Budget 10-15K Xiaomi Mi3 or Moto G

renegade

Staff member
Super Mod
Which one is crowd puller these days and why? Was looking to recommend the Moto G to someone but don't want to regret not seeking the community opinion on the Mi3 as it is the hot topic these days on TE.
 
And oh the lack of a dual sim on Mi3 is a con for me because you cannot trust a single operator nowadays. I have an Airtel, Aircel and a Vodafone SIM. :D
Your answers made me more confused guys. I have a Mi3 in Flipkart cart which needs to be purchased by midnight today. Otherwise It will lapse. I have used Moto G, frankly its looks are quiet ordinary and the display is good but not great.
The reasons which we are giving here sound more personal than actual technical. To each his own. Just buy whichever you think would make you more comfortable and be happy.
 
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And oh the lack of a dual sim on Mi3 is a con for me because you cannot trust a single operator nowadays. I have an Airtel, Aircel and a Vodafone SIM. :D

The reasons which we are giving here sounds more personal than actual technical. To each his own. Just buy whichever you think would make you more comfortable and be happy.

redmi 1S is dual SIM which will launch in India any-day now.
 
I feel this thread should be moved to "mobile phones" section, as although the query has been solved for the OP , the thread continues to be popular!

Coming back to the topic, considering this is a tech forum,It is natural for us to be inclined towards latest,greatest and fastest.
Mi3 is exciting for sure, s800 is fast and efficient.


I had wanted to ask this question before to many guys on the forum, including myself.
What do you guys use your cellphone for,once the excitement has worn off. Not the initial days, but after one month..? And how many of you own a tablet pc?

I use my phone for (other then calls and sms), flashlight, camera,navigation,whatsapp and email(reading only). Then agenda and notes. Very occasionaly for tethering. Some light browsing when i am out and about or if i get an important link in my inbox. Some professional apps like medscape,etc.

If you have a 5 inch phone and an 8 inch tablet, which one would you prefer to use if the app itself is similar.?

So it also depends on what use the phone is going to be put through and by whom. My brother uses the original samsung galaxy tab and is for some very obscure reason very satisfied with it. I personally find even my own nexus 7 (2012) to be unbearably slow.

Whenever i get a new phone the first 15 days are the best, when you unbox it, discover the flaws, scour the net and find solutions, try all the accessories and find one which fits in comfortably, update to the latest FW, or head oveto the XDA forum. Once this ritual is done and dusted with, i am back to my old routine of using the phone,the way most people do.

Moto G has a terrible camera, but it does have a flashlight. More importantly it has that extra sim slot. Mi3 has a better camera then G, but it is not samsung good and the focussing is something like what xperias do.(kindaa slow). The camera might become better with newer FW.
The specs of MI3 roughly match galaxy s4 while the design is better and the price is roughly half of what someone paid for the s4 in its heyday. But maybe then were paying for the newness factor.
Why buy an assault rifle when silverballers would suffice.?
 
^^ Add to that trying out new apps and games, specially since the unofficial Play Store return period is now 2 hours.
One of the better changes I've seen is I do watch more content on the Mi3 as compared to Moto G (I travel a lot, so kinda useful for me)- bigger screen, better colors. Plus apps are instantaneous. On the Moto G, after a couple of weeks of use, Whatsapp would take ages (read 5 secs or so) to open up. Never more than a sec on Mi3 (around 20 days of use now).
Flashlight is much quicker to access (linked to the home button). Easier to pull the camera (linked to the back key; not to mention a much better camera than G).
The general smoothness of the UI etc. Mi3 over G anyday.
 
Interesting post with many exit ramps :D

What do you guys use your cellphone for,once the excitement has worn off. Not the initial days, but after one month..? And how many of you own a tablet pc?
Same as you said. But the inclusion of tablet pc is an interesting one. Was listening to a podcast and one of the speakers was speculating that 2015 will be the year of the pc. Or rather hybrids like tablet pc. Will cost as much as a tablet and allow productivity as well as consumption. We will have to see how windows 9 will do with the intel broadwell. Basically tablets on mobile OS are going to take a hit.

If you have a 5 inch phone and an 8 inch tablet, which one would you prefer to use if the app itself is similar.?

So it also depends on what use the phone is going to be put through and by whom. My brother uses the original samsung galaxy tab and is for some very obscure reason very satisfied with it. I personally find even my own nexus 7 (2012) to be unbearably slow.
Was never a fan of smaller screen tabs, all they are good for is games. A bigger tab however means everything looks better and can be watched from further away. And laptop screens have always been big so does one need a big tab and a laptop or whether one could suffice.

Whenever i get a new phone the first 15 days are the best, when you unbox it, discover the flaws, scour the net and find solutions, try all the accessories and find one which fits in comfortably, update to the latest FW, or head oveto the XDA forum. Once this ritual is done and dusted with, i am back to my old routine of using the phone,the way most people do.
If you get this far uneventfully then you got the right device.

Moto G has a terrible camera, but it does have a flashlight. More importantly it has that extra sim slot. Mi3 has a better camera then G, but it is not samsung good and the focussing is something like what xperias do.(kindaa slow). The camera might become better with newer FW.
mi 3 has a sony sensor, the samsung flagships upto the s4 also had sony sensors, No idea what samsung uses on its mid to lower end cameras. When you say samsung good i suppose you mean the ability to take a acceptable photo in auto. So once the hardware is close then the rest is software and image procesing algorithms are better on the higher end models.

I read people complain about mi's camera but have yet to see anyone demonstrate that the problem cannot be solved. Samsungs are no good in low light compared to rivals. In good light they are very competitive.

The specs of MI3 roughly match galaxy s4 while the design is better and the price is roughly half of what someone paid for the s4 in its heyday. But maybe then were paying for the newness factor.
Why buy an assault rifle when silverballers would suffice.?
Are you asking why buy a flagship instead of mi-3 or similar ?
 
Hi Guys,
I am following this thread closely. Let me know which one is better buy:
1. MI3 -- at 14000
2. Moto G --16gb --- at 10200 after applying Student discount and SBI offer till 15th august

Which is better buy? or shall i wait for redmi 1s to sale at 7k?

Thanks.
 
No, what I am saying is mi3 is better for those who are actually going to use the better features offered, say those who browse a lot on the go, or use the phone camera a lot. Many others will prefer the dual sim option, slightly more compact size and widely available accessories of the moto G. Also faster official updates and ready to use xda mods. And its cheaper. .
 
mi 3 has a sony sensor, the samsung flagships upto the s4 also had sony sensors, No idea what samsung uses on its mid to lower end cameras. When you say samsung good i suppose you mean the ability to take a acceptable photo in auto. So once the hardware is close then the rest is software and image procesing algorithms are better on the higher end models.

I read people complain about mi's camera but have yet to see anyone demonstrate that the problem cannot be solved. Samsungs are no good in low light compared to rivals. In good light they are very competitive.
I also read reviews saying the same thing about the mi3's camera. And if the images in their reviews are to be believed then they lack detail. I will go as far as to say that the quality is no better than the camera which was there on my old Chinese mp4 player. And that my old N79 with 5MP cam gave much better pictures.
But I'm a bit surprised with people who thought that the Mi3 would give good pictures. We expect way too much from a phone which costs only 14k but comes with power specs (on paper BTW). Its a phone not a camera. Personally I'm not surprised and not disappointed with the camera quality because i didn't think it would be good and won't be surprised if the phone develops problems after a few months of usage.
Also I'm no photographer but I don't think that software/firmware upgrade would help the cam, unless you use Photoshop :p Doesn't the quality mainly depend on the hardware part? If it use el-cheapo materials nothing can be done about it. We don't even know the type of lens the cam used. N79 (and many other N-series) had a Carl Zeiss lens with Xenon flash. Just saying. :D
 
I also read reviews saying the same thing about the mi3's camera. And if the images in their reviews are to be believed then they lack detail. I will go as far as to say that the quality is no better than the camera which was there on my old Chinese mp4 player. And that my old N79 with 5MP cam gave much better pictures.
Can you back up that claim ?

Post a photo (full rez) you think is bad and lets see what can be done.

have heard so many people say <insert phone from two years ago or older still > is better even with this or that latest flagship that i do not take it seriously any more.

To bad we will not be able to see comparisons of photos from your old chinese mp4 player or N79 which i think you have long since disposed off. If you refer to macros i think your older cams will be able to compete. I saw a a 5 yr old SE850i compete and even outdo a z1 in macro but that was the only scenario.

But I'm a bit surprised with people who thought that the Mi3 would give good pictures. We expect way too much from a phone which costs only 14k but comes with power specs (on paper BTW). Its a phone not a camera. Personally I'm not surprised and not disappointed with the camera quality because i didn't think it would be good and won't be surprised if the phone develops problems after a few months of usage.
Why do you say the underlined bit ?

Its a phone not a camera applies to cameras that do not allow any tweaking. iphones & g3 spring to mind. If it can take a shot its a camera. So what the software allows or not matters.

Also I'm no photographer but I don't think that software/firmware upgrade would help the cam, unless you use Photoshop :p Doesn't the quality mainly depend on the hardware part? If it use el-cheapo materials nothing can be done about it. We don't even know the type of lens the cam used. N79 (and many other N-series) had a Carl Zeiss lens with Xenon flash. Just saying. :D
Am not clear what the problem with the cam even is, not good pictures is very vague. How good is the person taking the pictures to begin with. Don't have to be a photographer but knowing the basics helps. This is assuming the camera does not have any hardware defects to begin with. Should not but it can happen.

Any camera can take pictures if you have enough light. Better light, better pictures. Most important bit is the 12 inches behind the cam. Knowing the strengths and weakness and then compensating. The camera does not take the shot, you do.

N79 had a dual led flash not a zenon. two are better than one, so just get closer to your subject then.
 
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Lol those are some long questions. I could post some images but I cannot copy nor move files from the card anymore. and my Bluetooth feature and primary cam button have stopped working. Yes I cannot retrieve anything from the damn card. :| and Nokia Care (last year) said it will cost me around 3-4k but wont be able tp do anything if they cannot find any new parts. Yeah right 3k for an old phone, not gonna happen.
Anyway keep in mind that the megapixel is just a resolution number and N79 has 5 against Mi3's 13.
You are right about the flash though. My bad.
And as for the underlined part I have my doubt mainly because none of us have owned it for even a month.
You might think that these are baseless claims.
 
I am going Completely OT here with n79, but yes it did have a fantastic camera. Mine has gone for a dispaly repair and I will be getting it back in a few days time. Will post comparison pics with my iphone 5. The n79 camera in good light(read sunlight) is better then my iphone 5(imho). I dont have a mi3 with me , but if i manage to get hold of one i will post a comparo...
P.S. in the older days of this forum, or maybe it was TA Then,i posted a camera comparison between nokia 6230 and SE k700i. Those were the days....
 
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P.S. in the older days of this forum, or maybe it was TA Then,i posted a camera comparison between nokia 6230 and SE k700i. Those were the days....
Yeah when Quality mattered more than Quantity.
Anyway personally I would still choose and also recommend the Moto G over the Mi3 for these main reasons: the G being some months old I don't have reliability doubt, trusted model everywhere, dual-SIM because you cannot trust a single telecom network operator nowadays, and a much lower price tag. Lowest possible price of the Moto G is 12000 (excluding student 5% and SBI offers) against Mi3's 14k. Won't mention camera quality because its no better than Mi3's.
 
As far as MI3 support is concern, here is the update from Manu Kumar Jain (Xiaomi Country Head).
First with Flipkart sales partner, there is 30 day return policy, if you have any problem within 30 days of purchase, it replaced completely.
Xiaomi ( known as MI in India) are going to open two exclusive service center of there own at Bangalore and Delhi now.
With third party vendor tie-up they have open 34 service center all over India which can service Xiaomi phone right now.
So there are as of now 36 service center in top 20 cities of India.

Xiaomi is very bullish about its growth in India and they are going to increase the service center in future to come. It will take time as the company
has just started operating in India.
But the good thing is that the way they started, this make sea change in pricing strategy for other company. More the competition, better for the customer. :)
 
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