Mobile Phone

Wallace1492

I have had company phone for years, but with impending redundancy will have to buy/rent my own device/connection.

Probably a smartphone, but what sort, and what type of deals available.
Not a big phone user, though will probably use more.

How cheap is a iPhone with a connection? Would prefer a monthy payment.

No idea about tarrif's etc....

FoldingJoe

Depends which one you want.

If you want to wait for the 4s then on a £35/£40 per month contract you're probably still looking at forking out £200 on the phone.

The older iPhone $ I think you could pick up for free around that sort of contract price when the new one is out.

Then you go for an Android phone, of which on a £35\40 contract you could pretty much pick up any spec\model for free.

DrLex

Buy a cheap Android smartphone & then get a giffgaff SIM (O2 network) - £10 gets you unlimited data, texts & 250 minutes in a month; not a contract.

DonDaddyD

Smartphone comes down to two things:

iPhone

or

HTC

iPhones, aren't competitive Apple set the price and phone companies follow that (there are at times exceptions).

If you buy into Apple be prepared for the long haul, a iPhone contract is 24months, the phone warranty is 12 months and when a new one comes out you'll want it and they will charge you for it.

Do I regret mine, well the backlight hasn't worked since June/July and all the buttons have fallen off but god I want the 4s.

il_principe

DonDaddyD wrote:

Smartphone comes down to two things:

iPhone

or

HTC

iPhones, aren't competitive Apple set the price and phone companies follow that (there are at times exceptions).

If you buy into Apple be prepared for the long haul, a iPhone contract is 24months, the phone warranty is 12 months and when a new one comes out you'll want it and they will charge you for it.

Do I regret mine, well the backlight hasn't worked since June/July and all the buttons have fallen off but god I want the 4s.

Not all contracts. I'm with 3. I pay £25/month and it's rolling - so I can leave whenever I like. Doing it this way means you have to buy the phone outright, but works out cheaper in the long run. With the arrival of the 4S next week, there will be a glut of 3GS' and 4's on the market at reduced prices - both second hand and new.

Geeks prefer Android phones, most consumers prefer the iPhone. I'm happy with my iPhone, it does everything I need and is easy to use, and despite reservations about Apple's "walled garden" I can't say that it's ever bothered me. I can't get on with Android, just didn't find it very intuitive.

Should also add that I've had every version of the iPhone and none of them have broken.

dhope

DonDaddyD wrote:

Smartphone comes down to two things:

iPhone

or

HTC

iPhones, aren't competitive Apple set the price and phone companies follow that (there are at times exceptions).

If you buy into Apple be prepared for the long haul, a iPhone contract is 24months, the phone warranty is 12 months and when a new one comes out you'll want it and they will charge you for it.

Do I regret mine, well the backlight hasn't worked since June/July and all the buttons have fallen off but god I want the 4s.

or Samsung. essentially iOS or Android
Expect I'll get a 4S as I skipped the 4, but I'll buy it off contract

notsoblue

iPhones are lovely pieces of kit, and if the "Walled Garden" (as Principe puts it) doesn't bother you then I'd go for it.

Personally I have an HTC Desire HD (Android) because its flexibility suits me better and if I'm honest, I like to tinker.

dhope

DonDaddyD wrote:

If you buy into Apple be prepared for the long haul, a iPhone contract is 24months, the phone warranty is 12 months and when a new one comes out you'll want it and they will charge you for it.

Do I regret mine, well the backlight hasn't worked since June/July and all the buttons have fallen off but god I want the 4s.

If you can reasonably expect an item to last more than 12 months, which you can in the case of a £500 luxury item like an iPhone, then you can get it repaired or replaced for free outside of the warranty. Warranties don't affect you statutory rights.

Keith1983

What about windows phones? I love my iPhone and will probably wait for a re-design to come out some time next year. I have a 3GS and whilst I'm fully aware of the technical advantages of the 4S over this I'm not prepared to pay the premium for it. Ha snayone got a windows phone and what do you think to it?

Wallace1492

I will not want the latest version, I am certainly not a gadget freak.
But would like access to stuff "on the go".

£25 a month sounds good..... how much for a new 3g iPhone?

SimonAH

I changed my iPhone 3GS to a an HTC Desire HD and I absolutely flogging hate the POS.......actually it's brilliant, but after the stability and ridiculous ease of use of the iPhone it's terrible.

UndercoverElephant

Keith1983 wrote:

What about windows phones? I love my iPhone and will probably wait for a re-design to come out some time next year. I have a 3GS and whilst I'm fully aware of the technical advantages of the 4S over this I'm not prepared to pay the premium for it. Ha snayone got a windows phone and what do you think to it?

Nope. Nobody at all has a Windows Phone, that's the problem.

Wallace, it really is iPhone or Android, and not just because they're the two platforms that Strava support.

In my experience, as someone who's had both an original iPhone and more recently a Samsung Galaxy S, the iPhone is vastly less irritating and has by far the better apps on the app store.

il_principe

Wallace1492 wrote:

I will not want the latest version, I am certainly not a gadget freak.
But would like access to stuff "on the go".

£25 a month sounds good..... how much for a new 3g iPhone?

8Gig 3GS is £320. That's direct from Apple. Sure you could get it much cheaper.

Edit - Wouldn't touch a Windows phone with a sh1tty stick. Maybe in a few years, but not now.

dhope

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Nope. Nobody at all has a Windows Phone, that's the problem.

Not true. One bloke I know on the floor above has got one and says its quite good, but that it'll be better when someone else has one too, or there are some apps for it.
If you do get a Windows phone then I'll give you Fergus' number so you can ask the other person in the world that has it.

sketchley

look at total cost of contract over the duration of the contract as you may find paying for the phone upfront and a small monthly cost is cheaper in the long run.

shouldbeinbed

Don't discount Nokia & symbian if you're not a gadget store geek. Wife's iphone 3gs broke fatally after 14 months, i know others who's have frozen solid & lost everything and you're pretty much hogtied into itunes for syncs, backups etc

That said my HTC desire is onto its 3rd return & the buttons are starting not to respond 1st time. The camera is shoot and I can hold my breath longer than the battery lasts if I actually want to use it, but there is much more freedom than apples walled garden offers & the wife's iphone 4 is heavy on battery too.

I'm a geek but have got thoroughly bored with 99.99% of the apps. Wish I'd gone for a Nokia n8 - does the basics just as well as the other OS's, has an adequate range of apps, battery life is comparatively brilliant & has seriously good music & camera.

I think 3 are doing some mid range smartphones (htc wildfire) from £15 monthly contracts. Tesco do good deals too.

bails87

shouldbeinbed
There's a trick to fix the battery on the desire, worked a treat on mine.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712990

veronese68

I got an iphone 3GS free with a contract for £21.50 a month with O2 at the end of August. My technogeeky friends didn't understand why I'd get an old one if there was a new model coming out.
My point of it's free, I don't pay any more than for my basic old phone just didn't wash.
Very pleased with it overall. Getting used to having to charge it frequently. Can play with things like Strava. I don't need the lates newest model, this does more than enough for me.

bigmat

I've been very pleased with my Desire S - camera is really good, it all operates quickly and smoothly, battery life not great but that goes with the territory I think. Able to buy separate memory cards as well so when you upgrade you can just move all your photos / music across. I pay around £18 a month, my wife pays double for a decrepid old iPhone that she is locked into a 2 year contract for and which she thinks is a load of rubbish.

dhope

Sketchley wrote:

look at total cost of contract over the duration of the contract as you may find paying for the phone upfront and a small monthly cost is cheaper in the long run.

This.

Bit of a faff, but when I got my 3GS I actually took out an 18 month £25pm contract with a free Samsung Galaxy S, then sold the Galaxy for £300 and got a 3GS off contract for about £400.

The £25pm Galaxy contract was significantly better than the £25 iPhone contract - think it was 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited (500mb) internet (this was about 18 months ago)

DonDaddyD

iPhone is better than Android IMO.

The only time Android and by extension HTC, which is the best hardware provider of the software (IMO), is better than an iPhone is if you like the openware software either developing the apps or customising the software itself.

Even then I don't think Android is better than the equivalent Apple operating system. It is just that Android allows you to tinker in the same way a self built carbon bike isn't better than a Pinarello except that you built yours and its yours.

I wouldn't touch a windows phone currently its at the Windows 95 stage of its development which was like an Apple Mac but not quite there.

The 3gs, for all my issues with mine was great but had bugs.

Pufftmw

Wallace1492 wrote:

I have had company phone for years, but with impending redundancy will have to buy/rent my own device/connection.

Ask your company if you can port your phone number out - its no real skin off their nose and saves you having to run around telling everyone your new number. You need the PAC code.

Also, they might let you have your old phone so you might be able to put the number onto a P&G or a SIM only contract (cheaper obviously).

il_principe

dhope wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

look at total cost of contract over the duration of the contract as you may find paying for the phone upfront and a small monthly cost is cheaper in the long run.

This.

Bit of a faff, but when I got my 3GS I actually took out an 18 month £25pm contract with a free Samsung Galaxy S, then sold the Galaxy for £300 and got a 3GS off contract for about £400.

The £25pm Galaxy contract was significantly better than the £25 iPhone contract - think it was 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited (500mb) internet (this was about 18 months ago)

+1 IME it is cheaper if you can afford the initial outlay.

My £25/month plan with 3 gives me:

2000 any network minutes
5000 texts
5000 Three-to-Three minutes
All-you-can-eat Data (although this maybe limited to 1gig, it is still better than most deals)
1 month rolling contract

DonDaddyD

Il Principe wrote:

dhope wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

look at total cost of contract over the duration of the contract as you may find paying for the phone upfront and a small monthly cost is cheaper in the long run.

This.

Bit of a faff, but when I got my 3GS I actually took out an 18 month £25pm contract with a free Samsung Galaxy S, then sold the Galaxy for £300 and got a 3GS off contract for about £400.

The £25pm Galaxy contract was significantly better than the £25 iPhone contract - think it was 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited (500mb) internet (this was about 18 months ago)

+1 IME it is cheaper if you can afford the initial outlay.

My £25/month plan with 3 gives me:

2000 any network minutes
5000 texts
5000 Three-to-Three minutes
All-you-can-eat Data (although this maybe limited to 1gig, it is still better than most deals)
1 month rolling contract

I've had a contract since I was 15 that's a damn good deal for any phone.

il_principe

dhope wrote:

[
Bit of a faff, but when I got my 3GS I actually took out an 18 month £25pm contract with a free Samsung Galaxy S, then sold the Galaxy for £300 and got a 3GS off contract for about £400.

The £25pm Galaxy contract was significantly better than the £25 iPhone contract - think it was 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited (500mb) internet (this was about 18 months ago)

Be wary of doing this with an iPhone 4 as it takes a special new 'micro sim' and AFAIK is the only phone to do so...

Gussio

I was planning on getting a Samsung Galaxy SII over Apple or HTC, based on a recomendation from someone in our IT department. Is he a genius or an idiot?

keyser__soze

Il Principe wrote:

Be wary of doing this with an iPhone 4 as it takes a special new 'micro sim' and AFAIK is the only phone to do so...

One can get micro sims from any of the providers and they also come with an adapter that lets you use the micro sim in a normal phone.

Gussio wrote:

I was planning on getting a Samsung Galaxy SII over Apple or HTC, based on a recomendation from someone in our IT department. Is he a genius or an idiot?

Good phone. Anyone claiming Android == HTC is deluded. Samsung and now Sony are offering phones at least equal to HTCs droid offerings.

http://www.reghardware.com/2011/10/05/t ... hone_4s_5/

Gussio

Interesting and informative link - thanks!

Wallace1492

Pufftmw wrote:

Wallace1492 wrote:

I have had company phone for years, but with impending redundancy will have to buy/rent my own device/connection.

Ask your company if you can port your phone number out - its no real skin off their nose and saves you having to run around telling everyone your new number. You need the PAC code.

Also, they might let you have your old phone so you might be able to put the number onto a P&G or a SIM only contract (cheaper obviously).

Intend to do this. Like my number, and loads have it.

il_principe

Gussio wrote:

I was planning on getting a Samsung Galaxy SII over Apple or HTC, based on a recomendation from someone in our IT department. Is he a genius or an idiot?

Neither, but he works in IT. IME IT Peeps prefer Android as they can get all clever with it. That's great if you understand how to do all that customisation. If you don't, then get an iPhone. Like most of Apple's stuff, us non-techy people like it because it works well, and is easy to use - oh and it's well designed:

"Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn't what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grasp what it's all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don't take the time to do that."
- Steve Jobs, Wired magazine, 1994

shouldbeinbed

bails87 wrote:

shouldbeinbed
There's a trick to fix the battery on the desire, worked a treat on mine.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712990

Cheers, will give it a go