Are high-end Android phones really worth it?

"These phones take the user experience to a whole new level!"

My journey with Android phones started with the Samsung Galaxy 3, which I’ve been tinkering with for a long, long time. Initially, it took a little time getting used to the touchscreen, especially while composing emails and messages. But after a few weeks of extensive use I was very happy with certain features, such as out-of-the-box support for DivX and MKV files and good quality. At the same time, I wasn’t too happy with small things that impacted productivity. Firstly, the screen was too narrow to type on the virtual QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode, and also the built-in dictionary of the stock Samsung keyboard wasn’t too intelligent to autocorrect mistyped words. The gaming performance also wasn’t too great. With even a bit of eye candy or 3D graphics appearing in games, frame rates used to go for a toss. I tried multiple ROMs and overclocking the phone's CPU from 667 MHz to a crazy 1200 MHz! It did help to quite an extent, but the battery life took a nosedive. I’m now considering investing in a high-end handset to satiate my needs for comfort and eye candy. This month’s comparison of high-end Android phones was a nice chance for me to get a hands-on experience with some of the best phones on the market. I started off with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, which I was very scared to use because it felt too feeble. The display also didn’t have Gorilla Glass for protection against scratches. However, the user interface was good and gaming on it was fun. The screen was also wide enough for typing messages in portrait mode without any strain. The big thing that turned me off was its 8 megapixel camera, which I expected to be excellent. The images came out quite grainy and some highcontrast night shots that I took were quite disastrous. I used it for almost a week, until I found it drab after getting the Samsung Galaxy SII in hand. You have to check out the quality of its Super AMOLED Plus display to believe how gorgeous it looks. It’s overly vibrant, but videos, games and photos look awesome. Paying Rs 4,000 over and above the price of the Xperia Arc is completely justified for a dual-core processor, 16 GB of built-in storage, sexy display and the sleek form. However, the camera performance isn’t quite up to the mark. The third and the last phone I used for quite a while was the HTC Incredible S. Hats off to HTC for the excellent Sense UI they’ve designed. It looks great, it’s extremely fluid, and the provision of quick access to the important functions has been paid a good deal of attention, which makes the phone a breeze to use. Overall, the phone is excellent, but it’s quite expensive. The sheer power and design of these high-end phones takes the user experience to a completely different level, but they come in at a hefty premium. Be careful and make wise decisions – you may get something much better by spending a few thousand Rupees more, and you won’t regret.