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The growth of Google’s Android Operating System for mobiles has been beyond all expectations. As perGartner’s Report, Android accounted for 25.5 percent of worldwide smartphone sales, making it the No. 2 OS, just behind Symbian. Exactly a year ago Android’s market share was 3.5 percent. Growth driver for Android is that it has been adopted by all major handset manufacturers in the world (except for Nokia, Blackberry and Apple, who have their own OS). Another key growth driver, is the availability of Android mobiles across all price segments and form factors (both touchscreen and QWERTY mobiles).

In India also Android is gaining popularity which is evident from that fact that we now have around 30 Android mobiles available from as low as Rs. 6,749 to as high as Rs. 35,999. Following is a list of 10 best Android phones available in India across different price segments.

Update (13th July 2011):

Top 10 Android Mobile Phones in India

Less than Rs. 10,000

1. Samsung Galaxy Pop S5570

Samsung Galaxy Pop is an entry level Android phone targeted towards youth. For its entry level price it packs quite a punch with 3.14 inch display and 600 Mhz processor. It runs on Android 2.2. It comes with Wi-Fi and 3G and supports full Social Networking, Email and Messaging capabilities. It has a 3MP camera which has decent photo quality. Overall this is one of the best Android phones in its price range and is getting popular among youth & geeks on budget.

Best Price: Rs. 7,990

2. LG Optimus One P500

This was available in the 10k-15k range in the last list. The phone has seen almost a 25% drop in price since then and is available for less than 10k now. The 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen is really good. It supports multi-touch as well. Also has 600Mhz processor & a decent camera.

Best Price: Rs. 9,790

From Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000

This is the segment where we have the most competition with maximum number of Android phones.

3. Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670

Samsung Galaxy Fit is another phone in the range of Rs. 10K which is getting really popular because of all the stuff it packs. Galaxy Fit comes with Android 2.2 and 3.3 inch capacitive touchscreen (240 x 320 pixels). It runs on a 600 Mhz processorwhich gives it a decent speed. Good part about this mobile is its 5 MP camera which takes great pics and is capable of Geo tagging. It comes with Wi-Fi and 3G and Supports GPS navigation. Overall it’s a great phone at its price range.

Best Price: Rs. 10,099

4. HTC Wildfire S

HTC Wildfire S is a new phone from HTC and is an upgrade of its popular HTC Wildfire model. It runs on the latest Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread) and HTC Sense UI. It has Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS Navigation. Camera is good at 5MP and comes with autofocus and Flash. This phone has a decent 600 Mhz processor and runs on 512 MB RAMwhich makes it really snappy to use. It has great 3.2 inch display with a resolution of 320 x 480 Pixels. Overall it’s a high quality device from HTC at a very affordable price and we are sure it will become even more successful than its predecessor HTC Wildfire.

PS: If you are a geek and want a true blooded Android device, I would suggest you to go with LG Optimus One. instead of this.

Best Price: Rs. 13,399

From Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000:

5. HTC Desire

HTC Desire has been one of really popular top end Android phones of all time. This phone is now available in the market at a mouth watering price of Rs. 15.5K. Even though it’s an old device, at this price it is one of the best buys and a fantastic value for money. It comes with a great 3.7-inch Super LCD WVGA display and 1 Ghz processor. It is one of the cheapest 1 GHz phones in the market. It comes with Android 2.1 (upgradable to 2.2) and HTC sense UI. Camera is decent 5MP with flash. It has a flash enabled browser and supports full social networking, email and messaging just like any other Android. With its powerful processor and 576 MB RAM it offers a great gaming experience as well.

Best Price: Rs. 15,499

6. Samsung Galaxy SL I9003

Samsung Galaxy SL is a lower priced version of the very popular Samsung Galaxy S. It is priced lower because it comes with a 4 inch super clear LCD display instead of AMOLED Display of Galaxy S. Even this Super clear LCD display offers great display and picture quality because of it high resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It runs on 1 Ghz processor and comes with Android 2.2 (Froyo). Its camera is a 5 MP and comes with touch focus and face detection and is capable of HD (720p) video recording. It features full Flash support as will in browser. Overall it’s a great top end phone at this (upper mid-range) price point.

Best Price: Rs. 19,360

From Rs 20,000 to Rs. 25,000

7. HTC Desire S

HTC Desire S is the successor to the highly popular HTC Desire. HTC Desire S comes with the latest Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and a powerful 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor with 768 MB of RAM, which makes this phone superfast. It also comes with the new HTC Sense UI 3.0. Display is 3.7 inch S-LCD with 480 x 800 pixel and it comes with Gorilla Glass which is scratch resistant. It has a 5 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash and is capable of HD video recording at 720p. Overall it offers one of the best build quality, professional design and great mobile experience among all the top end Android devices.

Best price: Rs. 22,599
8. LG Optimus 2X P990

This one is for you if you are a game freak and want one of the fastest android mobiles available in the market. It is the first Dual Core processor mobile available in India. It comes with Android 2.2 which is upgradable to 2.3. It runs on NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual Core processor with two 1GHz A9 cores along with eight GeForce GPU cores. Display is 4 Inch IPS capacitive display. Camera is 8 MP with full HD (1080p) view recording. It also comes with HDMI output and HDMI Mirroring (which means you can connect it to you LCD/LED TV and play games on it using the phone as a game controller). Overall it is one the best gaming Android phone available in the market.

Best Price: Rs. 24,890

Above Rs. 25,000:

9. Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc is also one of the best top end Androids available in the market. It comes with a brilliant 4.2 inch display with a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. It runs on Sony’s Bravia Engine which is used in its LED TVs. This means it displays better images and picture quality than any other mobile. It comes with Sony’s Timescape UI. Camera is 8MP and supports HD video recording (720p). One of the key features on Xperia Arc is its unique thin and curved design, which makes it great to look and ergonomic in use. Overall it offers and great quality and mobile experience for its price point.

Best Price: Rs. 26,890

10. Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100

Samsung Galaxy S2 is the successor to the popular / acclaimed Galaxy S. It comes with a brilliant 4.3 Inch Super AMOLED Plus display and runs on a super fast 1.2 GHz Dual core processor and 1GB RAM. OS is Android 2.3 with Samsung’s new TouchWiz 4.0 UI. It comes with a 8 MP camera capable of Full HD (1080p) video recording. It supports Full HD view playback and HD gaming experience. This is one the best top end Android phones available in the market today.

Best Price: Rs. 29,490

Other Notable Mentions because of their form factor:

Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830

Samsung Galaxy Ace is one of the most popular Android phones because it offers great speed and experience at its price point. It comes with a fast 800 Mhz processor, 3.5 inch HVGA display, 5 MP Camera with LED Flash, Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS Navigation and almost all other features found on high end mobile phones. It is one of the best value for money phones.

Best Price: Rs. 14,490

Dell Streak

With its recent price drop Dell Streak has become really affordable and offers complete value for money package. It comes with a large 5 inch display with 480 x 800 pixels resolution. It runs on 1 GHz processor and Android 2.2, 512 MB RAM. It also comes with a 16 GB internal storage. If you can live with a slightly bulky phone, Dell Streak is a great choice.

Best Price: Rs. 23,690

Editor’s note: I personally like to add Samsung Nexus S into the mix. For less than Rs.20000, Nexus S is my personal favorite for a mid-range value-for-money Android smartphone. You can be sure of latest OS updates and also a great choice for Android developers.

This was a guest post by Sitakanta who is running a mobile and price comparison engine for books and mobile phones. The prices mentioned above are taken from the android mobile price list available at Mysmartprice.com. The prices on the above page are refreshed every 48 hours based on the best price across 6 online stores in India. Please give mysmartprice.com a spin and share your feedback with him at sitakanta[@]mysmartprice.com