… someone who has underused an HTC Desire for the last two years.

I’m never going to watch films or store music on it. I would use the camera, email and occasionally do some web surfing. I might use an app now and again. My eyesight is failing so a larger screen may help.

My old contract was with Orange now EE if that helps at all. For £20 a month I had a bundle which gave me phone useage, unlimited broadband and free international landline calls, the land line portion ends on Wednesday.

The salesman laughed at my micro usage. I was shown a Samsung something but felt I should ask here rather than be swayed by sales speak.

A log finding and shed building app compatibility would be a plus.

EDIT I’m pretty hopeless with most things technological but I have an iPad and can work my way around that.

So in summar, something a step up from what you’d suggest for your mother. Mine is seventy three.

I went from a Desire HD to an HTC One S. Very pleased, it’s generally excellent.

Mate has the Samsung ones, which seems very flimsy and plasticky to me though I’m sure the operating system is fine.

Lots of good things being said about the Nexus 4. I’m going to get one of them next time I reckon, partly because I have a Nexus 7 tablet.

Huawei Ascend G300 100 odd quid, why pay more?

Huawei Ascend G300 100 odd quid, why pay more?

If I have something with the capability to do a little more I might eventually try and learn to use it. I’ve been a longish term customer with Orange and they’d give me a half decent phone for free, that appeals to this thrifty Scot.

My usage is like yours.

I got a Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 on a deal from Orange when I told them I was going to move to Tesco. The phone is a doddle to use.

200 minutes
200 additional loyalty minutes
Unlimited texts
500 Mb data

£8.00 per month + 1p setting up fee.

I’m quite pleased with that 😀

Phone them up and try and get transferred to the Customer Retention Team.

Any other suggestions?

Price up actual costs rather than going “ooh, free” – providers don’t generally give away free phones despite their bold claims to the contrary. Typically, the shorter the contract and the more you pay up front, the cheaper everything is long-term.

Just buy a second hand phone

Bought my daughter a ZTE Blade III (was Virgin exclusive – not sure now) was £80, £10 of which was a PAYG credit which I credited against her sim only deal. Fantastic phone for the money, only real hole in the spec sheet is lack of flash for the camera.

Buy phone and get sim only deal for £7 a month, sorted.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 is a very good phone for the money but as Cougar rightly points out, nothing is free. You will pay for it one way or the other. If you are not particularly arsed about the phone then a two year deal will get you a reasonable phone and call package. The other alternative is buy a handset and go for a SIM only deal. For example, I signed up for a call / text only package about three years ago at £10 per month. This ran until recently when I looked at an upgrade. To get a new handset and call, text, data plan would have doubled the contract cost. However I picked up a very cheap HTC Desire C of a mate and switched to a SIM only deal with more minutes, more texts and data for the same price, £10 per month.

If you can get a good deal on a 2nd hand phone, then SIM only FTW.

STW should sponsor you and provide a smart phone with a really decent camera for your build project threads…..

If you already have an iPad, an iPhone could make sense as any apps will be duplicated on both devices. Personally I prefer the feel of the iPhone to the Samsung Galaxy, but those are the only two I have recent experience of. The camera on the Galaxy is particularly good. iPhone 4’s and Galaxy SII’s can still be had for pretty reasonable contract rates as they are old models

Reviews of the HTC’s have pointed out not very good battery life, but otherwise some are good, and some of the new Nokia’s have been getting good reviews. Techradar is a good place to start for reviews

Whatever you do, don’t get a Blackberry. They have no saving graces IMO unless you must have a physical keyboard

Whatever you do, don’t get a Blackberry. They have no saving graces IMO unless you must have a physical keyboard

Agreed. I’ve just managed the last Blackberry out of the fleet.

have i missed something here? (its possible :-))
why are you actually after another phone and more expense plus another contract, if you didnt get full use from an htc desire?

if its cos youre finishing a contract, why dont you just let it lapse, and go sim only using same phone for around a tenner a month?

The salesman laughed at my micro usage.

my first thought there was ‘tw*t!’ not everybody needs to savage their phone use, he sounds a right c*ck trying to make you think you need a bigger contract than what you do. youre right to ask on here. stw always has best advice!! 😀

If your used to the ipad, get an iphone. its the same but smaller.

4/4s can be had pretty cheap these days.

Whatever you do, don’t get a Blackberry. They have no saving graces IMO unless you must have a physical keyboard

Battery life. I get a day out of most smartphones, my work Blackberry will easily last a week.

have i missed something here?

Yes, the subject title of the thread. (-:

Yes, the subject title of the thread. (-:

oops 😀

Samsung Galaxy S3.

They do feel a bit plasticcy, but get a decent rubber case and all that goes away.

You’ll get a good deal on them now too as the S4 is just coming out.

Mine’s bloomin brill. Ace camera too.

It’s probably more phone than you need, but who cares.

Thanks for the help folks, I will nip to the shop tomorrow and see what they can do for me. I’m tempted by an iPhone, but think the Samsung might be as good for my needs / capabilities.

I got a galaxy S3 just over a week ago and it’s awesome. Samsung Galaxy Ace is good if you want something cheaper.

I nipped down to the phone shop this morning, the sales people are pretty pushy. There are at least four phone companies within sight of each other in the mall, so I said give me the best deal you can or I’ll go and see what the others can offer.

They tried but said their call centre might be able to provide a better offer. Using their phone, I called them up. I ended up with a Galaxy 3 for £20, with more data, minutes, magic numbers, email and a whole load of other stuff I will probably never find a use for. It worked out a lot cheaper than my current package, even though the four is coming out next month, I think that’s as good a phone deal as I need.

Thanks for your help on this.