If you go to buy a mobile phone for within Rs 5,000 you will be bombarded with options as almost all manufacturers have their own variants targeted at different groups.

Besides, non branded Chinese phones are also available for as little as a few hundred Rupees.

People usually look for a range of features on their multimedia phones, such as music, photography, video recording, SMS and internet.

So if you want a phone which performs the above mentioned functions within a budget of Rs 5,000, then here are few options you could consider.

Nokia 5130 Xpress Music (Rs 4,800)

It is one of the most economical music series phones in Nokia’s stable.

The Xpress Music tag implies the superiority of its audio capabilities. An average 2 mega Pixel camera, a brilliant 2 inch display, and a very comfortable multi tap keypad are some of its basic features.

It has GPRS capabilities and 16 GB of expandable memory for storing all that music, as well as a 1050 mAh battery pack which can power this device for up to six hours of talk time.

Samsung Champ C330 (Rs 4,000)

Samsung Champ always makes it to the top of the lists of multimedia handsets, especially among young people.

It is a small and cute looking phone with a 2.4 inch touchscreen display and a body built around it. The touchscreen, although resistive, is very good at identifying even the slightest touch. A 1.3 mega pixel camera and an 8 GB expandable memory are some of its key features.

But the biggest benefit of this device is the long battery life. It has a standard 1000 mAh battery pack that provides eight hours of talktime, and some users even say it lasts for around 12 hours.

LG Cookie Lite T300 (Rs 3,600)

It is the first and perhaps the only competitor to Samsung Champ.

LG Cookie Lite too is a small mobile phone, with a 2.4 inch resistive touchscreen display, which is vibrant and large to save your eyes from hurting. The user interface is quite attractive and carries the legacy of the older Cookie devices forward.

This phone, however, has a smaller 900 mAh battery pack, but surprisingly LG claims it to last for almost eight hours. It also has a 1.3 mega pixel camera at the back, but a smaller, 4 GB, expandable memory.

Micromax X600 Gravity II (Rs 3,700)

We still haven’t forgotten old Gravity, an iconic dual SIM phone (CDMA+GSM) with an interesting and intriguing user interface.

The new X600 is similar, but only the old version supports dual GSM SIM operation. In every thing else the two phones are identical, with a ‘Turn to Talk’ interface that allows the user to switch SIMs just by turning the phone upside down.

A 1.3 mega pixel camera and memory expandable to 4 GB are the phone’s standard features. It has the biggest display in this list, at 3.2 inches with a responsive resistive touchscreen, and a 1000 mAh battery pack that delivers talktime of up to five hours.

Sony Ericsson Spiro W100 (Rs 5,000)

How can one not expect a Sony Ericsson handset where there is talk of multimedia mobile phones?

Well, Spiro W100 just barely makes it to the list with a price tag of exactly Rs 5,000. Being a slider, the Spiro has a relatively small 2.2 inch display, but it is a rather brilliant one.

The Spiro carries Sony Ericsson’s legacy of great sounding music from both earplugs and loudspeaker; a 2 mega pixel camera and memory that is expandable to 16 GB are its standard features &#151 don’t worry, though, it supports SD cards too. The standard battery pack delivers 1000 mAh, which is good for up to four hours of talk time, or for up to 20 hours of music playback.

Despite opting Windows Phone 7 operating system for its forthcoming smartphones, Nokia has decided to continue its support to Symbian platform.

About the Symbian updates, Nokia open letter says, “The first major update will arrive in summer, delivering a new home screen, new flexible widgets, new icons, a faster browser, new Navbar and a fresh look and feel to Ovi Store and Ovi Maps, including integration of social media services in Ovi Maps”.

The existing Symbian users will, thus now, be rest assured that they will get support from the company even when Nokia will no longer sell new Symbian phones.

About the hardware improvements, the open letter says, “Over the past weeks we have been evaluating our Symbian roadmap and now feel confident we will have a strong portfolio of new products during our transition period &#151 that is 2011 and 2012. These devices will take advantage of the strong integration of devices and services as well as our strength in areas such as imaging and location-based services.”

At the same time, the hardware for Symbian phones will also continue to get better, including faster processors. Nokia plans to replace Symbian with Windows Phone 7 over the next two years, thus making the users and developers worried about the sooner demise of Symbian platform.

Within a year of launch, Samsung’s bada App store has reported over 100 million downloads.

Samsung bada is a smartphone platform for a wide range of devices. It was unveiled in 2010. “Bada” is a Korean word that means “ocean” and “seashore”. The operating system platform currently has 13,000 applications.

“We are anticipating that Samsung Apps will show a rapid growth in 2011, especially with a variety of the upcoming bada device line up,” said Kang-Hyun Kwon, senior vice president of the media solution center at Samsung Electronics.

To mark the occasion, the handset maker has announced weekly prizes such as Samsung Galaxy Tabs, Galaxy Players, USB drives and vouchers. To be eligible for a prize you have to download an app from Samsung Apps on a supported phone such as Wave, Wave II, Wave 525, Wave 533, Wave 575 or Wave 723.

One lucky winner will be selected randomly in a draw. The contest will run from March 25 to April 30.

In contrast to bada, Apple’s app store saw its 10 billionth app download within only two years of release while, according to estimates, 3.7 billion Android apps have been downloaded so far.