I’m coming up to the point of being able to upgrade (on Orange) and have been browsing their selction of smartphones ..

Just wondering what people would recommend ?

Not interested in an iphone

Depends on what you want to pay but the S2 is the obvious choice along with the top end HTC’s. The original galaxy S can still be had for around £15 a month with a good bundle.

I’m currently on a dolphin 35 package which averages out around £33-38 per month but want to drop monthly payments down to £20 something .

Don’t really want one thats massive , needs to be fairly robust (mechanic)
have good battery life etc

Anything has got to be better than my nokia “smartphone”

£15 a month for an HTC Explorer. Perfect 1st smartphone.

from experience I would choose one where you can pop the back off to change the battery. You will probably romp through your charge. A spare battery is a couple of quid on eBay.

from experience I would choose one where you can pop the back off to change the battery. You will probably romp through your charge. A spare battery is a couple of quid on eBay.

Which can compromise the structure of the phone, and means the battery has to be smaller, or the phone significantly bigger. Why bother when you can buy a 5000MAh battery with two USB ports from eBay for about $20, which will charge your phone two or three times, and will charge other USB devices as well, like a pair of X-Mini speakers, an iPod, iPad, etc.
Much more useful.
Oh, and the new Nokia Windows Lumia (?) phone is supposed to be really very good indeed.
It certainly looks beautiful.

I love my Sensation, if that helps. Would happily recommend it.

Galaxy S2 is a joy to use, has great battery life and is super-powerful – but the GPS is a bit shit at getting a lock.

I was in exactly your position. I ended up with an HTC desire on a t mobile. Orange could not match the deal and even cancelled my loyalty discount because i’d stayed with them. I’m very pleased with the phone and delighted not to be on orange.

Couldnt find my phone this morning.
Tried calling it on the Mrs’ phone. Straight to voicemail. That’s weird, it was definitely on last night when I had it on my ride. And I had left it in my filthy ride shorts in front of the washing machine…
…which Mrs S decided to load this morning without checking the pockets *sniff*

My lovely HTC Legend is borked. Will give it a few days to dry out and see if it can be salvaged…
I have a spare old Nokia to keep in touch, but not good for emails etc.

Fortunately my contract is up for an upgrade at the end of Feb. Ive had my eye on the Galaxy Nexus with Andorid 4.*/ICS. Or maybe the Sensation XL.
Anyone got any experiences?

I’ve looked at the nokia lumia but i’m at the point of smashing this one to pieces (i know it won’t achieve anything but it’ll make me feel a lot happier !!! ) its truely awful and drives me insane on a daily basis . The other half has the galaxy s2 , thats too big for me really .

Ive had my eye on the Galaxy Nexus with Andorid 4.*/ICS. Or maybe the Sensation XL.

ICS will be ported to the current crop of HTCs. They’ve committed to updates for 18 months from release on all Android handsets.

SE Arc S is worth a look.

Maybe not very ‘trendy’ but has a nice screen and seems to work well.

You could buy an Nexus S, cheap now that the Galaxy Nexus is out. Its also the 1st phone to get the ics update (some already have it).
HTC will no doubt take an age to roll out their ics updates…

The motorola defy is perfect if you need something rugged – scratch-proof glass, waterproof etc. Popular recommendation on here as it’s a good MTB phone, in fact good phone in general. Only snag is I don’t believe it’s availble on orange, at least it wasn’t when I got mine. Don’t know if there’s a way around that.

No your right Garry its not but the atrix is , Not sure if its the same as?

Excuse me for not being a techy nerd but whats ICS?

cougar – have you had any of the sensation signal problems? Is yours on vodafone/with bloatware, or have you flashed it?

ICS = Ice Cream Sandwich
http://www.android.com/about/ice-cream-sandwich/

I’ve had a Galaxy Ace for a couple of weeks, and I’m very happy with it. It won the Gadget Show’s smartphone challenge a few weeks ago.

Cheers stoner

Personally I love my iphone 4. Bought it for £300 off eBay and got a £15/month contract on Orange with everything I need.

Really, really excellent piece of kit.

Get something second hand that’s sim free/unlocked and get an o2 simplicity sim card. I’m probably getting an iphone soon and my monthly bill will be £8.50 🙂 £30+ a month contracts are ridiculous.

Stoner,
try going over your phone with a vacuum cleaner. [mong] i loaded my desire into the washing machine this evening. [/mong] think it was in there for about 15mins, in the pocket of some jeans that were sodden. 1 min with a vacuum all over it, sucking at all the holes etc, sealing around the phone/nozzle as best i could with my hand, and blow me if the thing didn’t spark up ok. having previously written one desire off due to an unscheduled trip into the canal on the way home from the pub ( bike was ok as i was still clipped in.. ) i was somewhat miffed to be looking down the barrel of another replacement.

cheers for the tip del.
Its been a while now so Ive gone with the open and air approach.

Ive tried the battery in and while the phone wont turn on the camera flash turns on. Needs a bit longer I reckon.

have you had any of the sensation signal problems? Is yours on vodafone

No I haven’t, because, no I’m not. It’s seemingly a specific Voda issue, they’ve buggered it somehow.

my replacement Sensation phone(s) seem way better, than the one that went away for repair.

Thanks for all the tips, but after a day of hot air and ventilation the phone is still borked. So took it apart as you do, and can see that’s it wasnt for saving. Pretty terminal corrosion and leaky components.

got a cheap android replacement off ebay for £50 to tide me over until my upgrade next month. Will go and play in the shop but I think Im going to go for the Galaxy Nexus.

As you are on Orange take a look at the San Francisco 2. I’ve got the original and am very impressed with it.

You can get it with a data calls & text bundle for £15 a month, with free handset.

If you’re a teacher or local govt employee you can get a further 25% off in some places.

big john – where do you find out about the teacher discount?

my upgrade was due a couple of weeks ago (from a galaxy s). taking all things into consideration, reading reviews and so on, i went for a galaxy s2 ahead of galaxy nexus mostly because of cost (i can wait for ICS to be ported to the S2 if i’m getting the handset for free rather than £150 on the same tariff).

tech-wise and performance-wise, there’s very little to choose from between the two. both have strengths and weaknesses.

Im pretty certain tat I can have the nexus for £0 on my contract, but if not, then I’ll prob do what youve done xhx.

You walk into an Orange store and take in some proof. Payslip etc. It’s certainly the case in Stafford (Staffs CC) I don’t know about anywhere else.

I’m in a bit of a pickle as to what to do, My Desire is due for an ‘upgrade’ in a few weeks but I had a real bargain on that, it was free on a £15 300 mins unlimited 3gb internet (at the time) contract. I don’t want to pay more a month and looking at current deals it looks like anything in that price bracket would be a downgrade. Wondering if I should get the best deal I can sell both phones and buy a Sensation or similar.

stoner, you may well be able to get it for free.
mine’s on O2, i wanted to decrease monthly payments from my last contract and going with the S2 meant that i’ve maintained the same deal but am paying £18 a month now instead of £27 (that includes 30% friends discount because a mate of mine works for them too!)