[Closed] phone decision -help!

Virgin piggybacks onto T-Mobile, which is now Orange anyway, so you'll always have signal but internet speeds may vary (no 3G roaming yet).

Desire is now an old phone. I sold mine for £200 on eBay - so buy a second hand one and then you aren't tied into any kind of lengthy contract.

i'd still need a contract which supported internet usage so i'd end up buying a cheap contract over 24 months plus the phone-which by my sums doesn't work out any better

I'd suggest buying a phone and then getting a sim only contract myself.
My contract is a tenner a month with virgin, that's 1G, 3000 texts, 200 minutes and unlimited virgin to virgin texts. I've started leaving the 3G turned on all the time because I'm not getting anywhere near my gig limit, I've had it on for the last month and I used about 250Mb. I suppose it depends what you use it for though.

I got an HTC Wildfire for £140 from Amazon (I know it's a bit old but it does everything I want it to and it's smaller than the later models) and then tenner a month for two years is £380 in total.

cheers samuri but can get the wildfire and unlimited tinterweb for 12 a month

Looks like you have your answer then. 😉

Virgin piggybacks onto T-Mobile, which is now Orange anyway, so you'll always have signal but internet speeds may vary (no 3G roaming yet

Does that work for virgin users? I don't think it does, at least had someone here on virgin, and they had no signal, whereas mine on t-mobile was saying 't mobile - orange '

joe - never thought of that. Just assumed...

I've just bought a Samsung Galaxy S unlocked for £240 (new model out imminently so deals to be had), just need to work out which operator provides the best data deal.

Android 2.3 is due to be released for the phone now-ish (infact it was released last week but google pulled it due to some undisclosed issue).

Much as I love mine, I wouldn't get a Desire on a 24-month contract. Desire S, maybe.

Option four, get an Orange San Francisco from Argos for 80 quid, swap your £10/month SIM across into it or get a SIM-only contract with data.

think i misunderstood what contract you were on about samuri-maybe a £15 rolling contract with a second hand desire would be a plan....?

Aim for a phone with a decent screen resolution. I bought a defy for £245 sim free and have opted for a £10/month rolling contract with tesco which gives loads of texts 500mb and 250min.
A pal bought a desire s for 30 a month (24) but for that price I'd be aiming for a dual core phone.

Rick.

like retrorick.. bought the defy sim free from Amazon same price..

lobbed my existing vodafone 10 a month sim in.. the contract is close to ending.. and soon I can jump ship

A friend who's interested in such things recommended 3 as a network if data is your main thing. They do seem to have a number of good sim only deals. As a bit of a warning, 24 months can be a while on a smartphone. The latest S/W seems to run slowly on mine, which is approaching that age.

yeah more i look at it the more it makes sense to go with samuri's idea-basically pay same as i am now and buy a handset

Ok i feel bewildered again - I've had a look and sticking with current contract (£10 a month) and buying a desire handset for say £200 leaves me at £450 over 2 years

If I get a 24 month contract with a desire I end up paying £480, so what's the benefit? feel like I'm missing something?

How about:-

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/htc-desire-s-free-includes-internet-90-cashback-no-redemptions-13-50-per-month-o/924805

feel like I'm missing something?

The option to change your mind in six months?

but what will i change my mind about? the handset? then punt it and shell out for a new one?