Thursday, February 21, 2013

Five reason why you shouldn't buy Lava, Micromax, Karbonn, Celkon mobiles?

a) Lava is great but what about is SAR value?

< 1.6 is not a figure. Why isn't there a clarity on the values?

Micromax's have their ratings but I dont think it's been ever ratified.

Even Nokia 1280(INR 999) has a SAR-TICK sticker at the back.
None of Karbonn, Lava or Micromax's is listed in the www.sar-tick.com site.

Here are the manufacturers on the list:

Apple
LG
Motorola
Nokia
Samsung
Sony Ericsson

-All oldies :)

b) Value for money but is it worth it?

So I own Lava KKT 40+ (Note that I was the first to review and give a 5 stars on Flipkart.com).
Now, after 6 months of usage, the phone has started emanating a "circuit smell"(circuit burning/wire burning) if I remove the battery.
Flipkart, you folks are innocent. But, I haven't heard anything from Lava yet inspite of my complaints.

Yes, in India, a recall is very rarely heard of.


c) How can a phone be so cheap? All low end chinese boards?

In the battle between the big fish and the small fish, I am amazed to see how much of "extra" the small ones are offering.
It totally baffles me on why Samsung Galaxy Duos would cost 12 K and something that has configurations equivalent to Galaxy S3 (Lava Iris 501)
would cost just 9499 with goodies like Bluetooth headset and 4 GB card.
Forget about the ad-factor that contributes to the pricing, Micromax too sponsors IPL and cricket tourneys along with Karbonn.


d) Sales and support

There are only three to four service centers listed for a place like Bangalore in the Lava Support list.
And they were in areas equivalent to Siberia in terms of "I know the place exists but where the heck is it?"

So, when I had a screen crack on Lava KKT 40+, I took it to a local repair shop & it costed me about 600 INR to get replacement.
He swore to me that it took him 5 hours to find the part in SP Road Bangalore.
And 600 INR though a small amount(?), is 30% of the Cost prize.
Imagine, if it was a 10 K phone.

I asked the man on which of these new brands have good after sales and support. He just told me that it was tough and Micromax was just a little better than the rest.

e) Lava, Micromax, Nokia, Samsung

Which one would you carry? Yes, it is just the name that matters atleast for 90% of us


But, the final choice is yours, my friend!



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