I need to get myself a smartphone so I can email and do social networking (twitter mainly) for my work. I’m not into gadgets and I’m technologically challenged, so can anyone recommend me a good phone to get (I’ll be tied to an O2 contract). After something simple to use, reliable, reasonably robust, with good reception so it works well as an actual phone, respectable battery life, preferably not too expensive. I know, moon on a stick and all that, but any tips (or warnings) will be much appreciated. Even just brands to avoid or consider. Ta.

You need to prioritise what you want out of a long list of things there…

Is the battery life the most important? If yes, go for something that has a smaller screen and make sure you turn the brightness down and all the wireless tech off.

Any OS will do what you want so go for the best phone of your liking, be that an iOS based phone or Android/Windows Mobile.

TBH, probably an iPhone for ‘just working’

Get a 4 or 4s second hand, there’s loads around

Considering what you’ve said an iPhone will be easiest to use IMO. I have an Android and like it bit have also had an iPhone and for people who don’t do tech they are great.

i currently use a note 2 which i think is great however, for the uninitiated definitely i phone all the way as jota said 4 and 4s are everywhere at the moment in my opinion you cant go wrong with either of those, bear in mind that you will need a micro sim if you havnt allready got one though.

I’d be wary of the battery in a second hand iPhone. They’re not easily replaced, and if it’s pretty toasted, that’ll be a pain

Voice of dissension here… what about a BlackBerry..?

Decent battery life (better than most smartphones), robust, reliable, good reception, easy to use… fine for email and social messaging, etc.

I wouldn’t touch a crapberry, the choice of apps is minuscule compared to an iPhone or Android phone.

The battery is better because the screen is smaller, it’s a bit of a dated/dying platform.

You can pick them up cheap for a reason.

You can still get a 3G on O2 on a contract – a 4/4S is free on O2 contract so will be brand new.

I also have BB Bold on its second battery in 12 months having replaced the battery first time around thinking it was faulty. It seems it wasn’t and battery life is just terrible. Lucky to make it from a fresh charge to the end of the day.

HTC Desire C – Simple, easy, sorted.
Samsung Galaxy Ace – As above with a bigger screen.

The HTC Wildfire S has just been discontinued so you may pick up a bargain.

Blackberry? Avoid like the plague. If it can go wrong, it will. Even my 14 y/o daughter who couldn’t possibly contemplate something without BBM now admits that Blackberry is crap.

iPhone? As long as you are very careful with it. They are quite fragile if dropped.

BB curve. Not interested in apps that much and I like the button keys.It suits my needs and has great battery life. Posted from a PlayBook 😀

Not a galaxy ace for battery life I’d say, mine needs charging every other day and dont use it that much.
Having said that it’s my first smart phone so cant compare it to anything but reviews say as much.
That aside it’s plenty good enough for what I need. Just keep a charger in the car, home & office. 🙂

Nokia lumia

Iphone 4s- my first smartphone. It’s fantastic. Easy to use and lots of features. Picked it up brand new on Ebay for £300. On a contract with Vodafone for £11 a month with all you can eat internet, texts and 450 minutes. Cant complain.

100% an iPhone – strongly recommend 4, 4S, or 5 depending on where the budget reaches.

My 62 year old dad (who has never used a computer before in his life) was able to pick up an iPad, and just start using it within minutes – it’s by far the most intuitive operating system. Granted its an iPad, and your looking for a phone, but its the same operating system – just on a bigger screen 🙂

I should also point out that he tried a HTC smart phone before the iPad on Android, and just couldn’t get his head round it, so sold it.

A few points to slightly balance my previous post…..they are fragile, so get a nice beefy rubber case that bounces. Plus, remember that whenever you sleep, the phone needs to sleep! (I.e. it doesn’t tend to last for more than a day!)

Fourth generation Blackberry user here and see no reason to change. As a communication tool, it is excellent. The only apps I use are Google Maps, The Trainline and Ebay.

For email, messenging, facebook and the odd photo and music, the Bold 9900 is a fine tool. This is posted from it at the end of a long day.

Stories of the Blackberry’s death are greatly exagerated

I actually think that Microsoft smartphones have some of the simplest most intuitive menu systems etc. Certainly way better than Android.

Tesco doing iPhone with mega minutes, free on £25/month

Is there any os not mentioned yet?

What’s that palm OS that was going to be the iPhone killer?

Alcatel one touch 903 – basic and cheap as chips.
You can email and tweet dead easy on it and at the moment 3 will do it for £20 a month with 500 mins, 5000 txts and unlimited and unrestricted internet access/data

Nokia lumia +1
Good battery life, with gps turned off, easy to use windows format. Only thing I don’t like is I wanted a thick phone but this was cheaper! Easy to use and Luddite friendly.

Any smartphone with a 4″+ screen will be lucky to go a day & a bit on one charge, unless you turn off all the bits that make it a smartphone.
🙂

Android here, I find it easy to use but the wifes iPhone is easier to use.
Hers is an older 3gs but I changed the battery (not difficult to do), & it runs the latest OS so she is happy with it.

Any smartphone with a 4″+ screen will be lucky to go a day & a bit on one charge

apart from a Motorola Razr Maxx – when leaving mine on wifi or 3g and polling for emails, etc, and airplane mode overnight, I can get 3 days between charges.

Use selective turning on of 3g/wifi or a battery saving app and the gap between charges would be even longer – I think I had 172 hours the other day before charging from 30%.

just look at the user reviews on amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-Razr-Maxx-Free-Smartphone/dp/B0081CXN5I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355989274&sr=8-1

got mine from mobiles.co.uk for free and an average of £15 per month over 2 years.

Get anything else and be shocked at how often you have to charge it. The guy with an iphone 5 next to me at work is comical in how often he has to charge it, and his net costs are 3 times mine.

What’s that palm OS that was going to be the iPhone killer?

WebOS – as was on the HP Touchpad?

Loads of useful info here so thanks v much. One complicating factor is that I work from an office that’s in a reception blackspot. Luckily I’m on O2, which has by far the best reception here, but I hear stories about iphones having crap reception and dropping connections irrespective of what network they’re on, in which case it wouldn’t be a good choice. Are iphones really that bad at being a phone? If so, which models, or is it all of them? Ta again.

whatever the pros and cons, iphones WILL be relatively expensive for spec vs. the equivalent android or windows phone. when i looked at buying the then current model the iphone was the only phone it made sense to buy outright new, then get a sim, and it still worked out ~50% more expensive over contract life, as opposed to getting a new phone free with contract from other manufacturers. this does of course ignore re-sale.
all smart phones use battery. you may just as well get in to the habit of putting it on charge when you go to bed, but having said that, my htc one s will go for a couple of days quite easily with my normal pattern of use if i forget.

finally, i doubt any of them are really that hard to use. they do put a bit of effort in to this stuff, and you learned to use a computer, right?

all smart phones use battery

buy a razr maxx…

It has a 3300mah battery, which is twice as big (or more) than nearly all other smartphones. plus it is slim and water resistant (mine was dunked in a jug of iced water at our christmas party – dried out overnight in the airing cupboard and worked the next day).

Samsung Xcover 2. Ruggedised smartphone. Properly water resistant and a nice solid case.

Zombie thread returns. Posted in the wrong forum in the first place 🙂

Oh I nearly responded, that was close… no wait…

doh.

Weird it showed up on the first page

Loads of useful info here so thanks v much. One complicating factor is that I work from an office that’s in a reception blackspot. Luckily I’m on O2, which has by far the best reception here, but I hear stories about iphones having crap reception and dropping connections irrespective of what network they’re on, in which case it wouldn’t be a good choice. Are iphones really that bad at being a phone? If so, which models, or is it all of them? Ta again.

The reception problem was almost entirely an American issue, due to the fact that the only carrier in the States at the time was AT&T, who were notorious for their shitty network. The ‘grip issue’ wasn’t unique to iPhones, all modern cellular phones exhibit it, because the TX antenna are at the base, to keep radiation away from the head, so if you hold a mobile in a tight grip, it reduces transmission power.
Couple that with a crappy network, and you have issues. That’s why Apple gave away free Belkin cases with the iP4.
Get a 4/4S, with a Belkin-type clear case, and a cheap pack of screen protectors, and, unless you actually drop it screen-first onto something sharp, it’s more than strong enough, as the dings on the corners of the case on mine will attest!
Reception on O2 on both my old 3G, 4, and 5, is perfectly fine, never had an issue, by comparison to the Nokia N95 I had before; great reviews from mags, etc, absolutely shockingly bad phone, in just about every respect.
The iPhone 3G that replaced it was a revelation, it had everything I wanted, built in, and it worked!

Motorola Razr I can be had for £150 pay as you go on three get it unlocked for £10 and stick your current contract in. Easy to use and pretty rugged. or go for iphone 5 on 3 with 1000 mins 5000txt and all you can eat data on 3 from the car phone warehouse for £25 per month

i’ve had smart phones for years, always had android phones, use my phone mainly for social media work for my business. i knew an android would do what i wanted, but took a risk last week and went with an iphone 5, and trust me to be tied in for 2 years with possibly something that would’nt live up to hype and expectation!

suffice to say, my goodness it is stunning. took a couple of days to get used to the os… but now i’m with it the thing is so much better than the andriods and the integration of fb/twitter/instagram etc is brilliant.

yep, i’m a convert.

Can only give personal opinion from my experience.
Had a Blackberry, Androind and iPhone.
I still have the latter two.

I use the iPhone almost exclusively – it was just so intuitive, picked it up and started using it (bloke see, instructions are just litter!). Everything is just so easy to set up and use.

The Android is ok, just needed me to acquire a bit more knowledge to get it working as I want.

Blackberry, binned it ages ago – way too limited in so many aspects and once I go the iPhone there was no competition.

Downsides of the iPhone, as has been said – battery life can be a bit short if used hard and they do not bounce, not even gently. Fortunately there are loads of replacement front and rear glass and they are cheap as chips on ebay. It’s a simple job to swap if you are not totally ham fisted.

Get anything else and be shocked at how often you have to charge it. The guy with an iphone 5 next to me at work is comical in how often he has to charge it, and his net costs are 3 times mine.

From personal experience, a 4 is far better on battery than a 5 – I get around 3 days average use from my 4, 5 needs charging daily. Guess a 4s would be somewhere inbetween! I prefer the 4/4s form factor myself too.