Review :: Mobilesift - new easy-to-use mobile-phone comparison site

[Bob Crabtree]

Anything that makes it easier to choose the right mobile phone is welcome, so the launch of Mobilesift.co.uk - a new mobile-phone comparison site - could turn out to be good news.

The site gives you a number of starting points - searching first by network, brand or type. Each option throws up an extensive series of named handset images, and this list reduces in real-time as you tick or untick boxes for the features you want.

More in this HEXUS.lifestyle.headline.

[Tom Scott]

Great idea, poor execution - only compares the networks own sites, plus carphone warehouse and mobile shop for the best prices, so its unlikely to be the best deal around.

[Bob Crabtree]

It's early days yet.

This seems to me to be a labour of love and I am expecting it to improve quite considerably in the near future.

My biggest concern, in truth, is about the accuracy of the product information on the site.

Every substantive mistake means there's a likelihood that a phone will drop off the list when it shouldn't have done or wrongly be included.

If the information is accurate, though, this will be a very useful and speedy tool in narrowing down the choices even though it's not necessarily going to be the only search tool you'd use.

So, I'm kind of assuming that Andy is going to be adding some ads on the site, to increase the revenue. Certainly, I would!

And, of course, currently, there's no info on the site about hands-on experiences, so you'd need to look elsewhere for that side of things for the various phones you're considering.

[DeludedGuy]

Would be nice to compare phones side by side so you could see which has better battery life etc...

[Bob Crabtree]

Would be nice to compare phones side by side so you could see which has better battery life etc...

Andy seemed to me to be very open to suggestions - and I'm expecting him to be keeping an eye on this thread, so I think this and all other ideas for improvement will be welcomed by him.

[sift]

Thanks for the comments Bob and DeludedGuy.

Regarding your comments:

I've got a whole list of possible features to include - side-by-side comparisons is one of them.

Getting more merchants on board is of course an aim. It's sensible and practical to only include a handful of merchants at launch stage.

Feedback and suggestions are always welcome - I'll be implementing some features to make this easy to do.

Bob, regarding accuracy:

Feedback mechanisms, data input validation by multiple people, as well as several other options, can be used to ensure high accuracy. I'm looking into this right now.

Tom Scott:

You appear to think that a just-launched Web-site is a finished product - a naive assumption. Your comment was hasty and inaccurate.

so its unlikely to be the best deal around.

The merchants listed on Mobilesift.co.uk (as well other merchants who have yet to be listed) will in most cases offer consumers the best deals, and the best selection of handsets.

I'm open to merchant suggestions. Merchants have to reputable, well-established, offer competitive deals, and their Web site must provide a good user experience.

Andy
Mobilesift.co.uk

[Bob Crabtree]

Andy,

Welcome aboard!

Hopefully, this means you'll keep us posted here on developments with the site.

[sift]

Sure thing Bob. I'll keep you posted here on new developments.

Andy

[Tom Scott]

Tom Scott:

You appear to think that a just-launched Web-site is a finished product - a naive assumption. Your comment was hasty and inaccurate.

The merchants listed on Mobilesift.co.uk (as well other merchants who have yet to be listed) will in most cases offer consumers the best deals, and the best selection of handsets.

I'm open to merchant suggestions. Merchants have to reputable, well-established, offer competitive deals, and their Web site must provide a good user experience.

Andy
Mobilesift.co.uk

So you'll be listing merchants even if they don't offer you a referral/signup commission?

Theres nothing on the site to state you're adding more retailers - so it wasn't exactly naive or hasty - I'm suprised you've not used vanillasite/vanillamobile to do your own sales from the site.

[sift]

Tom

You have assumed that the merchants listed 'are it', and no more merchants will be added. I thought your comment was hasty and inaccurate.

A comment such as "it appears to only list a few merchants - when will you be adding some more merchants? There is no mention of this on your site", would have been more appropriate.

I will make it clear on the homepage that 'more merchants are coming soon' - thanks for the feedback.

So you'll be listing merchants even if they don't offer you a referral/signup commission?

My aim is to list merchants which meet the criteria set out at the end of my last post. Many merchants which offer referral fees will not be listed, due to one or more of the aforementioned criteria not being met.

Any mobile dealer unwilling to spend money to market their business are unlikely to offer competitive deals, thus they won't be listed.

I'm suprised you've not used vanillasite/vanillamobile to do your own sales from the site.

I have no interest in becoming a mobile phone dealer.

Andy
Mobilesift.co.uk

[Tom Scott]

Any mobile dealer unwilling to spend money to market their business are unlikely to offer competitive deals, thus they won't be listed.

Your choice, just bare in mind theres a million other referal sites out there, such as mobiles4everyone and vanillamobile, and that carphone already offer this filtering functionality on their website.

I'd just say that 7 years in the mobile market has taught me that if someone is spending vast sums of money getting new business in, they have very little consideration (and money for customer services) for customers they already have.

Good luck with the site, the mobile phone referral market is a hard one to make decent money from.

[sift]

Yes, the mobile phone referral market is competitive.

...taught me that if someone is spending vast sums of money getting new business in, they have very little consideration (and money for customer services) for customers they already have.

You've equated 'spending money to promote a business' with 'we don't give a hoot about our existing customers' - not true for many large businesses. Many of them allocate a good deal of resources and attention to customer relations - both new and existing customers.

I've been a customer of many MNOs and some mobile dealers - I've always found their customer service to be fine.

Andy
Mobilesift.co.uk

[sift]

A few Mobilesift updates:

1. PAYG mobile comparisons launched.

2. More partners added - more coming soon - see the home page for updated list.

3. mobile phone reviews.

4. The Mobile Blog.