Why My Next Android Phone Will Be From Samsung

October has been quite a busy month with all the electronic giants like Apple, Amazon, Google, HTC, LG, Nokia, Microsoft  gearing up for the shopping season in the US and European countries by launching their flagship smartphones, phablets and tablets. All the euphoria overseas has had an impact on me and I am tempted to buy the latest-greatest phone that I can get my hands on. I currently own a Samsung Omnia running Windows Phone 7.5, a solid phone which has withstood my abuse for over 7 months and is still doing fine. I plan to upgrade to a high-end smartphone with multi-cores and blistering speeds. The bigger question now is, not deciding which phone to buy but which mobile OS to choose. Its all about the apps!

Why no more Windows?

Though I like the Windows Phone platform, the biggest problem has been apps. Now that Windows 8 is completely re-written OS I am not sure if the old apps developed for WP 7/7.5 will run on the new device. When I decide to spend upwards of Rs.30K I expect my phone to do all that I want it to and more. Microsoft is definitely going all out to promote Win 8 and attract developer interest. It is a promising platform  but I don’t expect the app ecosystem to mature in months and it will definitely take more than a year to decide if people like this platform and if developers are interested to build apps for it. So no big budget WP on my shopping list for the next one year.

Why no iOS?

This one was pretty easy – iPhones are exorbitantly expensive in India. I don’t intend to sell one of my kidneys to get the latest flashy thing from Cupertino. Case closed!

Android – so we meet again

My first tryst with Android was in the form of LG Optimus Me running Gingerbread 2.3. The less I speak about it, the better. Android has definitely come a long way ever since, both in terms of the overall OS experience and the apps. So I have decided give my relationship with Android a second chance.
Now that the bigger question is answered, it leaves me with deciding which phone to buy.

Nexus – not now

After Google launched the Nexus 4, I was convinced that it was going to be my next phone but all that changed when I learnt that it is near impossible to get the phone repaired within India in case of any problems , especially considering that Nexus 4 comes with a non-removable battery. Given my experience with electronic gadgets, service is something that I have learnt never to overlook. So no Nexus phone for me until Google can convince its hardware partners to provide support for poor Indian customers.
That leaves me with just two choices – Samsung or HTC.

Why Samsung and not HTC

The flagship phones from both of these companies – the One X and Galaxy S3 are on equal footing. Each has its own pros and cons. The build quality of One X definitely feels premium than S3 but S3 is soft as a feather and fits snugly in my hand despite its big size. The display in One X is quite sharp and realistic while the S3’s display is equally good but somewhat borders on over-saturation. The one aspect that tilts the scale in Samsung’s favour is the battery backup. Samsung has generously slapped a 2100mAh battery which provides more juice than HTC’s 1800 mAh. Heavy users like me would give anything to make their phones last a whole day on a single recharge. Hope HTC is hearing this and improves the battery capacity on their phones.

And there goes my vote for the Samsung S3 – 30 million phones + 1!

This post has been reproduced from Sridhar’s blog.