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!



14 comments:

  1. its always interesting to read your post my fren.

    ReplyDelete
  2. its always interesting to read your post my fren!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mama,

    I don't agree to your thoughts here, sorry.

    Micromax A110 came with a SAR certificate of 0.69 watt/kg rating which is pretty decent in my opinion. Govt of India law regulates that every mobile phone have the SAR rating on it, either on the box or inside it. And everyone, including Samsung or Micromax or Lava for that matter MUST comply.

    Secondly, yes smartphones can be that cheap. And they are. That is where companies like Samsung rake in the profits. But there are other costs involved too. For example, the boards. Samsung etc use ARM processors which are top of the line mobile processors. Micromax etc don't use ARM - they use MediaTek. Performance takes a hit, although the paper specifications may be tempting, but then it is cheap. Same with Graphics processors. Same with RAM. Same with the touch screen hardware, etc. That is a CONSIDERABLE cost-cutting for a mobile phone.

    Next point, Samsung etc invest HEAVILY in advertisements but Micromax etc, although they do advertise even in IPL (Karbonn Kamaal Katch for example) it is very limited and is nowhere near what Samsung or Nokia can afford. And don't forget Samsung/Nokia roping in celebrities for promotions/ads (like SRK in Nokia ad). These costs add up.

    Another point. Samsung does not give stock Android with its phone. It gives what it calls a TouchWiz interface (V4.0 on my S3) which is basically customization of the Android OS with Samsung's own skin. This takes a lot of R&D investment. Micromax on the other hand doesn't bother with all this and simply provides stock Android. Another round of cost cutting.

    Finally, the brand factor. Ten years ago, Samsung (at least in India) was a relatively unheard of name in mobile phones. Nokia was the ruler. Samsung's C100 probably brought the first notable Samsung phone to Indian market. It cost around 10k then. Same spec features given by Nokia was AT LEAST 15k. Brand factor. Which Nokia could leverage then to command a higher premium in the market. And what Samsung does now. And what Micromax will do after five years from now.

    It's not just mobile phones. Meera and Prajjwal were saying that Samsung 40" HD LED TV's cost 30k in Thailand. The same TV cost me 55k in India. My DSLR camera cost me 60k in US, when the price in India was 89k for the same thing.

    It's like getting a branded desktop of DELL or IBM from the market for 70-80k, and getting the same (and better) unit assembled in SP Road for about 30-35k.

    The choice, like you said, is ours! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mama,

    I don't agree to your thoughts here, sorry.

    Micromax A110 came with a SAR certificate of 0.69 watt/kg rating which is pretty decent in my opinion. Govt of India law regulates that every mobile phone have the SAR rating on it, either on the box or inside it. And everyone, including Samsung or Micromax or Lava for that matter MUST comply.

    Secondly, yes smartphones can be that cheap. And they are. That is where companies like Samsung rake in the profits. But there are other costs involved too. For example, the boards. Samsung etc use ARM processors which are top of the line mobile processors. Micromax etc don't use ARM - they use MediaTek. Performance takes a hit, although the paper specifications may be tempting, but then it is cheap. Same with Graphics processors. Same with RAM. Same with the touch screen hardware, etc. That is a CONSIDERABLE cost-cutting for a mobile phone.

    Next point, Samsung etc invest HEAVILY in advertisements but Micromax etc, although they do advertise even in IPL (Karbonn Kamaal Katch for example) it is very limited and is nowhere near what Samsung or Nokia can afford. And don't forget Samsung/Nokia roping in celebrities for promotions/ads (like SRK in Nokia ad). These costs add up.

    Another point. Samsung does not give stock Android with its phone. It gives what it calls a TouchWiz interface (V4.0 on my S3) which is basically customization of the Android OS with Samsung's own skin. This takes a lot of R&D investment. Micromax on the other hand doesn't bother with all this and simply provides stock Android. Another round of cost cutting.

    Finally, the brand factor. Ten years ago, Samsung (at least in India) was a relatively unheard of name in mobile phones. Nokia was the ruler. Samsung's C100 probably brought the first notable Samsung phone to Indian market. It cost around 10k then. Same spec features given by Nokia was AT LEAST 15k. Brand factor. Which Nokia could leverage then to command a higher premium in the market. And what Samsung does now. And what Micromax will do after five years from now.

    It's not just mobile phones. Meera and Prajjwal were saying that Samsung 40" HD LED TV's cost 30k in Thailand. The same TV cost me 55k in India. My DSLR camera cost me 60k in US, when the price in India was 89k for the same thing.

    It's like getting a branded desktop of DELL or IBM from the market for 70-80k, and getting the same (and better) unit assembled in SP Road for about 30-35k.

    The choice, like you said, is ours! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. yeh.......... Itz really amzing...... I dnt knw this al thingz.... Thnk buddy

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rahul-Why isn't Micromax listed on the SAR-Tick site then?
    And regarding after sales, support and service is pathetic
    I am sure these two things are enough to dissuade me

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1:54 AM

    Federal Communications Commission

    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the chief regulator in the United States, makes it clear that although SAR measures show compliance with maximum exposure standards they should not be relied on to compare the relative safety of handsets.

    The FCC released a consumer fact sheet - 'SAR For Cell Phones: What It Means For You' - to address the considerable confusion and misunderstanding media interest in this issue has caused which says:

    Many people mistakenly assume that using a cell phone with a lower reported SAR value necessarily decreases a user's exposure to RF emissions, or is somehow "safer" than using a cell phone with a high SAR value. While SAR values are an important tool in judging the maximum possible exposure to RF energy from a particular model of cell phone, a single SAR value does not provide sufficient information about the amount of RF exposure under typical usage conditions to reliably compare individual cell phone models.

    The FCC also advises consumers about the best way to reduce exposure:

    ...the most effective means to reduce exposure are to hold the cell phone away from the head or body and to use a speakerphone or hands-free accessory. These measures will generally have much more impact on RF energy absorption than the small difference in SAR between individual cell phones, which, in any event, is an unreliable comparison of RF exposure to consumers, given the variables to individual use

    ReplyDelete
  8. Blackberry, HTC and Huawei aren't listed in the MMF site either. So, they must have forged their SAR values. Right... Thats downright stupid, dude. If you notice, SAR-tick is listed only for the member companies of MMF and Lava, Micromax and many many other brands are not members That doesn't mean non-compliance. And besides, most scientific studies conducted have failed to establish a link between low-frequency radiation and any alleged health hazards they pose. So, kindly stop feeding the fear mongers.

    Find me ONE reputable brand which doesn't acquire parts from China.... That's a challenge. Equating of China to low quality parts is baseless, because most mobile brands have a assembly plant in China, yes, even Apple.

    The cost part is explained better than I could have, by "Somewhere in between".

    After sales service is pathetic, yeah. Agreed. But what you pay for is what you get. Exactly why you pay a premium for those named brands.

    of course, I would definitely like to own a "nokia" or a "samsung". But I can't afford it. Indian customers, unlike consumers from developed countries, are extremely value conscious. i.e They would rather choose features over a name. At least that's what I've been learning in my marketing courses all along. i.e. 90% of Indians don't give jack-shit about brand names. Hence, your e) point is debunked.

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  9. you don't find HTC, HP/Palm, Blackberry also? may be sar-tick.com is consortium.

    ReplyDelete
  10. you don't find HTC, HP/Palm, Blackberry also? may be sar-tick.com is consortium.

    ReplyDelete
  11. http://sarshield.com/radiation-chart/ Gives a comprehensive list of almost all phones's SAR value world-wide

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  12. Very detailed post but I have to disagree with you. There is no definite connection between SAR value and radiation anyway and if you do Google it, it says that you should use the speaker function or use a hands-free set whenever possible regardless of the brand. All of which makes it very tricky to actually use the phone the way that it is to be used.

    As far as the after sales service goes, I also own a Lava device which ran into a problem many months back. I sent it to the center and while it did take one or two days longer than i expected, my phone was in working order again. And Lava has the entire list of the official service centers on their website that one can use to find the nearest service center.

    With major brands, a large chunk of the money you pay is only for the brand name on your device. If an Indian company is offering a lot of features for a really low price, then what is the problem. Such companies enable people to have a smart device at a price that won’t make them broke.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The most difficult part is finding a replacement for parts or even accessories such as a pouch.
      Using a headset is always better.

      Delete
  13. I prefer lava and micromax to Samsung and Sony.. Why?? The first 2 are within my budget and yet offer quality stuff...The more expensive models cost much more to replace even smaller parts..

    ReplyDelete

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