recent trend is their locked bootloaders, which make it hard to load custom ROMs. They have generally good audio and call quality, but cameras are average. One noteworthy thing is the colour accuracy on their screens is excellent. They use mainly TI’s OMAP series of CPUs, although an Nvidia Tegra 2 phone is expected.

4. LG

LG has had tough times recently, but seems to be turning around. We have not had a lot of experience with their handsets, but it seems that the build quality is decent, judging by their Optimus series. We look forward to seeing whatever variant of the LG Optimus will be.

5. Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson hampered by Sony’s slow updates, and no multitouch and also stuck on Android 2.1 on some models. Low storage. On the upside, it has a pretty good camera and a high-res screen.Build quality is pretty good and comparable.

Globally: Worldwide, phones will vary significantly based on carrier, coverage, and choice. High end phones tend to come out uniquely and there are going to be way too many choices to mention here, but here are the ones that stand out. In most cases, we recommend getting a phone at least 480×320, becuase that is the resolution that Android was intended for.

The next step would be to consider your budget.

Low End Android Phones.

Low end phones are generally less than RM1000,HTC Wildfire, Samsung Galaxy 5, Sony Ericsson X8 and X10 Mini and Huawei Ideos U8150 fall in low end phones.

LG Optimus One is our recommendation for a low-end phone. An alternative are the low-end HTC devices, most notable the HTC Wildfire and HTC Aria. We anticipate that as Android gains more attraction in the market, that we’ll begin to see a lot of low end Android phones will be coming out.

Mid Range Android Phone.

Midrange would make up about RM1000-RM1800.
Motorola Backflip, Motorola Defy, motorola Charm, Motorola Flipout, HTC Desire, HTC Legend(discontinued), Samsung Galaxy S fall under mid range Android phone.

High End Android Phone.

And anything greater than RM1800 would be considered high end. Higher end phones generally have better build quality, resolution, processors, cameras, and are faster at getting updates, not to mention features that low end phones often skimp on.

Buying from Carriers

If you happen to buy from carriers look at how good a carrier is, their coverage, their price, and the customer service. Am I roaming? What are the terms of the contract?

Currently DiGi and Maxis have a vast choices of Android phone for you to choose and they come with various terms and conditions. We suggest you read those T&C in details.

January 18th, 2011 msiabb
Url: http://malaysianbroadband.info/guide-on-choosing-an-android-phone-in-malaysia/