I reckon I might finally make the plunge and join the 21st century with a smartphone. The idea of being able to browse the internet (or post meaningless drivel on STW) when out and about appeals, along with being able to do clever stuff with apps – what’s tipped me over the edge is wanting to be able to download and view recorded sessions on my Forerunner when away from home.

I’m a cheapskate, so looking for the cheapest way to do this. Making calls or sending texts not that important (I have no friends, so yet to use up £10 PAYG credit in 9 months), so a contract with included internet, but no included calls would be ideal if such a thing existed! However I live in the sticks, and would also like to be able to connect when out and about in wild places, so network coverage is very important (I wonder if I mention Stoner his vanity search will get him to come and comment on service around here?)

I’m totally set on a Sony phone of some variety (probably a Ray) as they’re the only ones providing the Ant+ support I need – was thinking of just buying one (maybe s/h) and going PAYG, but looking at the deals, it may not be much more for a proper contract. Can anybody help me work out from the huge choice, what deal or contract I should be going for?

ta daaaaaa!

Personally I wouldnt buy a sony eriksen just because of ANT+. But if you’re set on it, I know your the kind of exercise nut who might just forgive the handset for the ability to use the foot pod etc.

Mrs S uses Ant+ on her 405, if she wants to she can upload to her endomondo account later at her pc. I just use endomondo on my android.

Vodafone coverage is good in the area, and you can also get a Sure Signal box that uses your home BB connection to create a 3G network point in your own home.

However, vodafone contracts arent cheap (£10 a month for a 500Mb of web per month). something like giffgaff can give you a cheap deal but they run on O2 so coverage (esp 3G) isnt so good. £5 pm http://giffgaff.com/goodybags/500MB-mobile-broadband

Can’t comment on the rest of your requirements but I’ve got a Sony Xperia Ray and am really happy with it.

Personally I wouldnt buy a sony eriksen just because of ANT+. But if you’re set on it, I know your the kind of exercise nut who might just forgive the handset for the ability to use the foot pod etc.

I’m set on it – probably wouldn’t be getting a smartphone at all without that. Not to use any accessories, but to upload my 910XT when I’m away from home – the one disappointing feature of that is the lack of data available when browsing the history (I’ll raise some feature requests with Garmin, but not holding my breath – if only the firmware was open source!) I might be put off if the Sonys were rubbish, but all reports suggest some of them are actually pretty good and fair value.

£5 pm http://giffgaff.com/goodybags/500MB-mobile-broadband

That will work with a phone rather than a tablet? Presumably no calls at all though, which is a bit of a pain – I might not use a phone much, but tend to carry one just in case (obviously I didn’t specify my user requirements properly). Or can I buy one phone top up and then just buy data ones?

Though the poor coverage is off-putting, which is the reason I’d pretty much decided against that. I presume you’re with Vodafone, so wouldn’t know about Orange or 3, which seem to have better overall coverage in more remote areas.