Sensible mobile phone choice
MikeCapon - 15/1/12 at 03:06 PM
I have not had a mobile phone since 2007 
In fact those five years have been excellent without an electronic leash...
I now need to buy a phone (I don't get one with my operator) and being well out of touch I could do with some advice. I need:
To make/recieve phone calls
To see and reply to my mails
That's it! No need for cameras, GPS or anything else.
It seems to me (though I could well be wrong
) that a touch screen phone is best as it has a bigger screen? From what I've read the Android OS
seems to be preferable?
I've got to pay for the phone so IPhones, Galaxy SIIs etc are well out of contention. I can afford (under duress) up to a max of £150.
So, what should I buy and why?
Thanking you all in advance,
Mike
tegwin - 15/1/12 at 03:15 PM
Get a used Iphone Should be able to get a 2nd gen for that much..
I recently bought an iphone1 .... Ok, so its a bit slow and its a bit scratched, but it works pretty well :-)
iank - 15/1/12 at 03:25 PM
Samsung Galaxy Ace is around £130 on PAYG and should do all you want.
Difficult to buy a smartphone without a camera and to a lesser extent GPS these days.
MikeCapon - 15/1/12 at 03:31 PM
quote:
Originally posted by iank
Samsung Galaxy Ace is around £130 on PAYG and should do all you want.
Difficult to buy a smartphone without a camera and to a lesser extent GPS these days.
Hi Ian,
I'm not saying it must not have a camera, GPS etc. Just that it is not necessary for me so not a pre-requisite.
And Tegwin,
Is an Iphone 3Gs 16Gb a good price at 150€ (about £135) second hand?
Thanks,
Mike
tegwin - 15/1/12 at 03:35 PM
That sounds like a pretty good price for that!
britishtrident - 15/1/12 at 03:36 PM
Buy an Orange San Francisco PAYG for £89+ 20 top-up then you can unlock it swap the sim and use it on any network you want although
Orange PAYG is good value provided you top up by £10 every month and allocate £5 of the top up to internet credit.
On the other hand if you just want a 2g phone for speech and txt the Orange Rio for £29+10 top up, it has qwerrty key board and a decent enough
camera only fault I found with mine was the screen was difficult to see in very bright sun light. It will do pull email and 2g web browsing. Aa with
the San Francisco unlocking is easy and the unlock code is free off the internet.
Also for non smart phones the cheaper Sanyo slider phones are good.
ReMan - 15/1/12 at 03:46 PM
quote:
Originally posted by iank
Samsung Galaxy Ace is around £130 on PAYG and should do all you want.
Difficult to buy a smartphone without a camera and to a lesser extent GPS these days.
Mrs got one of Friday and loves it already
And if she can work it....... (running)
£13 mth all in inc 3G (Just think LCB on the go
)
MikeCapon - 15/1/12 at 03:47 PM
Thank you for the replies people.
As I'm not in the UK actual deals are not really applicable to me. For what it's worth here is my situation as far as my service provider
goes.
France has always been a market with very dear mobiles. In 2007 a simple 2 hours of communication per month cost 32€ (about £27). Prices have remained
high here until the 10th January when a new operator (Free) came on line. The first 3,000,000 customers all got super deals and even better if they
were already Free internet customers (which I am).
As a result for 15.99€ (£13.25) I get unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles in France, unlimited call to mobiles and landlines in 40 countries and
unlimited text and data.
So there you are. And that's why I need to buy a phone as the deal above does not include one.
Ta,
Mike
D Beddows - 15/1/12 at 04:09 PM
If you want to fiddle about get an Android phone - if you just want a phone that works get an iPhone. I've got a works iPhone and a personal
Android one......I like to fiddle so I prefer the Android one but I can appreciate the 'it just works' quality of the iPhone 3G or 3GS
are probably more than enough for what you need
karlak - 15/1/12 at 04:16 PM
Orange Sanfrancisco - Easy unlock
snakebelly - 15/1/12 at 04:35 PM
another voate for the sanfransisco, get someone in the uk to pick you one up payg and get it unlocked.
mangogrooveworkshop - 15/1/12 at 05:20 PM
WWW.WICKEDGADGET.COM
avoid blackberrys they are c%%% big fingers and bb buttons are not a good mix.
MikeCapon - 15/1/12 at 05:51 PM
Thanks again,
The San Francisco looks an excellent choice. Not available over here though. 
On a couple of forums they say that the San Francisco is made by ZTE and is the same phone as the ZTE Blade...
Anyone care to confirm or deny?
Thanks for continuing to help.
Mike
Marcus - 15/1/12 at 05:57 PM
Yup, the ZTE Blade is a San Francisco and vice versa. I sold one recently, it's an excellent phone.
MikeCapon - 15/1/12 at 05:59 PM
Thank you Marcus. Top man. 
Decision made. ZTE Blade it is.
Thanks to all,
Mike
britishtrident - 15/1/12 at 06:05 PM
The Sann Francisco it is a a ZTE Blade, unlocking is just a matter of getting the unlock off the internet and swapping the sim then putting unlock
code in via the touch screen key board.
I had a spare bnib San Francisco untill it was given as an xamas present.
mangogrooveworkshop - 15/1/12 at 08:09 PM
Correct we picked up one for 30 quid
quote:
Originally posted by MikeCapon
Thanks again,
The San Francisco looks an excellent choice. Not available over here though.
On a couple of forums they say that the San Francisco is made by ZTE and is the same phone as the ZTE Blade...
Anyone care to confirm or deny?
Thanks for continuing to help.
Mike
big_wasa - 15/1/12 at 08:18 PM
got my lad a galaxy mini for xmas £80 from car phone.
He loves it