This is the second post of a three part series of Android Phones in India. Read the first in the series here : Android phones in India : Price range, Input and Android version
Touch screen, the size and its responsiveness are one of the key deciding factors. Though Resistive touch screen was in vogue few months back, for almost the same cost a capacitive touch screen phone can be bought. The stats reveal that trend. Screen size has been a hot potato ever since touch screen phones came into existence. Processor type, processor speed and RAM are other key factors in deciding the performance of a phone. Let’s take a look at the trends so far for these features.
Touch Screen : Capacitive vs Resistive
Capacitive touch screen rules. 84% of the phones launched or 28 phones come with a capacitive touch screen. 5 phones are resistive touch screens. Resistive touch screen phones are either launched few months back, or launched recently at a low price point. Of the recent launches, Dell XCD28 and Acer beTouch110 have a resistive touch screen and are in the Rs.10K range.
Screen size
Screen size is the most fragmented feature of the touch screen phone. No one knows what feels good in hands. No one knows what size is too big in the hands too. So manufacturers are tweaking with the screen sizes. The smallest screen size on the Android phones in India is 2.5 inch. Two phones – Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini and Mini Pro – have a 2.5 inch screen. The largest screen size is for Dell Streak. Two phones – Samsung Galaxy S and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 – have a 4-inch screen. Everything else falls between 2.8 to 3.7 inches. 3.2 inch screen is the most popular screen size with 12 phones falling in that category. 60% of the phones fall in the 3-4 inch screen size category. With the launch of a 4.8 inch Acer X, the phones might get bigger.
Processor Speed, Processor Type and RAM
600 MHz is the standard speed on touch screen Android phones. That is double the speed of my first computer. Close to 50% of the phones or 16 of the 33 phones are powered by 600 MHz speed processor. One phone is powered by 667 MHz processor. At the top-end, phones like HTC Desire, Dell Streak, Samsung Galaxy S and Sony Ericsson X10 are powered by 1 GHz processor. Three phones are in the 700 MHz – 800 MHz processing range. 2 phones are powered by 416 Mhz – the lowest speed on these phones. 7 phones are powered by 528 MHz processor.
Coming to the chipset manufacturers of these phones, there are only four names in the fray with one dominant name. Qualcomm takes the honors with 22 of the 33 phones powered by one of its processors. 6 phones are powered by ARM processor, 2 phones by ST Ericsson and 1 phone by Texas Instruments. Processor type for 3 phones are not readily available.
RAM
This by far was the most difficult data to gather. Not all manufacturers publish this data. There are conflicting figures from two different reliable sources. 9 phones have conflicting or no data and were left out of this analysis for RAM. 256MB RAM is the most prevalent with the lowest being 126MB and highest being 512MB.
Next in the series we will look at camera, audio and video of Android phones in India.
10 Comments
Anoynomous
"6 phones are powered by ARM processor, 2 phones by ST Ericsson and 1 phone by Texas Instruments. Processor type for 3 phones are not readily available."
What's the point of this article ?. If you have taken the trouble to research, why not publish a matrix of phones and their specs. How do i know which phones use ARM processor and what difference does that make anyway.
Sriram Vadlamani
This is supposed to be report and not an opinion. We will publish the matrix sometime soon.
madhan R
Each processor has its own Pros n' Cons. But of late, higher end Mobile phones in market these days seem to be using popular Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon processors.
Sriram Vadlamani
True. Another point is, Qualcomm is on quite a few mobile phones and everyone else is behind.
venkat
Hi, Even saying ARM Processors is a wide term as there are many types of ARM cores and even the Qualcomm or other processors may have same ARM cores. Soon Qualcomm will face real competition in real terms other vendors are waiting for next gen releases..have to wait till 2011 to see real techonology changes..
Amit_zany
Is there a 3G Dual SIM Anderiod Mobile in India?
Sriram Vadlamani
Not yet.
Underground
I would like to know the same. I now own a Acer DX900 but would like to switch to a android phone with capacative touch, 3G, dual sim (dual standby) and GPS of course.
Jaynesh
Which android phone i should buy?
My budget is 1ok.
sandy
hi,m looking out for a rugged phone.
i want to know bout motorola defy plus and sony xperia active… which of these would u like to suggest……..and which processor would be better motos or sony waiting for the reply