Why all the hate for local brands?

Go with a faulty Micromax phone/tab to a micromax service center, you'l know the difference. I wont step into that shithole they call a service center if my life depended on it. Their call center where you have to check the warranty applicability before submitting stays open till 5.30 LOL

And the hardware itself is so fickle. Sure they might have plastic that seems harder or sturdy, but thats to please the Indian mentality of good=strong. Micromax tab that I have gives you random shocks near usb, screen behaves like crazy sometimes, And there's a lot more if you consider digging.

Buy them if you want to constantly keep fiddling with the crappy problems it gives you. If you do something productive and value your time, you are better served by a good branded phone like a Nokia.

I have never owned a Samsung so I wouldnt know. Personally I do think they are slight rip offs. But over the last year they have launched some VFM phones.
 
ASSC for MMX/Karbonn/Lava/etc is pretty bad. Usually, they will take ages to fix the issue. And they are super strict about the timings. I went to the Dadar ASSC at 6 - they are like you should enter by 5:30 and were unresponsive. Samsung even after closing hours, are polite. They wont take the device, but they wont slam the door in your face, which is what the MMX ASSC did!

Samsung is pretty good. They are trying to ape Apple with the same look across all devices.

As for build quality, that's a subjective thing - depends on person to person. IMO - a device falls, it should not break into several pieces and the glass shatters, which our local brands usually do.

Touch - bah. You will never get used to poor touch - you never know till you have used a good touch screen.
 
Party Monger said:
Go with a faulty Micromax phone/tab to a micromax service center, you'l know the difference. I wont step into that shithole they call a service center if my life depended on it. Their call center where you have to check the warranty applicability before submitting stays open till 5.30 LOL
Click to expand...
Now we know why they cost so little.

Party Monger said:
And the hardware itself is so fickle. Sure they might have plastic that seems harder or sturdy, but thats to please the Indian mentality of good=strong. Micromax tab that I have gives you random shocks near usb, screen behaves like crazy sometimes, And there's a lot more if you consider digging.
Click to expand...
Plastic on sub 5k phones is a non-issue, if it breaks just get another.

With the higher end it means less weight. Crack the bezel and you still have to dissasemble the entire unit so there is a labour cost involved whether its an aluminium finish or plastic. However the parts cost will be cheaper. Also there is less chance of cracking the screen with a plastic body than a metallic one, and less is only little less, depends how it fell.

What i don't like is chrome paint on plastic that fades and makes an otherwise very functional phone look cheap.

Party Monger said:
Buy them if you want to constantly keep fiddling with the crappy problems it gives you. If you do something productive and value your time, you are better served by a good branded phone like a Nokia. Not yet, maybe next year.

I have never owned a Samsung so I wouldnt know. Personally I do think they are slight rip offs. But over the last year they have launched some VFM phones.
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VFM ? maybe at the high end. Not at the low end like Nokia.

I don't even know if the term VFM applies to such a fast moving segment, where stuff gets obsoleted within a year or more if you did your homework and are lucky. Put it this way, its VFM if what you get out exceeds the buying cost. The only way that happens is if the device is reliable to begin with.
 
vivek.krishnan said:
ASSC for MMX/Karbonn/Lava/etc is pretty bad. Usually, they will take ages to fix the issue. And they are super strict about the timings. I went to the Dadar ASSC at 6 - they are like you should enter by 5:30 and were unresponsive. Samsung even after closing hours, are polite. They wont take the device, but they wont slam the door in your face, which is what the MMX ASSC did!
Click to expand...

I know the website mentions only one Service Centre in Mumbai, but if u do a Google search, there are more than 10,i went to the grant road service centre, they were polite, unbricked my phone and updated it to 4.2.1 within 2 hours... Its a shop called Jagger Communications, near Grant Road Station, Mumbai.

Also timings are 10 am - 10 pm.
 
I don't know about Lava/XOLO stuff, but most of the MMX phones are rebranded chinese phones which one would probably not purchase if they came with their original chinese brand names or no names at all. MMX cleverly tapped this, put their logo, jacked the priced and gave the phone here.
Hell even the stupid aakaash tablet is rebranded chinese product.
I know many people love MMX but mostly because of price and feel that it is VFM but when you are paying money for a product you are not only buying the device itself, you are buying the customer care (that you expect to be good) and the overall experience you shall have with the phone. I have used phones with pathetic touch and they make your blood boil, there is no joy using such device.
 
VFM, In android scene Nexus are the only VFM phones, all other phones become obsolete with a release of new android version. I really liked Canvas hd but stuck with my Galaxy nexus and its got 4.3.3, while most of the newer generation phones may or may not get it.
 
I m not sure why brand holders think new comers are piece of S***..
I feel most of the comments are made out of fanboyism . Taking about service centers .. I had bad experiences with Nokia, LG.. But then i realize its just a particular service center . Like someone mentioned above you get good service too..

I admit they have inferior camera but disagree on other points..
I seen MMX giving jelly bean upgrade .. Loved the touch and feel ...

Technology is changing every now and then... A highly paid Samsung galaxy S4 or IPHONE 5 may look old fashioned by the end of their warranty period...

Thumbs up for New comers ... They made Samsung to drop their Product Prices...

Let me remind you again .. I m using Nexus 4...
 
prateekS said:
I know the website mentions only one Service Centre in Mumbai, but if u do a Google search, there are more than 10,i went to the grant road service centre, they were polite, unbricked my phone and updated it to 4.2.1 within 2 hours... Its a shop called Jagger Communications, near Grant Road Station, Mumbai.

Also timings are 10 am - 10 pm.
Click to expand...

Are these 'more than 10' official service centres or third party ?

3rd party in some ways i think is better because they will fix anything as their livelihood depends on it. Will be much more resourceful than the official ones. Depends on the nature of the fault i expect.
 
agreed MMX, Karbonn and LAVA phones made BIG Brands come to their senses and price their product sensibly/affordable
Samsung makes some shitty looking phones, pick any of their phone and they all look the same guess they are making full use of the fine they paid to Apple.
Samsung phones cost a BOMB even they are not worth half the actual price, S2 still costs 20k which is definitely not worth it.
atleast new brands are making budget phones which an avg indian can afford which was once considered as a luxury item.
 
Official !

As i said unbrocking and updating done free of cost -_-

blr_p said:
Are these 'more than 10' official service centres or third party ?

3rd party in some ways i think is better because they will fix anything as their livelihood depends on it. Will be much more resourceful than the official ones. Depends on the nature of the fault i expect.
Click to expand...
 
prateekS said:
I know the website mentions only one Service Centre in Mumbai, but if u do a Google search, there are more than 10,i went to the grant road service centre, they were polite, unbricked my phone and updated it to 4.2.1 within 2 hours... Its a shop called Jagger Communications, near Grant Road Station, Mumbai.

Also timings are 10 am - 10 pm.
Click to expand...


I know - but as of last year, there were only two for Android devices. Just telling my experience. I eventually went to the Versova one and got the tab fixed. But that is no way to treat a customer. Now there is a ASSC near my house, and I have already visited them.
 
Even in MMX, there is a huge difference between the Canvas HD, and Canvas 2. The latter is an absolutely hopeless phone, with a shitty screen and serious lag. A friend had bought a canvas 2, as the salesman has said not much of a difference but canvas 2 was cheaper. The worst part, the blame comes on android as an OS, is extremely laggy/buggy etc. However Canvas HD has a pretty decent build quality, and is responsive, although I felt the battery life was poor. I am unsure of the ASS, but as someone had mentioned even well known brands have a poor ASS (exception being Samsung), I had a horrible experience with Sony ASS, I can't imagine the Indian brands having something worse.
 
I too went to dadar . Horrible experience they shut the door at 530 . We had to sit inside with fan and no ac :mad: . Bloody cheap fools . They kept my phone for almost a month . P.S . I also went to Samsung for my s3. . Ac in service center and returned my phone in 1 working day .
 
Party Monger said:
Go with a faulty Micromax phone/tab to a micromax service center, you'l know the difference. I wont step into that shithole they call a service center if my life depended on it. Their call center where you have to check the warranty applicability before submitting stays open till 5.30 LOL

And the hardware itself is so fickle. Sure they might have plastic that seems harder or sturdy, but thats to please the Indian mentality of good=strong. Micromax tab that I have gives you random shocks near usb, screen behaves like crazy sometimes, And there's a lot more if you consider digging.

Buy them if you want to constantly keep fiddling with the crappy problems it gives you. If you do something productive and value your time, you are better served by a good branded phone like a Nokia.

I have never owned a Samsung so I wouldnt know. Personally I do think they are slight rip offs. But over the last year they have launched some VFM phones.
Click to expand...

The topic which we are discussing here is very subjective. Its very difficult to declare something as useless just depending on a small sample of users who had trouble. My Experience was even bitter with Nokia ASS in Pune. I went there with my new Nokia E7 which went dead as it got completely drenched in rain. The customer represenative on desk were very ignorant therefore I had to literally bash them and then I spoke to their Service Engineer and Branch Manager. They looted me to repair that and that too didn't worked for long (read days). So my points here are -

  • It depends on individual experience and specific ASS center. Even the Nokias, Samsungs and Apples will do the same to you and loot you off your hard earned money if you are unfortunate enough to have to utilize ASS.
  • As far as build quality is concerned I can only vouch for Nokia and Apple, rest fall in sub par standards. So again it depends on individuals depending on their need to choose a particular product may it be a VFM Indian brand or any well established brand. For example I have liked and used Nokia phones over years because of their sturdy built quality and innovative designing (my personal opinion about Samsung devices are that they are same old rectangular boxes with just differing specification, with exact identical looks across their lineup). To name a few Nokias that I owned - 1100, 1110, 6131 flip, N73,E7, N9... so when I see at Samsung I feel inferior (I am only getting into build quality and innovative design).
 
Nokia ASS has been pretty good for me. Yes 5 -4 years back certain service centers in each city were a problem(there was one in my city that people avoided like plague die to idiotic staff), but today its smooth as butter. For major problems the phones get repaired in their factory now.
 
You get what you pay for. You pay what you can afford.

When I buy Karbonn, I don't expect it to have the features and support of another company that charges 50% more for the same hardware.
So while people may complain about KArbonn features and support, I think it is the best in the world...my world.
 
Having said that micro Max service is pathetic I having experienced it personally I must confess that my s3 is at home 90% of the time and I end up using my a110 by micromax . After they kept my phone for 20 days and finally fixed it. Its working great . I use it everyday . Hope it lasts though . I bought my a110 for 10.5 k and my s3 last year at 35 k :p
 
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