When I wake up at dawn, my first act is to look at my Android handset (I’m pretty sure it’s more than just a Smartphone), to check last night’s mails, Hike and WhatsApp messages, Facebook statusupdates, Instagram posts, etcetera.
But one day instead of just seeing, I observed the handset. It said that it was a SAMSUNG device, originating from Korea. I wondered, am I using a Korean handset? Well, why can’t I use an Indian one?
With this doubt, I searched the Internet (Google, of course) for Indian Android devices. I searched only for Android because being Open Source, Android has many ROMs (Operating System is called ROM in Android language) made by Indians. For example, Indus OS (the second most used OS in India). is an indigenous ROM.
I got a list of Indian mobile brands as follows:
- CREO
- Celkon
- iball
- Intex Technologies
- Karbonn Mobiles
- Lava International
- LYF
- Micromax Informatics
- Onida Electronics
- Ringing Bells
- Spice Digital
- Videocon
- Xolo (Subsidiary of Lava International)
- YU Televentures (Subsidiary of Micromax Informatics)
But the top selling Smartphone brands in India are:
- Samsung
- Lenovo
- Micromax
- Motorola (Subsidiary of Lenovo)
- Intex
- LYF
- Lava
- Xiaomi
- Oppo
Of these, the top two brands are not Indian. Last week, Micromax was on the second place. Then it was pushed to third by the Lenovo group, a Chinese firm. This incident inspired me to write this article. I understood the fact that, as Indians, we are neglecting Indian products for Chinese. In the Smartphone world, Chinese brands aren’t drastically cheap. When it comes to price, they are on equal footing with Indian products. Though Samsung’s hardware is good, Micromax’s is better. Xiaomi (or Redmi) has good user interface(MIUI), but try Indus OS on most Indian handsets (Micromax, Intex, Lava, Swipe and more). If you want pure Google’s Android instead of going to Motorola, take a look at Android One devices from Micromax and Lava. Thus we can make the Indian smartphone market dominated by Indians and not by Chinese and Koreans.
Then, I just wanted to have a look through Android software’s Apps. The top used apps list by Indians, according to DAU:India is as follows:
- YouTube
- Google App
- Gmail
- Messenger
- UC Browser
- Google+
- SHAREit
- Google Maps
- MX Player
- Chrome Browser
- Hangouts
- Hike Messenger
- TrueCaller
- Flipkart
- Xender
- Clean Master
- imo
- Google Drive
- S Suggest
- PayTM
- AppLock
- Google Play Movies
- Dailyhunt
The Facebook-owned American messaging app, WhatsApp tops the list whereas the far better Hike Messenger ranks fourteen in the list.
Hike introduced encrypted chats way before WhatsApp. You can share any files like apk files, xml files, etc. through Hike but WhatsApp can’t. Limit of sharing in Hike is 100mb whereas WhatsApp only allows 16mb. Even WhatsApp lovers could also admit Hike has better privacy. Instead of Lenovo’s SHAREit just try the Hike Direct feature of Hike (I bet the latter’s better).
Apps like MX Player, UC Browser, Facebook are tracking your calls and uploading your contacts to their server. Use open source alternatives like VLC for MX Player, Opera Mini for UC Mini. Thank god, the online shopping domain is ours. Snapdeal, PayTM, Flipkart, Freecharge are on top of the list.
I don’t want us to stop using foreign products; I am just saying it would be better if we use more Indian brands. I haven’t written about the statistics in the economic markets; take a look at it yourself for better understanding.
Vinesh Iyappan is a tech geek, Android fanatic, and a second year student of Electronics and Instrumentation.