This is something I should know about really, being actively involved in emerging technologies at work. But so far I've refused to tie myself in with a contract for something I'd use very little, and every time I've upgraded my phone I've been sorely disappointed by their lack of ability to do simple tasks like turn on.
However. If I'm to continue to put up with this kind of unreliability, I think I may as well join the smart phone revolution. But I still don;t want to tie myself in with a contract.
So what's a good reliable and usable smart phone, for say, under £100?
And how does Pay as You Go work? I mean I know how it works with texts and calls. But Internet usage..? Is it cheap...or a waste of time?
And can you connect to wireless when you're at home/work?
This for £100?
[url= http://blog.vodafone.co.uk/2012/04/12/huawei-ascend-g300-feature-packed-100-android-smartphone-faces-the-press/ ]http://blog.vodafone.co.uk/2012/04/12/huawei-ascend-g300-feature-packed-100-android-smartphone-faces-the-press/[/url]
They all do wi-fi as far as I know, so no data charges when at home.
PAYG details will vary by operator.
HTC Wildfire
looking at this too. have a look at orange PAYG - they have some for under 100 quid, own brand and a couple of others.
am interested in which ones are good too!
i take it it's best to get android 2.3 (gingerbread)? is ice cream the latest?
Loads of people who had been locked into 2 year contracts with HTC Desire's have just come up for renewal, it's an awesome phone & you pick them up unlocked for around £70-100 depending on condition.
The get a sim only contract from someone for about £15.00/month.
I very rarely use my data allowance as I'm on wifi at home & at work.
[url= http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/plans/simPlanList.jsp?cmsPageId=02510 ]Orange[/url]
If you are going down the PAYG route - GiffGaff offer unlimited data plans from £10. If you buy a smartphone and like it - you will likely find yourself using the internet more.
that huawei looks good - can it be unlocked easily? will be using giffgaff...
oh, and if anyone has a phone for sale, email in profile 😉
(sorry for slightly hijacking this butcher!)
For sim only PAYG I've been very happy with [url= http://giffgaff.com ]GiffGaff[/url]
£10 a month gets you unlimited text, unlimited data and 250 minutes. The higher user packages are similarly good value. Porting a number was painless and there's no tie-in.
Wildfire and Desire are both 2 year old tech. If you can get the Huawei unlocked it's great value for the money. Runs Gingerbread at the mo (2.3) but upgrade to ICS (4.0) promised.
The Orange [url= http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/phones/phoneDetails.jsp?productId=prod4300163 ]San Francisco II[/url] is well regarded and in budget, may be worth a look.
Have you considered the second hand market?
The Orange Monte Carlo has good specs too, a 480x800 screen line the San Fran II.
Have also just joined giffgaff, you can change tariff every month online to suit.
The Huawei seems like a decent spec for the price,but I think it will probably be network locked as its PAYG and being new may be a while before the unlocked can do there biz.
The Samsung Galaxy Y is within your budget and seems like a tidy little phone for the money.
Non of them will be on a par with the higher end stuff ie.Galaxy Nexus or HTC One X but they are about £400 to buy sim free.
Personally I would go in your nearest phone store and have a go on some of the demo phones to see which you like the feel of,and take it from there.
i recently got a htc desire on a 2 year contract freephone and £11 a month with virgin with enough minutes text and data that does me orange do a similar thing with the sanfransisco
i recently got a htc desire on a 2 year contract freephone and £11 a month with virgin with enough minutes text and data that does me orange do a similar thing with the sanfransisco
That's pretty cheap....depending on what you get for it. But I'm on Virgin at the moment so I might look into it. I just don't like the idea of getting tied into contracts.
I got an Orange Monte Carlo for £78 on a cash back site. It can be unlocked now for GiffGaff etc. Very happy with it (my first smartphone so nothing to compare it with) big screen is useful for web etc, but only -ve I've found so far is it's carp in bright sunlight, it doesn't have an amoled screen.
Whilst I liked my Desire, it was time to upgrade when I swapped it for the Sensation earlier this year. I wouldn't relish starting a two year contract with one. I'd expect to pay under £100 for one used, certainly.
If you've just bought one, I [i]strongly [/i]recommend you look into rooting it and flashing a ROM with App2SD+ support. With a lot of phones custom ROMs are a nicety, I'd argue that with the Desire it's critical. I held off doing mine for ages and when I finally bit the bullet I cursed myself for not doing it earlier.
have seen a site doing huawei unlocking - about £16 iirc. was for the vodaphone model.
Just so you know O2 phones don't need unlocking to work on GiffGaff.
Same signal network 'innit'.
'd argue that with the Desire it's critical
why? i can move my apps to the sd card as it is
Just so you know O2 phones don't need unlocking to work on GiffGaff.
Most O2 handsets aren't network locked (IIRC the iPhone is an exception).
why? i can move my apps to the sd card as it is
Only if the app supports it.
I have a 4 month old desire for sale. Comes with a Casemate tough case and Martin fields screen protector. It is unlocked and rooted (a major ball ache but makes a huge difference as it gets round the low internal memory problem) and comes with a 16 gig card. 130 posted.
YGM
If you don't want a full contract how about a 30 day sim-only one? Rolls over every month, 30 days notice to cancel. I'm paying £8.52/month 100 mins 100 texts and 1GB (I think) data, though that was on a special offer.
If you are going down the PAYG route - GiffGaff offer unlimited data plans from £10. If you buy a smartphone and like it - you will likely find yourself using the internet more.
Just ordered my sim the other day. It seems the best deal out there and if you search about (other than the giffgaff sites that appear nearer the top of the search page) you can find other folk talking about them. GG use 02,free texts and calls to other giffgaff. 250 uk mins,unlimited texts and internet. Just top up £10 each month with their 'goodybag' or if you need more minutes,choose another goodybag. 400 mins with the £15 goodybag.
sas,for £1.48 extra..
HTC hd2. Still got more power than most new cheap smart phones. Ditch windows mobile and put cyanogen mod 7 Android from on it. Work really well. I have mine on a £7.50 a month contract with more calls, data and texts than I use.
have you considered the Nokia Lumia 710 windows phone?
only 150 unlocked when upgrading a PAYG phone at carphone warehouse.
I've had one a few weeks and it is really very good.