Phone woes

redvee

Stay with the contract and see what your current airtime provider can do on an iPhone, if atall.

VTech

I can't believe that I'm saying this but I'm thinking of walking from apple phones.
The fact is that the iPhone 5s for me has been a bad phone. Bad reception. Bad Internet connectivity and far less features that similar phones in the market.
The wife is getting a Samsung this week to see if she prefers that and I will probably be following her.

metronome

VTech wrote:

I can't believe that I'm saying this but I'm thinking of walking from apple phones.

+1. My last 2 or 3 phones have been Apple. Next time, not so sure.

I read up on Fairphone recently. Ethical and responsible, transparent business, does everything required, good price:

https://www.fairphone.com

jawooga

Wait until contract ends and get something other than an iPhone. I've always had Samsung but just got an htc one and love it. friends and family have iPhone 5c and I can't see the attraction. in fact nor can they.

tlw1

I would wait and see what the new iPhone has to offer (as it sounds like you have set your mind on one).

If you are despite - buy a second hand one as a stop gap & sell yours on eBay

city_boy

redvee wrote:

Stay with the contract and see what your current airtime provider can do on an iPhone, if atall.

+1

Put a call in to your current provider and see what they'll offer. I've done this 3 times one with Vodaphone and each time they've given me better phones (mrs and son's phones) for free and better deals! Each time before the current contract expired.

I just had to sign up for another 2 year contract term. As you've only got 4 months left, they'll probably be quite keen to get you on another contract so just be cheeky in what you ask for, you could end up with a better phone and better deal!!

andy9964

Wait until your contract is up, by then the 6 will probably be out.
Look around for the, now cheaper 5S contracts.
Phone your provider and see what they can do on a 5S


Unless you really fancy a 6 by then

Other than that, consider switching to android, Samsung or HTC

Anonymous

The standard 5 (not C or S) is about 250 on ebay. Get a sim only contract and you're away.

I have recently upgraded from a on-its-last-legs 4 to a 5, and it was great to start with, but I'm bored of it after a month.

markhewitt1978

I got my iPhone 4 (got a 4S now) in 2010 and back then they were amazing, far and away better than anything else on the market, coming from a Nokia N97 it was a total revalation.

Now in 2014 it isn't so clear cut, Samsung as well as others like HTC are the equal of the iPhone on many levels and surpass it in others.

thistle_

redvee wrote:

Stay with the contract and see what your current airtime provider can do on an iPhone, if atall.

If you're happy to change network, ring up another provider and see if they will pay off your current contract?

Frank Wilson

As my contract was expiring recently I was offered "an upgrade" from the HTC I had to a Sony Xperia J.

After four months my experience with this phone is not good, it is very sluggish to touch command, is continually warning me that memory is nearly full but does not have a function to move apps to SD card to free up space, this coupled with quite a few other inherent nasties make it a big disappointment.

So like other posters not overly enthusiastic about my Sony mobile experience.

Flâneur

Personally, wait out the contract for and see what the 6 brings. Like others here my 5 and 5s (used the better halfs upgrade) isn't quite the sharp end of the market as the 3 and 4 were.

Not had the problem of reception or slow internet but the battery life certainly hasn't been as good as the 4.

I probably will end up with another iphone (my contract is up i'm just waiting for this to die/6 to be released) but this time my choice has competition.

Think on this if money is going to be stretched, for the price of an iPhone you could get a Nexus phone and tablet.

markhewitt1978

iOS 8 was announced yesterday. Nothing earth shattering but lots of stuff for households who have more than one iOS device (ours has three), especially stuff like sharing apps and music and that you can give your kids a phone and lock it down such that parents get asked for permission to allow individual purchases etc.

wastelander

If the rest of your hardware estate is Apple then look at the iPhone 5/5S as connectivity between their products is second to none.

pblakeney

The solution is quite simple.

Wait until your contact is up and then get a sim only contract with any supplier that you want.
Then buy any phone that you want, if and when you want.

You will be happy and better off as contracts are a rip off.

drlodge

F) Get an Android phone.

markhewitt1978

I'm pretty much holding out hoping that the iPhone 6 is something decent - hopefully with a good sized screen. As both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S have been a let down as it's just more of the same.

morstar

PBlakeney wrote:

The solution is quite simple.

Wait until your contact is up and then get a sim only contract with any supplier that you want.
Then buy any phone that you want, if and when you want.

I agree that this is generally the best approach if you can afford a phone upfront. Way cheaper over what would be the contract period when you compare high street prices.

PBlakeney wrote:

You will be happy and better off as contracts are a rip off.

But, as others have said, if you negotiate with an existing supplier, you beat high street prices hands down and contracts can be very good value.

I have just agreed a new contract with my provider. For the second time in a row, the contract I have agreed gives me sufficient airtime, texts and data with the total cost of the contact being equal to the best available sim free price for the same phone. Ergo, free usage and no upfront cost. I'd prefer not to have a contract but it's purely an economical decision. I don't have any issues with my provider.

Anonymous

The thing I find is that your supplier will not negotiate on iPhone contracts as Apple has a specific clause not to allow this.

nathancom

I am not sure contracts are really a rip off. You are paying around £30+ a month with about £12 of that the cost of the line + usage, that leaves £18+ a month for the phone, call it £20. Over 24 months that is £480, though you will probably be able to get a deal. That is not expensive for a top end Android handset.

On a personal note I think the smartphone market is a bit overblown, they are bringing out more and more useless battery-eating features each year like a HRM in a phone (what is the point of that?) or fingerprint detection. I just want a phone that gives me internet connection, decent SoC so the phone is not sluggish, google app store and really good battery life. I prefer to use a proper camera over a phone any day, I prefer garmin 500 over the generally poor gps units in phones and I prefer not needing to charge my phone every single day. Unfortunately no one has produced a unit that really ticks the boxes.

MountainMonster

Why not just take a contract out with the current providors and use your sim in the new phone? It's only a tener, and i'm sure they will swap the numbers for you at the end of the contract.

pblakeney

morstar wrote:

But, as others have said, if you negotiate with an existing supplier, you beat high street prices hands down and contracts can be very good value.

I have just agreed a new contract with my provider. For the second time in a row, the contract I have agreed gives me sufficient airtime, texts and data with the total cost of the contact being equal to the best available sim free price for the same phone. Ergo, free usage and no upfront cost. I'd prefer not to have a contract but it's purely an economical decision. I don't have any issues with my provider.

This is correct but assumes that you only keep the phone for the length of a contract, which people normally do as they get sucked in again next time.
If you are out of contract then keep the phone and go sim only. I am currently into what would have been my third contact but on sim only, quids in and my phone still does all that I want for the foreseeable future.
If you need the latest gadgets then contract is the way to go.

RDW

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I'm pretty much holding out hoping that the iPhone 6 is something decent - hopefully with a good sized screen. As both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S have been a let down as it's just more of the same.

Yes, it doesn't seem the best time to switch to an iPhone when the new model is probably just a few months away, and (unless Apple have really lost the plot) is likely to have a substantially larger screen, making the older models seem rather small and quaint by the Autumn.

Or just buy something like a Nexus 5, running Google's stock version of Android without the bloatware.

pinno

Here we go, cat amongst the blind pigeons again.

There is a 22,000 square mile area in Mongolia that is almost bereft of life. The reason - The Chinese (and other Western Countries) have been open cast mining for precious metals used in the production of Smart phones. The resulting toxic leachates are also entering water systems and are almost certainly going to leave it's mark probably all the way into the Indian Ocean.
A town of 12,000 people was completely displaced as a result of his open cast mining of precious metals.

I do not see, nor understand our addiction to the latest gadget. I still do not see or understand the explicit need for them. Unless it is critical to your job, you do not need one.

http://www.movaluate.com/environmental- ... martphones

arran77

pinarello001 wrote:

I do not see, nor understand our addiction to the latest gadget. I still do not see or understand the explicit need for them. Unless it is critical to your job, you do not need one.

Me and a colleague were just saying this very thing

Our world is becoming a place of total information overload and many people now sadly believe that they can't survive without being connected to the world with this gadget or that gadget.

Our minds are often not given the option of being able to switch off and recharge and I for one find this a really sad state of affairs.

For once I agree with you Piña :P

nathancom

It is mostly marketing, create a need in your audience and watch the dollars roll in.

But then we can complain about technology all we like but we still enjoy many benefits, from health, food and water quality, improved systems efficiency etc.

Also look at the dramatic improvement of the lives of 3rd world, better health, better food, better water as shown through his excellent data viz http://blog.ted.com/2013/02/04/hans-rosling-shatters-the-myth-of-developed-versus-developing-nations/ We are making the world better via this tech even if western consumerism is soulless and to be avoided as an end in itself that so many live by.