Unreliable Jinnie with limited powers... Review on FLY E300

Hi All.There are numerous reviews on N no of Cellphones every where. However when I read them to find a suitable for my Self I simply got confused. So The methodology that followed was I first fixed my budget(8000-15000) thats a wide range I know. But I wanted to cover as many sets possible as I can, so that I can have a good look at all the features available in the market. I was also open to all the handset makers. So be it Sagem, Bleu or Fly or any other. I then used various website to find out the most sought after features. Then I narrowed my search on the phones that were offering maximum features within my Budget range. Thats how I narrowed on 4 handsets. These were Nokia N73 ME(Rs. 13, 500 approx), Motorola Razr V8(Rs. 12, 500 apprx) Fly E300(Rs, 8800) and Sony C900(Price NA).

*The features on offer were:

a. 3.2 mega pix camera, Video and sound recorder( with or without Web cam feature)

b. Blue tooth, Infrared, USB Connectivity

c. GPRS & WAP

d. FM With recording+ MP3 Player(Supporting MP3, WAV, MID, IMY, MP4, 3GP, AAC, AMR formats)

e.  Calender, Notes, To do & Scheduler

f. 25MB in built Memory and a free Micro SD card(128MB)

g. Voice recognition & Dictaphone

h. E-mail support, MMS, SMS

i. Direct TV Output(Cable comes free with the phone)

*All the phones listed above offer most of the above features.

However some model specic features were:

Nokia N73 ME: Onboard 44 MB internal memory & comes witha 2 GB card free, Carl Zeiss lens for excellent picture quality. Ver y good sound quality and of course the trademark reliability of Nokia.

Motorola V8: On borard 2 GB internal memory so no need for a external card, Good sound quality.

FLY E300: Comes loaded with 25MB internal memory and an External 128 MB Micro SD Card free, Touch Screen with Stylus(Hand writing recognition)

SONY C900: Comes with a 5 MP Camera

Now the next step was to check the credentials of the manufacturer(this is where I am not sure if I made a right choice). I chose FLY because even after incuding a 2GB micro SD card and an added feature of a direct TV Output facility this handset comes for Rs. 9800. which seemed like a great bargain. But the quality of the handset is doubt ful. I realised this once I purchaed the handset and started to use it. Its very delicate and I constantly fear that some day it will breakdown. Also the user manual provided with the handset is absolutely useless it only tells you the features but does not give a detail proceedure to activate or deactivate them. The earphones provided with the handset is too big to fit in the ears. The Charger cord is a USB based cord which acts both as a Data cord and a charger cord. The Camera provided in the handset gives decent( I say decent and not outstanding which should have been the case when you buy a 3.2 MP camera phone if you compare it with Nokia/Sony) pictures in daylight however when I use the camera in dim light or at night the piuctures are pale green or simply black and the flash is simply not effective. Actually the shutter operates only after the flash has taken place so no effect of the flash.

*A couple of days back I faced a new problem with the set, Somebody dialed my number. When I picked up the call, I was able to hear the callers voice but he was not able to hear me. He tried again but again the same problem. I then tried calling my own no using a land line but again the same problem. Which meant there was some problem in the set and not the connectivity. I shook the phone/Switched off & restarted it and then there you go it was working fine. This incident again shook my confidence in FLY. I immediately took the phone to a handset dealer and asked what would be the resale price and I was told that the set would not fetch me more than Rs. 4, 500. so there is no resale value either.

*The only good thing about this set are the looks and the number of features it boasts of at the price it is available at.

So guys my advise is if you really want to enjoy the most common features like the Camera, FM, Music player, Blue tooth then FLY is not the set for you go for Nokia or Sony. and if you need to flaunt looks then go for FLY.

I realize now that I have made a mistake, but I hope that people who are reading this will be saved from a dead investment.