Phones not Suitable for 3G

Home » Features

Phones not Suitable for 3G

Rohan Naravane, Nov 22, 2010 1318 hrs IST

If you want to use the upcoming high-speed mobile Internet, then stay away from these models

In my career as a mobile phone reviewer there have been numerous occasions when I've had to write this over and over in articles, "This Phone supports 3G, but unfortunately since it isn't functional with a majority of operators, I doubt you'll have any use of this feature". Such was the sorry state of affairs; despite companies launching phones that supported this high-speed, broadband-grade wireless internet that we know as 3G, not many would be able to reap its benefits. So much so that many phone makers came up with customized versions of popular models that were sold without a 3G chip in them in order to drop the price.

However, things have changed now. Government run operators BSNL and MTNL have been providing 3.5G (HSDPA) services. But the real stimulant has been private operators rolling out 3G services. If all goes well, it is expected that all major operators will have 3G operational by the first quarter of next year. Some like Tata Docomo have already pushed the Nitro-boost.

Therefore, I'm somewhat compelled to write about a couple of phones that are selling in the market that don't have 3G. It is obvious that these aren't the inexpensive, less than Rs. 5000 models, where it'd be criminal to expect 3G from them (at least for now). Not to say that there aren't any phones for Rs. 5k that don't have it. Also, it is obvious to assume that every phone above Rs. 12,000 has 3G support. So, we're talking of phones in the Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 12,000 range - a range that defines the set of people who are interested in not just talking or texting.

So what will you really miss out on if you buy a handset without 3G? Well, no prizes for guessing, faster internet speeds. Although 2.5G (or EDGE) internet may be enough for text-based data transfers like emailing, chatting or tweeting, opening any kind of image isn't even close to instantaneous. Ever used the Facebook mobile app to view or upload photographs on an EDGE connection? You'll know the pain I'm talking of. With 3.5G's connection that theoretically gives 3.6 Mbps at least, uploading photographs taken from your phone directly to a social networking site or photo-sharing site will be faster. Watching streaming videos will actually be possible without patiently waiting as you watch the hair of people around you grow. You could also do other cool stuff like make video-calls or use your phone as a high-speed modem to cater to other computing devices like a laptop or an iPod Touch.

So here are some phones you should stay away from if you want to jump on the 3G bandwagon:

Samsung Wave533 or Wave525

The original Samsung Wave (a.k.a the S8500) came and left too soon than we'd have liked. But its spirit still lives on in the hearts of its cheaper predecessors, and by that we refer to the Bada OS. Two phones with exact specifications are selling in the market with only one major difference - the Wave533 has a sliding QWERTY keyboard, while the Wave525 is a touchscreen-only phone. Looking at the styling and price, the Wave533 seems to be a good replacement for the Corby Pro B5310, while the Wave525 is a good Samsung Star successor.

Both have capacitive screens with a fair 240 x 400 pixel resolution and given how fairly well-designed and intuitive TouchWIZ 3.0 on the Bada OS was, I'm sure the experience would be much better than their older TouchWIZ UI versions. They have many good features one would ask for; Wi-Fi 802.11n support, GPS, 3.5mm earphone jack, accelerometer and multi-touch support.

The pricing is also quite affordable. The keyboard-less Wave525 sells for Rs. 7,500 while the QWERTY-wielding Wave533 sells for Rs. 8,900. It is therefore very unfortunate that these seemingly decent phones don't have any kind of 3G support. The bigger screen and a smartphone OS would really beg for it once 3G is widely available in India.