Smart or Globe? Which Telecom Company Offers The Best Lumia Package? ~ SCRATCH e-PAD!

The full Nokia Lumia family of super devices running Windows Phone will invade the Philippines in a weeks time, the flagship Nokia Lumia 900, the high end Nokia Lumia 800, the midrange Nokia Lumia 710 and lower midrange Lumia 610, all aimed to capture the fancy of tech savvy Filipinos. Among the aforementioned, the following are currently being offered for pre-order in two of the country's biggest telecom networks, Nokia Lumia 710 for Smart Telecom and Nokia Lumia 800 for Globe, offered respectively in a packages uniquely different from the another. Most frequent question would then be, which one offers the best?

Lets compare both packages in a graded showdown with following areas to consider; the phone offered, the most affordable, the most number of services and perks, the most sensible and balance and last but not the least, the best sales services and support that subscriber enjoys from the network. Biggest scorer wins! Read on to find out!

Phone offered

Globe has a powerful weapon of choice, the Nokia Lumia 800. The phone has a critically acclaimed hardware design, touch engineered curve glass display, unibody polycarbonate cover, AMOLED screen display with ClearBlack Display, 16GB of internal memory, 8MP with Carl Ziess optics and Dual LED flash.

Smart telecom tapped the Nokia Lumia 710. A midrange power phone with a glossy high grade plastic cover, regular TFT screen display with ClearBlack Display, 8GB of internal memory, 5MP camera with regular optics and single LED flash.

Other than the aforementioned differences, everything else on the phone were similar in specs and features.

Grade: Globe's Lumia 800 gets 10 signals being far more better, Smart's Lumia 710 gets 6.

The most affordable

For users who have a tight budget like me who just want the cheapest way to get the latest mobilephone craze, this is the most important criteria of all.

Smart offers the Lumia 710 under Data Plan 1000 + PhP450 monthly installment cash out for 24months, amounting to PhP1,450 per month.

Globe on the other hand offers the Lumia 800 under 3 packages. The My Super Plan 499 + 99 Power Surf + 713 cash out per month, amounting to PhP1,311 per month; the Unli Surf Combo 999 + 500 cash out per month, amounting to PhP1,499, then lastly, the My Super Plan 999 + 99 Power Surf + 500 cash out per month, amounting to PhP1,598.00.

Grade: Globe gets 10 signals for offering the most affordable while Smart gets 8.

Most number of services and perks by package

Globe had varied offers per package. Under the My Super Plan 499, subscribers gets the following, consumable amount worth 499, 50MB of mobile browsing and unlimited calls and text to 2 Globe or TM numbers. For Unli Surf Combo 999, users get unlimited browsing, 10 minutes call and 200 SMS to Globe and TM. Lastly, for My Super Plan 999, users gets 999 worth of consumable, 50MB of mobile browsing and 30 minutes calls and 600 SMS to Globe and TM.

Smart offers a single package at the moment which has the following services and perks, 500 SMS to all networks, 500 minutes of calls to Smart and Talk and Text, and 1GB of mobile data browsing.

Grade: Smart gets 10 signals while Globe gets 8.

The most sensible and balance package

Though Smart has the best plan offers, Globe offers are not seclusive, offering a more sensible and balance offering for users. Smart only have 500 free text to all network as part of there package while Globe offers consumable amount that can be use for calls and text to all network. My Super Plan 499 even have unlimited call to two Globe and TM numbers.

Grade: Globe gets 10 signals, Smart gets 8.

Customer service and support

I've been with Globe for quite sometime now and the main reason why I choose Globe is because of its unwavering customer service support. It was the main reason why I switch to Globe from being a Smart postpaid subscriber. I just cant take the long wait in calling Smart customer service, but that was 2 years ago, as of the moment, all my calls are now entertained right away. They even have a postpaid welcome program at the moment where they call new subscribers in order to familiarize them with the services they can enjoy with the network. I'd say its leveling up and taking the postpaid competition seriously.

Grade: Smart gets 10 signals, Globe gets 9.

Summing things up, Smart gets a solid 41 signals while Globe gets 45 making the latter the winner of the Lumia race. Smart with its Lumia 710 is an admirable offer but it fell short compared to Globe. If Smart had only offered a much lower plan package for Lumia 710, they would have won squarely. Smart must seriously consider lowering the plan package or offer additional perks with the phone if they want to compete with the outstanding Globe offer. Its now or never.