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Reliance Handsets – nobody’s innovating in the CDMA space?

I went to a Reliance WebWorld the other day to check out new handset models. I was surprised by the lack of options! They had only 5 models, while the Reliance IndiaMobile website shows many more. This was not a small WebWorld, yet they had real bad handsets. The sample pieces looked too fragile, one of them actually looked like a toy! The guy at the counter said they have discontinued a lot of models, especially the flap ones!

Looks like there is little or no innovation in the CDMA handset space. GSM is full with a plethora of options, but both Tata & Reliance have very few models. I am waiting for some more options!

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  1. That is so true. My previous handset stolen, which was a Kyocera 7135 which was a great handset. It was costly so I thought of getting a more budget friendly handset. I went to the Reliance Webworld in Thane and they had only 2 handsets available and that too were not so good. They really need to work on the handsets and bring out handsets which are competitive enough with the GSM handsets. And another thing you are right about is that they advertise about other handsets which are not so easily available. Now I am stuck, and I think I’ll have to take one of their featurless handsets.

  2. I also had the exact experience , when I went to Reliance web world they have very limited options !!! more over they say that they cannot beat the price of another dealer .

    They have to come out with different models , specaially in SAMSUNG they are real pioneers.

  3. After reading all the above responses, I am now consoling myself that, I am not alone. My RIM hand set stopped working. I went to three Web world shops to buy a new one. Surprisingly, there were no options in the higher end models. It is in comparison with the vibrant GSM models. The attendats were also not showing much interest in showing the what ever pieces available. Now, to protect my number, i have to buy one of the least preferred models. Am I struck with Reliance CDMA ? Can I expect early entry of Reliance into GSM market in Hyderabad too ?

  4. Really , relaince has given me headchek. i think i was fool to buy such a sloopy company mobile. anil has gone asleep with other business. he should not play with his customers.

  5. It is true…. Reliance has got only limited handset options.

    Samsung and Nokia are good, but they are not goodlooking…only the features are good. LG used to come with attractive models… but it is a damn waste handset.. Anybody going behind beauty will be cheated by LG people and also about the service centres appointed by LG.. they used to go for dirty people to run their service centres. The service centre people are not bothered about service or concerned about public relations. They used to shout at people… One good example is Appollo Systems service centre of LG in Karamana, Trivandrum. The incharge Mr.Santhosh is rude towards all the customers. He shouts at all customers and anybody who got a chance to visit LG Service Centre, Karamana, Trivandrum, Kerala, India will get a experience like this…

    SO BEWARE OF APPOLLO, MR.SANTHOSH AND ALSO LG.

    I dont know why LG is scared of this type of Service Centre incharges. Just throw away this type of people and appoint good guys.

  6. hi dears
    exactly same service as you all are saying!!!!!!
    Reliance Communications is very onsistent in giving bad service.
    i also went to see some good handesets.
    they dont have the attitude to show new models.
    They dont bother whether the customer is satisfied or not.

  7. I am at Chennai and I am also looking out seriously for a good higher end handset. I am not able to get any. They say that they are coming out with a new model Nokia 6275 with all important features but the piece is not available at market. Only a brouchure is available to have a look at the model. Not even one demo piece is available with them. I checked with various branches like T.Nagar, Mount Road and West Mambalam but the same status everywhere.

  8. all my friends are buying amazing GSM handsetsets and i m stuck with these disgusting options of handsets of reliance.i dont know which one to buy.and also i am not getting the appropriate informations about them on net.i seriously wish they may launch some good handsets soon.

  9. Hello friends
    U all r so true. Yesterday I visited the whole Noida sector 18 electronic market to get a Reliance handset, but was shocked to c the options there. Except some entry level classic n LG handsets, and Nokia 6235 no handset was available. After reading ur blogs atleast u saved me from going CDMA. m better placed in GSM category.

    thanks
    pankaj

  10. V V Important Comment
    Hallow dear friends,really it is very disturbing fact that while asking for a standerise cdma handset to a cell shopkeeper,he is not even ready to answer.We feel guilty concious and a sense of inferiority prevails.A big company like Reliance is all responsible for the situation.We want to purchase handset with latest features and very good outlook like Nokia’s N Series or Blackberry,but nothing sought of such type of handsets are available in the market.I want to suggest my friends to mail messages to the customer care center of Reliance Com.to ensure the high quality handsets of companies like Nokia and Samsung.

  11. Every one here is very correct with their words. I am suffering with non glamourous reliance handset problem.
    very common boring models and are not getting updated since last few months. Pathetic…

  12. you are right
    3G- CDMA stands for Teen Gujarati Chor, Dhiru, Mukesh aur Anil
    Ha Ha Ha Ha
    hum sab lut gaye

  13. any news on any new handsets available in the market? i got a msg saying there’s some new handset from LG called LG Musicfone with video camera and all that… (worth 18990) at reliance web worlds but i’ve practically sieved the entire delhi web worlds but can’t find that handset! was it only for the sms chain? 🙁 do u guys have any news abt any new suave handsets at reliance?

  14. i have been searching and asking for new CDMA mobile for abt an year now,,,but all is in vain…therez nobody to give proper reply wen asked abt CDMA…its so disgusting to carry these bloody old sets which donot even function properly(bcoz obv therez no good nokia handset in CDMA).A big company like Reliance is all responsible for the situation.We want to purchase handset with latest features and very good outlook like Nokia’s N Series or Blackberry,but nothing sought of such type of handsets are available in the market.i seriously wish they may launch some good handsets soon.

  15. I am disgusted that I am getting the same sloppy standard of service that a lot of subscribers are getting.
    To get the number changed from prepaid to postpaid cannot be done if you have shifted from postpaid to prepaid in the past.
    They do not know this.
    The Web world at Kalbadevi Road directed me to the one at Fort and the Fort guys asked me to go to the one at Kala Ghoda. In the end, they asked me to go to Kamala Mills when the office had already shifted to Shriram Mills.
    Even after wasting two full days to retain the same number and get the problem solved, it could not be done.
    Why can’t they tell the customers upfront what can be done and what cannot instead of wasting their time?
    I bought an entry level classic handset awaiting their BB launch. The set is no better than a dabba!
    Whenever I have gone to the WW, they are full of customers complaining about inflated bills received late!
    What misplaced priorities Anil has – to be one up on Mukesh, he wants to increase subs base without caring for existing customers who are trapped in absence of number mobility.
    What a shame and stain on DA’s good name!

    Hope someone in RCOM is listening and takes some action before it is too late.

  16. Had been to their web world to check out new handsets. They had banners of all new blacberry handsets along with LG communicators. When asked them about the same, they did not ahve the price list or the handset and were not aware of its features or availibility. When i asked them if the handsets were launcehed, they mentioned that they were launched a month ago.
    I am so damn tied up with this RELIANCE. Cant let go also as change of number may affect my business.
    I strongly recommend new customers to stay away from reliance

  17. relaince web world is just for the name sake, no service, and no good new models for their cdma handset to choose for worth migrating to some other service provider i thing reliance should wind up the telecommunication business or look into their poor service qand range of cdma handsets

  18. iwant to know the model number of a nokia phone which can be used with relianc sim and has bluetooth facility at a least price

  19. Hi Friends,

    I am completely agree with your thoughts and i think there is only one solution for this is to inform the company about their service. I have took first step and launch a written complaint to reliance website. it would be great if you could take a moment and let the reliance know that we are suffering due to their poor service.

    Please follow below link to provide your thoughts.

    http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/jsp/personalinfo/PersonalInformation.jsp

    Regards,

    Atul Ingale

  20. Reliance Really has been very slow in innovation about the Handsets.In case of GSM its like many choices in Higher End one while in case of CDMA’s no choice @ all.LG 6600 looks good but dont know about the build quality & interface.Nobody of my pal is in its favour as the look good doesnt assure the interface & quality.Whereas Nokia doesnt has any which has every thing that GSM higher end has.Most of the handsets are not available in market.Just advertising doesnt solve these thing.I have been using the LG Initial model(Launch) since 2004 & same no.but now want to go for new handset but cant find 1 dat is good in all sense as GSMs are…………..Awating for…………….Anil A are u reading this….May b not………..

  21. well i visited the reliance web world in oct, and now again in december the story is the same, none in the range of cdma handsets worth mentioning, all old stuff, atleat tatas have the latest cdma sliders and other samsung cdma handsets worth buying if we have the tata indicom as our service provider,
    I thing reliance is more interested in other business ventures, other then tele communications

  22. HI All,

    I m also facing the same problem

    I had visit in various reliance outlets and webworld

    but they have limited options in choosing the handsets

    nokia handsets are very few and not easily available in the market

    shame on reliance and anil ambani

  23. No way other than MNP(Mobile Number Portability) you can survive the ancient CDMA(sence being handsets). they dont have good handsets, also they are not implementing EV-DO any soon, which has now been launched to many a countries. hence CDMA is quiet bothersome using the data services and are very slow compared to GPRS, 3G/EV-DO is far enough to get. dont know why TRAI is not strict on this side. well i am waiting for MNP, since then i have to remain with my Nokia6275(still better among other CDMA handsets other than RazrV3).

  24. hey everybody…..we r sailing in d same boat…my reliance handset is of Samsung make if u guys remember Samsung boss (the ad was done by Virendra Sehwag)..now that handset has turned into hell.. all its colour is gone and i myself m not able to recognise my handset..m searching 4 new handset of nokia or samsung having reliance sim… i also searched many reliance web worlds at Dadar, Fort and many more bt not able 2 get any good handset.. and one thing all the people at reliance web world are least interested to show the handsets and respond and co-operate with…

    One i visited reliance web world near at Fort on their SMS that reliance has offered handset upgradation offer.. so i rushed there…. the new handsets they showed me were of classic which appear like toy .. featureless… god… m stuck..

  25. well my visit to the reliance web world, after my visits during oct, and dec, in feb same old story, hardly any good models, no sliders in the reliance range, when the sliders with tata cdma handsets sell the most, think anil, dont just concentrate on energy and power they are down and rock bottom

  26. i hav seen many handsets but only in bruchure i am fed up using tthe handset now but non of the outlet hav a single demo peice to show to there customer reallly hectic.

  27. Hello, friends
    After going through all your experiences, now i am feeling little relaxed. Coz now I came to know that I am not only one who has such experiences with Reliance CDMA phones.I started the journey with Reliance In Sept 2005. Though I had a nice Nokia GSM handset before, but I had to buy a LG CDMA (5220)as there were not many options were there. From the beginning it has shown so many defects.The network and the performance is very very POOR on reliance. Two times I have given for repair, two times changed the cell, but still problems persisted. Now if I talk for five minutes, the set gets hot and the respective ear and head starts aching.
    I wanted to buy a new one, but not much varieties are available in RWW. So finally I decided to have a NEW NOKIA GSM handset and say bye bye to RELIANCE for ever.

  28. I will first answer Gentleman Mr.Bhaskar
    I have been using reliance LG handset since 2004.
    I would like to ask him.Did you ever dream of having a Mobile before Reliance Era.
    And mind you reliance is not into handset Business..
    Handset issues are to be addressed by the concerned Company..
    Before blaming someone Mr.Rohit,make sure you have adequate knowledge about the subject
    Huzefa Sorry reliance has Nokia 6265 Slider also ang LG Chocolate(8000)huzefa ezzy
    Anil Ambani has a set of experts to advice him whether reliance should wind up the telecommunication business or look into their poor service and range of cdma handsets. I would like to use a handset that Huzefa has made.

  29. I totally agree with Anand. Reliance is actually concentrating in making people reach one another. With regards to non availability of varities, i think they are having quite good models like for example Nokia 6275. Though the varities are limited to choose from i think Reliance have covered most of the options which needs to be incorporated.

  30. Exactly I am using My Reliance number with 3 different headsets since 2003. That time also there was no such options and same condition now too.Very less number of good headsets compare to GSM They have to increase the number of good headsets then only they will get more n more customers.

  31. Best thing is to throw your CDMA phone in gutter & sleep well. Forget about laying your hands on a decent CDMA handset in india specially from reliance. If you can’t dump it, next best thing is to buy a cheap handset, get it converted to lifetime validity to preserve your number.

  32. so so true…. only option available is either go for those not so long lasting handsets, or to try ur luck by one of the seconds handsets

  33. Mr Anil, When are u launching new and goodlooking handsets which can compete with existing GSM handsets

  34. Reliance really ought to give a serious thought on getting new handsets.
    The Web World hardly are aware about any new handsets and compared to Reliance Web site the options are quite restricted. A web world near my house in Mumbai does not have any to show me, instead they are directing me to another shop which could have some handsets even though it is not officially a Reliance store.

  35. It has been dissappointing to me that I ado not have good CDMA handsets in the market. The only option I have is Blackberry Pearl which costs around 21k. The next option I have is from Nokia that costs around 10K. In betweek this there is a big vaccum and though I am using CDMA (Reliance) from two years it looks like the time has come for us to shift to GSM.

    Nobody seems interested in this space. Hey soneome ready to invest? Lets start a new venture to cater guys.

  36. I went in for Reliance CDMA about 4 years ago when the monsoon dhamaka @ Rs 500/- was offered. It was a very cunning marketing strategy and only Samsung handsets were offered for about Rs 7000/- spread over 3 years. After my samsung handset got spoilt I went in for Classic 762. The classic range is another cunning move by Reliance. Now that classic set is also not functioning and I am hardpressed to buy a decent CDMA hand set in the range of Rs 3000 – 4000.

  37. I am nt alone…suffering…der r many….
    good to c so many names…
    This is pathetic…… GSM ppl getting so much option n CDMA… reliance is jst fooling there customers… .
    i dont like this indian company…… i wanted to use an indian network thats why i tried this… bt nw i need to think over this…

  38. I request RCom to come out some decent handsets. The Nokia 6275 is the only option at the moment with 3 major flaws !! One – Only 500 Names in Phone Book (Which in today’s day and age is very less), secondly – Low Battery Life and thirdly a bit bulky.

    If this situation doesn’t improve we will definitely need to rethink on continuing with CDMA !!

  39. It seems rcom people doesnt want people to go for cdma connections, thats why they are not introducing good nokia & sony handsets. If thats their decision they should let people know that they dnt need urban & metro market & their target is only rural india by selling cheap handsets.

  40. Am sad that i never get a phone which will have complete requirements of phone…all that i get is phone with FM,Video recorders blah…blah..etc….
    Am actually looking for a phone whcih should have atleast 8hrs of talk time…there shuld be speed dialy of atleast 50 numbers….there shuld be no restriction on number phone numbers that can be saved….it shuld have call conference / call waiting / number and name display on call etc….lastly it shuld have some space to keep all the remainders since it is one piece which will be there with us for most of the time…..

  41. I think reliance communication is not bothered about customers, they buy in lots useless out dated handsets at a cheaper rate to make profit. Inspite of requests,complaints from Reliance customers they have not improved. In our family we had 3 reliance connection but due to this we have switched over to GSM connection and also some of our friends and collegues are also switched over to GSM phones. When they are not bothered about customers why should we bother about them.

  42. i use NOKIA 3125, which is not bad handset but now i want to switch to another fancy handset so i went to reliance web world at naupada thane where i found the staff is very rude , show no interest in the customers, not helpful at all. i politely requested to one of the female staff to show me mobile handsets to which she responded with the simple answer ” wait for some time i”ve work to do, i am not sitting idle here”. after twenty minutes she showed me some chinese handsets in which i was not interested so i left the place. i really wonder how this company is survived in this competetive world ? do anybody has answer ?