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Meet the best smartphone available for under £150.
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Read more.Quote:
Meet the best smartphone available for under £150.
Looks like they're going in the right direction in their budget smartphones, but will consumers bite?
Good review! :thumbsup:
From the sound of it, this'd be a great little device to migrate someone to who'd either got one of those dirt cheap Samsung Android smartphones (Galaxy Ace, Mini, Mini 2, etc) or a dumbphone. And I like the comment about the plastic backs not being flimsy ... see Samsung, plastic battery cases don't have to be crappy! (The one on the S3 is shocking)
Shame about the lack of wireless charging - seems like a wasted opportunity to sell some accessories.
One question though - I'm assuming that being a smartphone this'd need a basic (250MB/month?) internet connection, but I've seldom seen a PAYG tariff that included any amount of data. Has that changed?
Some PAYG tarrifs have offers along the lines of Top up £10 per month and get 100meg free!
At the end of the day I find when I'm abroad in some contries I use little data, only really using it for email (push email) which depending on the mail service you use can be very little. I used about 8meg on an Exchange server in 2 weeks, its all compressed, and I have it only download the first part of emails, not attachments. I bought a 20meg pack in Vietnam last time, along with an unlimited data sim (I was worried about network coverage, and for $2 a 20meg packup sim I thought was a fair deal). I was using a now old Omnia 7, running 7.8. I used it a lot more heavily when I had WiFi.
everytime you top up on three they give you 150mb which lasts 90 days, including £5 top ups.Quote:
Originally Posted by crossy
This handset is going to do well.
Buy phone on PAYG.Quote:
Originally Posted by crossy
Throw away PAYG SIM.
Get cheap SIM-only monthly package.
????????????
PROFIT :D
Good review. I've been looking for a reasonably priced smartphone to buy someone in the family. The Nexus 4 was top of my list but it's nice to see competition in the budget end.
GiffGaff have 1GB/month for £10 which includes unlimited texts and 250 minutes.Quote:
Originally Posted by crossy
An extra £2 will bag you unlimited usage as well.
Runs on the o2 network.
I bought one of these for £120 the other week, getting Carphone Warehouse to match an O2 price. The handset arrived SIM-free.
I've got it teamed with a T-mobile SIM - Full Monty - that offers unlimited everything (within reason) for £16p/m.
Why anyone over the age of 18 still uses PAYG with a smartphone I don't understand, there are SIM-only rolling or 12 month deals (go check the 3 website) offering a few hundred mins/texts and reasonable data for <£10 pcm. I'm paying T-Mobile £13pcm for 300 any net + 300 sam net (so given most of my talk is to the Mrs effectively 600 mins), 300 texts and 750MB and I didn't even try hard to do better. Good thing about that T-Mobile plan is even if I go over the data they just downrate me at peak times, not the end of the world.Quote:
Originally Posted by crossy
PAYG is for old folk with dumb phones to ring the AA, the bankrupt and super-skint and kids.
I get 250 any uk network minutes, unlimited same network minutes, unlimited uk texts and unlimited internet for £12 PAYG. Maybe you should try hard to do better. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle
And my missus - unfortunately. :iloveyou:Quote:
Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle
She's got an old Three dumbphone - so if Three would be happy to "migrate" her to the Essential Internet 200 (which'd be "unlimited" for her, and <£7) then presumably - like Tarinder - could persuade the local CPW to sell me an unlocked Nokia 620.
If nothing else, it'd maybe stop her complaining about me and the kids "tapping away" on our smartphones when we're out and about.
Thanks for the thought.
Brilliant review -
bought one a few weeks ago, its perfect, and for 150 quid! good quality phone with Windows 8, means you always have your PC close to hand
Good review - and you make the most important point about smartphones...
This is very true - and it's something that so many people miss..probably because of how manufacturers market their devices. When people get bored of the "iOS is better than Android" debate, they often switch to the hardware, moaning that the latest Android device is 10x faster than the new iPhone, or that Windows Mobile doesn't support 8 core CPUs.Quote:
Originally Posted by hexus
The specification is completely irrelevant when comparing cross platform - the important thing is the user experience. Nokia do a good job here - my girlfriends lumia 710 doesn't feel any slower than my old HTC titan (both were WP7 devices) - the main differences were the camera, screen size and screen quality. CPU/Memory wise there was a difference in spec..but nothing noticeable when actually using the device.
Good on them for it - maybe if the trend continues people will realise that the specs are not the number one important thing and that there isn't a direct relationship between specifications and user experience - or at least that it's not as linear as people think...
Haha... there are a few younger people with dumbphones, not just the old folks... maybe I should have said technophobes! She's not got the keypad tones still turned on has she?Quote:
Originally Posted by crossy
Yeah you're right I could, but I'm lazy and I pretty much needed to be on T-Mobile. Point is I didn't try hard and got a bundle that offered decent data (+WiFi also) at PAYG prices. Most of the general PAYG deals make you top up £10-15 a month to get any allowances, so the total spend is as much or higher than contract and inconvenient in that you have to remember to top up. When you can get the same thing on a rolling or 12 monther I don't see why you'd PAYG unless you're excluded from contracts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr-Tucker
Sell the sim.......Quote:
Originally Posted by scaryjim
My wife has one, and loves it. £15/month to Virgin customers on their lowest tariff's pretty damn amazing for such a well-made phone. Now to just find where you can get new shells...
A new Windows Phone ad has just come out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNQGWbclHDY
Only glanced through the review but the same thing strikes me with this as does every other WP review - it looks nice and easy to use just from the pictures. Everything looks clean cut and obvious, something even iOS doesn't do to the same extent IMO.
Hopefully WP will pick up enough traction to be a contender still when my S3 contract is up as i think i'll jump ship, all things being equal.
I've skipped out at the end of my last 2 contracts, due to rather poor retention offers. This time, with talkmobile, I was offered 250 minutes, 5000 texts, and 500MB data ... for £7.50.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle
Sold :)
The great thing about WP is there is so little frustration with these low end devices, that it makes spending more money seem silly.
Is my 920 better than my 620, yes. Is it 3 times better, no.
Have you visited the Titan thread? :pQuote:
Originally Posted by TheAnimus
For me, I only have to top up £10 every three months to get my benefits, and I've yet to see any contract as cheap as £3.33 a month.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle
Still missing stuff I want though...but getting there I must admit
Out of interest what is the stuff its missing you'd want/expect from a £150 device?Quote:
Originally Posted by 3dcandy
My thoughts would be:
- Notification Center
- Native Pod Cast Support
The 610 is frustrating. Largely because Skype won't run, MSN is getting shut down, and there are no plans to switch the Messenger app to use skype instead of msn as a back-endQuote:
Originally Posted by TheAnimus
If I hadn't upgraded to the Note 2 in November, I'd be cancelling my contract now and getting one of these. I like the Note, but it's not worth what it costs (by comparison) - even with a cracking retentions deal from Vodafone.
Instagram is the main one for me, which is a simple thing to rectify.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAnimus
I think the Note 2 is a wholly different thing and shouldn't really be compared to a sub £150 smartphoneQuote:
Originally Posted by McPhee
giffgaff.comQuote:
Originally Posted by crossy
250 mins, unlimited text and data £12 p/month.
400 mins, unlimited text and data £15 p/month.
I just got one of these for £129.99 from O2, and I have to say it's a cracking little device. Great screen, well-built, decent performance; I'm very happy with it, and so far I've found decent apps for anything I've wanted.