Which (Indian) 4G feature phone to choose

April 28, 2018 12:20 PM

There's a number of "candybar" phones with 4G connectivity available in India that scratch my itch for something basic but that offers a hotspot, streaming music, etc. I had an eye on the Jio Phone, but it is locked to Jio simcards and I've not seen that you can get them unlocked. The other options such as Micromax Bharat 1, Intex Turbo+, Lava Connect M1, etc. all seem much the same but unlocked. Are there any others I should be looking at? Which do you recommend otherwise?

I'm also into budget, mini smartphones that can do this stuff, such as the Soyes. I'm not interested in the Nokia feature phones, have one and hate it. An absolute win would be one that has voice-keyboard capabilities but I'm not holding my breath.

posted by J.R. Hartley to Technology (3 answers total)

What is your budget? Also, why specifically candybar phones in India?

99% of all smartphones, even basic ones, are unlocked by default and can be used with any carrier.
posted by theobserver at 4:13 AM on April 30, 2018

Response by poster: The Indian angle was related to the 4G candy bars that seem to be almost exclusively available in that market (didn’t want to look at Chinese options right now). I’ve gone with the Bharat 1 for the record @ about 30 dollars. If anyone comes across this in the future the Soyes knock off “7s” look like they could be a fun miniature semismart phone for about 60 bucks.
posted by J.R. Hartley at 11:22 AM on April 30, 2018

I really hope that somebody with more local knowledge will come in since I'd really like to find out about this as well - but I found this comparison website - maybe that's a way to find better/compatible competitors at different price points.
posted by mathiu at 6:05 AM on May 1, 2018