Apple has finally brought its famed subsidy model to India and it looks very delicious. In alliance with Reliance Communications, Apple iPhone 5s and 5c can be bought without paying any upfront price with a contract of 2 years with Reliance.

The monthly price of the bill that has to be paid is between Rs. 2500 and Rs. 3000 and this includes unlimited calls, sms and 3G data plan. The plan itself is good and for someone who uses the phone for a lot of calls and has a bill of around Rs. 3000 anyways will find it extremely lucrative. You are basically getting the phone for free.

Until now, Apple was not able to get the operators onboard with this plan as they feared that people will simply buy the phone and get it unlocked. This way, the operator doesn't get any benefits.

However, Reliance has broken the mold and we will see if this goes in their favor or not.

The scheme also lowers the price of higher end models with 32 GB model at an upfront fee of Rs. 11000 and around Rs. 20000 for 64 GB model.

It is of note that the actual unlocked price of iPhone 5c and 5s (16 Gb) is around Rs. 42000 and Rs. 53500. Comparing this to Reliance's offer suddenly makes the offer perfect.

What's the Catch? Yeah…there may be..

The first one is Reliance itself. As much as people would love an iPhone, they would prefer better service and Reliance has not been the epitome of it exactly. Leaving Airtel for Reliance is not something many would want to do and this might be a hindrance in adoption of the phone.

Second is prepaid vs. postpaid connection. India is a land of prepaid connections. It is very unlikely that the overwhelming majority of people having prepaid sims would want to shift to postpaid suddenly. It is of course possible but would take a huge shift in mindset and only time can tell whether it will happen on ground.

The third is more of an economic factor. One can buy the phone on EMI scheme as well and a two year EMI will cost around the same as the monthly bill.

So, if someone has not a large bill coming through right now would it not be beneficial for him/her to buy it on EMI then and use the carrier that one is already having.

It is a simple economic game but one which Indians will consider.

One more thing that I feel is that Apple is a little late here. Android phones are available at all price range and while in US, Apple was the first and thus people who wanted a smartphone had to make that sacrifice.

In India, people have a similar level of experience and Apple is not a novelty anymore. Thus it seems unlikely that people will change to postpaid so easily.

I may be wrong obviously and by next month every one might have an Apple iPhone in their hand but I still feel that while it will have a definitely impact, it might not be the same as Apple had in US.

One thing is for sure though, other carriers like Airtel or Aircel will be closely watching this step and we might see the same from them as well.

In any case, I guess it's time to calculate the monthly bills and see if the phone should be bought.

[Update November 1st, 2013] Nexus 5 was launched today and it will be atleast a couple of months before it arrives in India. So, if you want to order Nexus 5 immediately from US play store, this is the ultimate guide you need to follow.

And the best part is, ordering from US play store will not only get you Nexus 5 much earlier, but you will actually end up saving good amount of money compared to buying it from India.

Follow the guide given below, and you should not have any problems.

Google Nexus 5 INR Price if you Order in India from US Play Store

[Price calculated at Rs. 62 exchange rate]

Details	Nexus 5 16GB (INR)	Nexus 5 32GB (INR)
Price	21638	24738
Google Shipping (3-4 days Normal Shipping)	930	930
Google Taxes	1116	1116
Shop & Ship India Shipping	620	620
India Duties (@7%)	1612	1860
Total Price	25916	29264

Note: The prices may vary slightly depending you are address in the US as taxes differ from state to state.

Please keep in mind that guide below was prepared for Nexus 4, the process is exactly the same for Nexus 5

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, by now, you know that I am a proud owner of Google Nexus 4. It is definitely not the most expensive or the most terrific phone out there, but when I got it for the first time, it felt like I had achieved something.. and by the end of this article you will know why I had that feeling. Nexus 4 is not available in India through regular Google Play store. Of course, you can buy it on 3rd party websites like ebay, grabmore and many other sites, but you need to pay atleast 30 to 40 percent premium on the pricing. Now, I could have bought by paying the premium, but it would not have given me half the satisfaction. Buying a Nexus 4 via Google play store in India is an arduous task, it really is, and it will probably remain so till the time Google decides to release it in India. I doubt if a normal non-techie, non-geeky person can manage through the whole process successfully (unless you have a friend who will bring it from US / UK for you ). This article will try to simplify the process for those…

Step 1 – Getting to Google Play Nexus 4 "Shop Now" page

While you can visit Google Play Nexus page by going to http://www.google.com/nexus/4/, once you click on "shop now" button, you will be first presented with a screen that says: The devices on Google play are not available in India, so you will need a workaround. To get around this problem, you will need to first use a proxy, that essentially tells Google store that you are logged in from US or UK. Google identifies it based on your IP address, so you will need to use a proxy to achieve that. I used a desktop client called Tunnelbear, which offers 500 mb of proxy data free. There are many similar proxy clients that you can use to achieve this. If you are not comfortable with Tunnelbear, just search Google for a US proxy or VPN client, and you should get many others as well. You will need to download the Tunnel Bear client, register with them and you are ready to go. Once you have started the tunnel bear client, go to your browser window and when you click on "Shop Now" button, you see the actual Nexus 4 screen from where you can make the purchase. Here you can choose your model (8GB or 16GB). I chose 16 GB, as the phone does not have mini SD card slot, so if available, you should opt for 16GB (its only USD 50 more). But once the phone is in shopping cart, you are faced with another issue. You need to 2 things – A US Credit card with and US shipping address because Google does not ship outside of the US. So, before you actually go through the process, you will need to have these 2 things in place.

How to Get US Shipping Address

There are few online portals who offer you virtual US post box addresses. Shopandship.com, is one of the leading sites who offer you US, UK as well as China shipping addresses. I used the same to order my Nexus 4. I have had really good experience with shopandship for 2 orders I have placed with them. In both the cases they have been able to deliver me the product in less than 7 days! Update: There is another site called HopShopGo, an alternative to shopandship.com, you can try that one out as well. [Hat Tip: @akkiman]

However, please note that you will need atleast 2-3 days for your account to get activated and your shipping address being assigned to you. So, before you head to the Google Play store, please make sure that you have your US shipping address in place.

In regards to the US credit card, there is a workaround. You can use your Indian Credit card itself and for billing address, you can give any US address. That worked for me. I gave my previous US address, where I lived and it accepted it without any complaints.

Update: March 19th 2013: Many people who have tried to order are facing issues with Billing address, when I ordered the Nexus, it accepted billing address which was different than one registered with the Bank, however, looks like Google has stopped it from February 21st 2013 (One of the commenters has pointed out that “Google play now accepts only US credit cards with US address. It does a check on every credit card by verifying the address registered with the issuing bank.“. Here is a workaround for that: Please visit www.usunlocked.com, another service from Shopandship. You can get a US debit card with local US address. You can use that card for ordering.

If you don't have a credit card and have a debit card from banks like HDFC, they offer virtual netsafe credit cards to be generated, which could be used!

Placing the Order on Google Play

Coming back to placing order on Google. Once you have selected the Nexus 4 model and entered the shopping cart, enter you credit card and US shipping address and in all probability your order should get through. I placed my order on January 30th and they shipped the phone on the 4th. Shopandship received it in their mailbox on the 6th and on 11th, I had Nexus 4 in my hand.

India Shipping, Customs & Duties

Luckily Shopandship does everything on your behalf. Once they receive the product in their mailbox, they assess the weight, and custom duties based on the category of product. In Nexus 4's case, duty was just 1 percent and shipping charges worked out to less than Rs. 600. Buyers need to send shopandship proof of payment and invoice, so they can speedily process your shipment custom duties.

Exact Cost of Google Nexus 4

Here is the exact break-up of cost on Google Nexus 4.

Sr. No	Details	Cost in Rupees
1	Google Nexus 4 including shipping + Taxes (USD 395)	21107
2	Shopandship India Shipping	486
3	Custom Duties	612
	Total	Rs. 22,205

Note: In Pune we are still levied the ridiculous Octroi, which came to about Rs. 1200 taking the cost of Nexus phone to Rs. 23,405. However, in most other cities in India, Octroi is not there. So, even with slight change in exchange rates and other things, the cost of your Nexus 4 phone should not exceed Rs. 22,500/-. For that price, Google Nexus 4 is definitely worth it! Also, once you have shopandship account, you can buy any goods from US. Just make sure the weight is not too much, otherwise it works out quite expensive. Google Nexus was just 1 pound and hence the shipping charges were quite low. Also, they had a scheme where I got 10 percent off on shipping and hence the low cost. Like I said, it is an arduous task buying a Nexus 4 in India… but in the end, it was all worth it! If you have any questions, do drop us a comment and I would be more than happy to clarify it!

In partnership with LG, Google has announced the launch of Nexus 5, which is currently available in US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Korea.

Although its Indian launch is still unannounced, Google has already showing the India page and has stated the Indian price: 16 GB version will cost Rs 28,999 and 32 GB will cost Rs 32,999.

Just for records, Nexus 5 phone is world's first device which will run on KitKat 4.4 – the latest version of Google's mobile operating system Android. Available without any contract and unlocked, Google Nexus 5 has able to generate unprecedented craze all over the globe.

Nexus is also available in two colors: Black and White.

It's main attraction is the display: 4.95 inch full HD screen along with 1.3 mega pixel front camera and 8 mega pixel rear camera with one unique feature called Optical Image Stabilization. Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor with an amazing speed of 2.3 GHz, the Nexus 5 has 2GB RAM, and is equipped with powerful 2300mAh battery.

Today is also the day that iPhone 5S and 5C are going to sale in India. If you are in a decision making mode as to which one you would want to buy, here are 5 distinguishing factors that you need to know before you go to Apple! (Ok, Apple fans may think we are biased…)

Here are the 5 Distinguishing factors which makes it better than Apple 5S:

Bigger & Better Display Means Better Experience: Display of Nexus is bigger than that of Apple 5S. Bigger screen definitely enhances the user experience, and Google knows that better. Compared to 4 inches (1136 x 640 pixels ) of iPhone 5S, Google Nexus 5's display is 4.95 inches (1920×1080 pixels).

Just to add, Google Nexus weighs 130 grams, about 18 grams more than Apple 5S. Additionally, in terms of quality, Nexus again beats Apple. Graphics would appear clearer on Nexus as it provides 445 pixels every inch (DPI) on the display screen, compared to 320 pixels per inch on Apple 5S.

Extra RAM Converts to More Applications & Experience: Compared to Apple, Google provides double RAM power: Nexus has 2GB Ram while 5S has only 1 GB. More RAM (internal memory) simply converts to better user experience as you can install more number of applications. Even the processing power of Nexus is more than that of Apple 5S. Just to add a bonus advantage: Google Play Store also has more apps than Apple App Store.

The Most Important - Battery Power: Nexus has 46.5% more battery power than Apple 5S. This reason alone can convince several travelling bloggers and outdoor professionals in choosing the former, than the latter.

While Google Nexus is coming with a battery with energy of 2300mAh whereas Apple 5S has total capacity of only 1570mAh. This is one huge factor, considering today's information hungry generation. And, Apple 5S's battery has some known manufacturing defects as well, which has effected several users. However, on a side note, I also want to mention that Apple 5S does have a smaller screen, which in theory will consume less battery power.

More Flexibility with Wireless Charging: Google Nexus 5 can be charged without using any wires. Wireless charging was initiated on Nexus 4, and with the latest Nexus 5, Google has completely redesigned the wireless charging pad. It is shaped like a square, and has magnets in it which will make the placement easier. This feature is not available in Apple 5S.

Price, Price, Price: Now, this probably is the biggest of them all. Nexus 5 comes to you at Rs. 28,999 compared to iPhone 5S price that hovers around Rs. 50,000! Need we say more?

What is your take on this comparison? If you are an Apple loyalist, then your view point would be strongly welcomed.

Android lovers: Here is to your victory! Go for it!

[Note: And if you want to go for Apple Iphone 5S, why don't you participate in this free giveaway, who knows you might get it completely free!]