Recommend a nice mid-range phone?

[Rave]

I've finally got round to cancelling our phone contracts as there's no cashback coming in now and we're not getting much for our £30 a month. So I want to order two new phones for my wife and myself, preferably on a deal where we get it free with a load of minutes and texts after we've claimed the cashback.

So far I've seen the Samsung D900 and Nokia N70 on suitable deals. Any thoughts? The wife wants a slider phone and the D900 looks like a nice one. I wouldn't mind having web 'n walk and there's someone offering the N70 on T-Mobile with web n' walk included (I think- if not I don't mind paying the £7.50 a month). I would like a phone that takes Micro SD cards and plays MP3's half decently though.

Any thoughts? Or any other deals? Thought I'd tap the knowledge in here as I'm not really up to date on Mobile phones- I just tend to order a new one every 18 months and usually end up with something pretty average- it was a Motorola L7 las time round.

Cheers.

[tigerboyce]

A little over Mid, But the new nokia 6300 is very nice, im not sure about what sort of contracts you can get it on, but its a very nice phone. Great camera, Video, MP3. All the usual stuff TBH, but its just a really smart and stylish looking phone, nice and thin too.

[Howard]

The N70 is an old phone now. You can probably get an N73 for the same money/free. It has an improved OS, improved screen and a good camera

[PEN]

I would agree with Tiger on the Nokia 6300. Lovely mid range phone. Functional, easy-to-use and intuitive.

PEN

[Odc]

I got an unlocked Nokia 6300 from play.com a month ago. Great phone with a lot of cool features. Its pretty light and doesn't look half bad too.

[d3fiant]

Ive recently been using a Nokia E50, very nice fone, solid, great battery life and it even lets me install TomTom using the micro SD slot, not sure it has any decent MP3 capabilities tho

[Ferral]

You can get the N95 on a £35 12 or 18 month contract on Vodafone now. £35 is the mid range tariffs on most networks now. It came down a few weeks back so can be offered with no worries at all. So if you went for that you are getting a high end phone on a mid range tariff!

Another decent phone is the Nokia 6110 Navigator, you may actually be able to get them to do it on a £30 per month Tariff if you play the unsure to buy customer *wink wink*. Or even the new Samsung G600, must admit I have sold quite a few of them already on contracts that are £35 per month.

In all honesty though mate I would seriously think on paying the extra £5 per month as this will get you virtually any hanset on any of the networks current range. Excluding the Scirrocco or Luna from Nokia as these are the current top end Nokias (granted they look nice but are no different to the 6300 with memory and software).

[pp05]

6110 I hear is a pretty solid phone without n95 hype. The other one is 6120. Latter you would pick up free most likely.

[Ferral]

I got my 6110 on a staff account on day of release and it hasn't crashed once, really like it. Quite heavy also which is a good thing for me as I like to know that I have it in my pocket!

Does virtually everything the N95 does except it only has a 2 MP camera and it doesn't have wi fi. Other than that it is the best phone I've had the past few years.

[capt sensible]

I've been using an E50 for the last 12 months or so. I'm pretty sure that you can play MP3s but there's no mini-jack for standard headphones - you have to get special Nokia ones (an adapter is available I think). The microSD slot is a great idea, but access to it requires the removal of the back which in mine is well-nigh impossible

[hitman67]

I would agree with Tiger on the Nokia 6300. Lovely mid range phone. Functional, easy-to-use and intuitive.

PEN

Agreed, I got it in red and love it. tbh nowt on it I would fault. On Orange £35 a month Unlimited texts and 500 Mins a month and £100 cash back if bought at P4U (Which is the only place you can get a red one)



For the Slider, Nokia 6500. Dad just got one and it looks a really great little phone.

[Mithrandir]

I too assessed my phone contract with Tmobile last month and I decided I wasn't getting the best deal with them. I got 500 off peak mins (6pm off peak) and I had to pay additionally for a text bundle and statement. So it all added up, which wasn't too bad really. For 3-4 yearrs it was cheapre than Orange, my previous contract.

Anyhow... a couple of weeks ago I bought a new contract with Three. For £15pm 300 mins anytime!, includes free skype and free MSN messenger plus some other apps I won't use.
Live checking of account is also good.
The signal is not too bad although in some areas defnintely worse than Tmobile, although in some other areas it seems to get signal where t mob drops.
I've been told Three is part of the Hutchinson group and uses the Orange network for signal.


Also I got the SE K530i
It's a great phone I think, although the screen res is pretty poor compared to the others I've seen (Its a lowly 220 x 176)
Menu is easy to use and seems quick and responsive, well compared with my ageing T630! Anything is better

Battery seems fine. I've had to charge it every day, but then I tend to talk for 2-3 hours per day since getting the phone.

Also if you know a friend who is on Three you can both get £30 as a referal incentive.
I got a£20 accessories voucher as I went online in the live chat and they will offer you a code for the voucher. You could just ask any question or just a general chat and they will push the code into your face. Still a free 1gb memory card or other accessory.

[gurpz1]

i would go with an ericcson or a nokia, the one's i've had have been very good. Don't go with the D900 or infact any samsung, they are useless!!!

The problem with the D900 is the camera has the worst quality ever and when taking a video/photo you cannot save directly onto the memory stick.... it saves on the phone and then you have to copy it onto the memory stick.... that is the biggest flaw in the phone

[thecreep]

I have the Nokia N73 and I can say it is a pretty good phone. Just don't get a vodafone branded one mine had some issues

[pritsey]

i use a 6120 classic - s60 OS 3rd edition. Great spec, lots of applications you can add. The n73 is availble cheaply all over the place and is very similar specm slightly slower, but better camera. I'd say any recent SE, Nokia or if you want to do more than most phones, get a S60 phone.

[JPreston]

Anyhow... a couple of weeks ago I bought a new contract with Three

....

The signal is not too bad although in some areas defnintely worse than Tmobile, although in some other areas it seems to get signal where t mob drops.
I've been told Three is part of the Hutchinson group and uses the Orange network for signal.

T-Mobile and 3 network share deal - Mobile News





EDIT: oh yeah back on topic; the 6300 is a nice sleek no-nonsense phone as said above.