Sold off my Samsung S3 [US Version] phone today. I had used it for about a year.
It was a tough decision to make as i had grown attached to the device and it did serve me well. But the fact is, i needed to move on. It had become a case of functionality and convenience over emotional attachments.
I use two SIMs/Phones on a regular day, a work line and a personal one. Coupled with an android tablet, my usual day see me lugging all these devices around with me. Not much fun at all, trust me. I had decided a while back that dual SIM was the future for me and thankfully, the market for this class of phone is increasingly becoming vibrant. No better time than now to make a change.
Released in June 2012, the Samsung S3 is still a hugely popular phone and its listing is among the most viewed on gsmarena.com. Those that own the S3 do not see its successor, the Samsung S4, as being a worthy upgrade due to its minor incremental and largely unneeded additional features.
If it is any consolation, I did sell the S3 good, all N45,000 (US$280) that i asked for it.
Question now is, which phone do i use in the stead of the S3? Of course i know no dual SIM can touch the specifications of the S3 by a mile, but any dual SIM phone with decent specs will suffice for me for now, while hoping Samsung (or other manufacturers) will come out with better offers come 2014.
Below are the phones i am considering;
1. Tecno Phantom A+ vs Samsung Galaxy Grand
The Tecno brand has tried to redefine the perception the African market has about Chinese mobile phones. I got the Tecno Phantom A+ phone for my wife a couple of weeks ago. Only one word can summarize my experience with the device; Un-freaking-believable! (hope that qualifies as a word?). Sharp screen, very responsive and generous accessories (8GB card, memory bank, flip pouch). All for less than N35,000 – even at jumia.com.ng!
My major grouse with the phone is its limited internal memory, only 4GB.
The Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos shares almost similar specs with the Phantom A+ (love that name), even losing out in some specs but selling for much more, about N46,000! How much of this amount are we paying for the Samsung brand name?!
‘Nuff said, Tecno comes tops here!
Below is a comparison of some of the key specs;
[ws_table id=”6″]
2. Tecno Phantom A2 vs Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8
The Phantom A2 is not necessarily a direct upgrade to the Phantom A+, i will probably liken it to comparing the Samsung S4 with the Samsung Note 3. My personal opinion.
Compared to the A+, the Phantom A2 substitutes its screen with a 5.7 incher, the front camera with 1.9MP and the price with about N43000.
Definitely, the Tecno loses out on this one. Notwithstanding that the Galaxy Mega costs about N56000, no way i am going to shell out N43k for such miserly specs. Tecno needs to be careful, the brand is still not strong enough to command such prices. I suggest they stick to sub N40000 prices.
Check out the spec comparison;
[ws_table id=”7″]
The results are in, definitely it is a Tecno on my mind. I have used and still own Samsung devices. Would be a nice idea to see if the other side is indeed greener.
My eyes are definitely on the Phantom A+, value for my money.
10 comments
dave
Hey wale pls revisit ur specs for d a2 dey r wrong totally example a2 host 8mp on d front camera while it video card its nt cortex but mediatrex
Chuks
Hello, Wale. From the last response posted here, I’d say it’s really important to take battery life into consideration. Please include that bit in your comparison. I hope you can post that shortly. Thanks.
Wale Falade
Hi Chuks. I will be putting up a post of my every day usage experiences of the phone, mostly using the Samsung S3 as a benchmark. As regards the battery, i can assure you that it will get you through a day of very active usage.
Trae Zeeofor
Moved from a 1500 mAh battery phone to a 2460 mAh battery phone a few weeks back and life has truly never been the same. Battery capacity is a big big consideration for me; won’t touch any thing less than 2400 mAh. So why don’t you up your budget a little, get all round better quality and get the “Samsung” Galaxy Mega 5.8 I9150 instead? http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_mega_5_8_i9150-5396.php Goes for 58k at Slot http://slotlimited.com/products/Samsung-Galaxy-Mega.html
Wale Falade
I have read reviews and compared specs of the Galaxy Mega. The specs does not justify the price. My wife goes through about 2 days of BBM chats, minimal browsing, emails, facebook, etc before charging her Tecno Phantom A+. I do a full working day of about 12 hours conveniently before recharging. Of course, you can also take the free power bank accessory along with you, in the off-chance that you may need an unplanned recharge
bigbrovar
I used the Galaxy S3 for close to 6 month before selling it off around February this year. It was the worst android phone I have ever used especially compared to it’s predecessor the Galaxy S2. I found the design of the device boring but it’s worse crime was how fragile the device is. First time it dropped from my hand the glass shattered. It cost me about 38,000 to fix, compared to the Galaxy S 2 which was so rugged I would suspect it would survive a nuclear bomb.. such was it’s solidity.
On the software side of things S3 gets a D, I touchwiz is a pain, it is hopelessly bloated and though the device was fast, it didn’t execute its duties with elegance. To make matters worse, Samsung’s refusal to open up the Exynos and Mali SOC to developers means running a stock android based rom was impossible. That samsung refused to implement tripple buffering (project butter) one of the biggest advantages of Jelly Beans to the S3 was the last straw for me. I sold the S3 like a bad kid.. sold it for 40k (or 45k can’t remember) Got the Nexus 4 which is turning to be the best device I ever own. Nothing beats pure unadulterated android experience.
Noni
Bigbrova you are the better person – after a month I’d had enough. Bloated yes, hated TouchWiz with a passion.
After having a look at a friend’s Nexus 5. I’d rather take my chances with them or HTC than buy another Samsung phone.
Wale Falade
Samsung, generally, has a problem with bloatware. Most people do not realise that all the fancy features that Samsung advertises about its products are battery guzzlers. For the brief period that i had the stock ROM on my S3, i switch off all these fancy features.
Look at it this way, a CyanogenMod custom ROM size for S3 hovers around 160-170MB. The stock ROM from Samsung is about 1GB!
Noni
Also sold my S3, mainly because I didn’t like it! The next Android phone I get will most likely be a Nexus 5. For now I will continue to enjoy my One S
Wale Falade
Aaaw, but the S3 is nice. Perhaps, you did not have a custom Rom loaded on it? I had Android OS 4.3.1 on mine, the latest before Android 4.4 Kitkat.