Repair K550i or buy new phone?

[gxsaurav]

One of my friend's K550i is not working anymore. The service center staff said the PCB has burned & it will cost Rs 4k to repair. She asked me whether to spend 4k in repairing K550i or buy a new phone?

She can get the phone repaired today, but if she has to buy a new phone it will be in May only, till then she will use some temporary phone.

She is a not a heavy phone user & K550i has been serving her needs pretty well. She doesn't install applications (I was the one who told he about how to use Notes function of phone ), & she doesn't need many features too. She uses the phone as a phone more then a camera/Music player. She takes picstures one in a while, like in malls or home among friends, she listen to music one the phone once in a while & uses HPM-75 for talking more then listening to music.

This is why I am myself unable to say her to buy a new phone, cos I know she won't be needing a new one much.

I looked at SE G502, its a good phone for 7.8k but considering the feature comparision with K550i for 4k, I wasn't able to justify buying it instead of repairing K550i.

I looked at the currently available models. She has only used SE so far so she is familiar with its menu structure etc. Nokia will be new & complex for her. SE is simple to use for non-Geeks. I didn't like any Nokia phone within 10k for her as they r all complex for her (she isn't that geeky U see)

So, I need to bounce some ideas & discuss this. Should she get her K550i repaired for 4k or buy a new phone in 2 months with a budget of 10k?

if she should buy a new phone? then which one among SE or Nokia? The priority is

1) Looks matter, it has to be sleek
2) No Samsung or Motorola, there Desktop counterpart software support is bad.
3) Easy to use & easier to type on, she is an SMS junkie. She is habitual to the keypad type of K550i with thin buttons so she has no problem
4) Atleast 2MP Autofocus camera

[sujoyp]

I would suggest u SE T700...it looks soo sexy...it has metallic finnish,10mm sleek,media menu like W series mobile,screen is superb,New SE UI,megabass featureits available for 11200 now...I loved it

Negative is 3.15 fixed focus cam(although its good)with cybershot UI
Loudspeaker is not good(Through headphone its excellent)

It appealed to each and every girl I showed :-P:-P

[desiibond]

5310XM??
7310 supernova?
se W660i?
SE W810i?
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Posted again:
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W580i (my recommendation)

[gxsaurav]

I would suggest u SE T700...it looks soo sexy...it has metallic finnish,10mm sleek,media menu like W series mobile,screen is superb,New SE UI,megabass featureits available for 11200 now...I loved it

Negative is 3.15 fixed focus cam(although its good)with cybershot UI
Loudspeaker is not good(Through headphone its excellent)

It appealed to each and every girl I showed

Even I like T700i but considering her needs & usage, I don't find it worth buying over K550i for Rs 11.2k. I will tell her about T700 though.

Nokia 5310 & Supernova has a camera inferior to K550i without Flash & auto focus so its out of the scene.

W660i is no good over K550i
W810i is tooo old.

I have told her to buy SE HPM-75 & get her K550i repaired. It will cost her a total of 5.2K, however I also told her about T700i

[Ecstasy]

I would suggest to buy a new phone instead of spending 4k. If by any chance the phone doesn't work after repair then what is she gonna do then? Its a common saying- once the phone goes into service center then that's it, its the end of story.

If she is planning to buy a new phone then I will suggest some good phones in my next post..

[sujoyp]

look I wont compare the cam of a 'K'series to a 'T' Series one...but definitely its not a bad camera..and its 3.15mp....video recording is 240x320@15fps

The overall package is good...it even have geotagging,Google maps,Blutooth remote control preloaded.

The media player is just like a W series one..

Choice is urs

[dreamcatcher]

The W380i maybe?? The flip open one.

[desiibond]

Originally Posted by Ecstasy

I would suggest to buy a new phone instead of spending 4k. If by any chance the phone doesn't work after repair then what is she gonna do then? Its a common saying- once the phone goes into service center then that's it, its the end of story.

If she is planning to buy a new phone then I will suggest some good phones in my next post..

totally agree with this. spending that much for repair?? Fresh piece costs 6.5k if I am correct.

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by sujoyp

The overall package is good...it even have geotagging,Google maps,Blutooth remote control preloaded.

She will use none of these .

The media player is just like a W series one..

Ok, good...Music is something she needs but not much.

Choice is urs

Its her choice

Anyway, I did my part & told her about this thread & T700. Rest is her choice.

[k4ce]

dude , i've used a k550 ... well i decided to dump it after a problem cos the service centre told me that "my problem wasnt covered in warranty cos its physically damaged " ... it served me well ... my only grouse was that it wasnt a smartfone ... else brillant cam and music ... i'm a heavy user and had used s60 devices and so i wanted to go back to s60

but in ur case , for all the applications u've mentioned , the k550 does it and does it well ... so i wud say why bother spending so much cash and buy a similar fone ... but i dunno how reliable things will be after the repair ... so if are sure that the phone will last after the repai , stick wid it ... cos its gud enuf for 4k ...

else u need to pay arnd 7.5k to get the g502 which has a better screen but cam is not as gud as the k550 ... 8.2k u get 5310 , f305 .... the only advantage of these fones is their higher res screen but i don think she wud even notice it

so if repair is reliable , stick wid else ... else buy dependin on budget

[kkeng]

Motorola z6 - 5k. It has all the features of k550i costs only 1k more than repair cost

[dheeraj_kumar]

SE W380 - 8K
SE F305 - 8K

Both look really sleek - love the purple w380 and silver f305.

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by kkeng

Motorola z6 - 5k. It has all the features of k550i costs only 1k more than repair cost

Forgot to mention, it will be only Nokia or Sony Ericsson as they have PC Suite & MyPhoneExplorer

Don't know if she will go for a Clamshell phone, but I told her about W380 too

[kkeng]

Originally Posted by gxsaurav

She is a not a heavy phone user & K550i has been serving her needs pretty well. She doesn't install applications (I was the one who told he about how to use Notes function of phone ), & she doesn't need many features too. She uses the phone as a phone more then a camera/Music player. She takes picstures one in a while, like in malls or home among friends, she listen to music one the phone once in a while & uses HPM-75 for talking more then listening to music.

This doesn't suggest any need for pc suite/myphone explorer

[Stuge]

Get a new phone dude ,Spending 4000 bucks will be stupidity IMO .

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by kkeng

This doesn't suggest any need for pc suite/myphone explorer

Yes it does

1) Backup of Contact list
2) Typing SMS using keyboard
3) Writing & backing up to-do notes.

[a_k_s_h_a_y]

SE w890 !! No AF. 3MP though.

[gxsaurav]

Ok guys, time to end discussion. She saw T700 & has decided to buy it in april end.

[hahahari]

gr8 decision m8, what are you planning to do with that k500i??? I was the same situation whith my broke k550i and I went in for a N81 but still have k550i with me .... am using it as a paper weight right now!

[sujoyp]

Originally Posted by gxsaurav

Ok guys, time to end discussion. She saw T700 & has decided to buy it in april end.

I told u girls just love the design and sleekness of T700

[gxsaurav]

^^^ yup, I agree. She will be buying a HPM-75 alongwith it.

[Ecstasy]

Yes, T700 looks nice but whats the price of it?

[desiibond]

11k

[krazzy]

Originally Posted by gxsaurav

Ok guys, time to end discussion. She saw T700 & has decided to buy it in april end.

She could've also gone for the Nokia 5610 XpressMusic. It has a 2.2" QVGA 16M colour display, 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash and 3.5mm headphone jack in headset. It'll come under 10k.

[desiibond]

but I heard there are lot of bugs in this phone and I checked the demo version of this phone in a store and the horizontal silder tab is broken.

[gxsaurav]

I have heard horror stories about 5610 Xpress Music's slider. DJmikey of this forum was also using it who told me how easily his slider broke.

[sujoyp]

Is 5610 soo bad....i was considering it while buying but it was out of stock...and ultimately got T700...

[acewin]

W890 is said to have bad reception