New mobile for n00bz (me & wife)

[Wij]

My Mrs' contract is due to expire soon and I'm looking about for a decent smartphone & contract for her. It should also be good enough for me to play with as my mobile is a work one which will not get upgraded for ages.

She pays 20 a month at the moment so that is the top limit. I'll consider the cashback to bring the pretend-price-per-month below 20 quid if anyone knows a reliable company that does them. I take it internet deals are better than high-street or network provider direct ones. (?)

Probably need 400 mins, very few texts and a reasonable amount of data (although I take it I can use home/public wifi to avoid getting data over 3G?)

I'm thinking some Android phone is the way to go. Anyone got a decent contract and handset recently that they'd recommend ?

(ooh - Galaxy S looks nice )

 

[Zenith.UK]

Have you used Omio to compare phones and contracts?
Compare Mobile Phone Deals - Mobile Comparison & Offers from the UK

I looked my my phone (HTC Desire) with the limits you said.

How about this one?
HTC Desire on T-Mobile £20 (24mths) inc. Internet at BuyMobilePhones.net
Handset for £29.99, £20/month for 24 months on T-Mob, 300mins, 300txt, 1GB data

There are £20/month deals for the Galaxy S but you're paying £130-£200 for the phone up front. Going with a £25/month contract can get you a free phone with some retailers so in effect all you're doing is spreading the cost over the 2 years.

 

[Bodhi]

X10 pour homme, X10 Mini/Pro pour femme.

 

[nath]

lol, a sony mobile phone. How quaint

 

[old.user4556]

(ooh - Galaxy S looks nice )

As I said on another thread, I used to be "urggh, wouldn't touch a Samsung phone".

Then I had a proper play with a Galaxy S. My opinion changed to "holy fuck what a great phone".

If I had to get a smartphone right now, it would be my choice having played with a variety of the latest smartphones.

 

[Jupitus]

I'm reading this one too - the mrs reckons she wants an iPhone - how do I persuade her otherwise?

 

[Wij]

Apple is gay.

 

[Zenith.UK]

I'm reading this one too - the mrs reckons she wants an iPhone - how do I persuade her otherwise?

Antenna problems?
Search results for
New iPhone not so good 4 left-handers | The Sun |News
iphone 4 | Search Results | Mail Online
iphone 4 | Search | The Times

The guy who designed the thing left Apple yesterday.
iPhone Hardware Boss Departs Apple
Apple Looks Beyond Antennagate to Drive Out Papermaster - PCWorld
Apple iPhone head leaves company - Telegraph

Where there's smoke there's fire. Apple must have known about the antenna dropping out during compliance testing and shoved it through anyway. Mark Papermaster has now left/pushed out of Apple. Way too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence.

Apart from that, comparing an iphone against a Galaxy S, Desire or X10 is more about personal preference. I *personally* dislike all things Apple.

 

[MYstIC G]

I'm reading this one too - the mrs reckons she wants an iPhone - how do I persuade her otherwise?

Get her an iPod touch. If she can tell the difference, she's a post-op.

 

[Jupitus]

She's actually after an earlier iPhone, I think (daft m00). Is she going to be able to d/l pictures/videos off the phone to a windows pc without apple bloatware being needed, and can she play mp3s or does she need to have itunes crapola too?

 

[soze]

Depending on her technical ability the iPhone may be a good choice for your wife there is just so little on them that can get screwed up. It's a Fisher Price smart phone. For Music you can use SharePod to save tracks on and off the phone with out needing iTunes but i do not know how well it will cope with pictures and video. I know you can add video but i have never tried saving one off.

 

[MYstIC G]

Ignoring the bullshit in the post above, there are indeed numerous applications that will allow you to move music onto and off of an iPhone. That said she's better off with iTunes as it will do full backups of the phone.

Yes it'll play MP3's and infact I don't use iTunes store at all anymore and most decent MP3 stores have a download client that will pump everything into iTunes to keep it organised as well (Amazon, HMV).

Your own pictures and video you do with standard windows import wizard, when you connect your iPhone it will essentially act like a standard digital camera.

 

[soze]

It is not bullshit thanks, its true and a reason why I do recommend the iphone to some people. It is much easier to master a iphone with out a high level of technical ability.

 

[MYstIC G]

Compared to what exactly? It's a phone, you open the box, tap in some stuff and away you go.

Oh and Jup I forgot, you'll probably need iTunes for an iTunes account anyway.

 

[Ch3tan]

Compared to an android phone, or win mo phone? It's a smartphone, people struggle to use them if they don't have the technical knowledge or the experience.

No need to be so pissy about it, soze said nothing wrong in his post, he gave some opinions. But lol at Fisher Price phone


Jup take her into a shop, let her have a play with the latest phones and decide that way. Actually using a phone is very different to seeing it on tv or reading about it.

 

[soze]

Compared to what exactly? It's a phone, you open the box, tap in some stuff and away you go.

Oh and Jup I forgot, you'll probably need iTunes for an iTunes account anyway.

Windows Mobile. Talking someone though configuring a email account on Windows Mobile is a pain compared to the iPhone. I am sorry if you find it offensive but imo the iphone has been the easiest of the smart phones to get to grips with.

 

[Furr]

Get yourself an Android and the Misses an iPhone, simplez

 

[Jupitus]

I'll hand the hijacked thread back to Wij - Mrs J just bought an iphone anyway

 

[Preatoria]

It is not bullshit thanks, its true and a reason why I do recommend the iphone to some people. It is much easier to master a iphone with out a high level of technical ability.

I guess this is reason enough for me to NOT buy one. Oh btw, people still manage to fuck up with iphones

 

[dysfunction]

I am sorry if you find it offensive but imo the iphone has been the easiest of the smart phones to get to grips with.

Setting up my e-mail account on my android phone just required me to enter my e-mail address and my password....It can't get much simpler than that!

 

[soze]

Setting up my e-mail account on my android phone just required me to enter my e-mail address and my password....It can't get much simpler than that!

But managing your email accounts after they are set up is easier on a iPhone. It is only my personal opnion but after setting up Androids, Win Mo, Palm OS and iPhones if my Mother asked which smart phone to get i would say iPhone. If a technical minded friend asked i would say Android where you can do everything a iPhone can but only after a bit of work.

 

[Wij]

This deal ?

Samsung Galaxy S - Great Mobile Phone Deals on Orange

Effectively £18.75 p/m. 300 mins, 300 texts, 500MB, free phone.

?

 

[Ch3tan]

Pretty good, a few things though; although 500mb may well be enough data for most, Orange are gay about going over your limits. They charge first, ask later. Are you a heavy user? 300 minutes is nowhere near enough for me. 24 month contracts are the work of the devil. You can probably find a 18 month deal where they charge you a small amount for the phone and not have to give your soul away.

 

[Milkshake]

Please, please, please don't use T-Mobile. I've just had the pleasure of leaving them - hidden charges apon hidden charges and a customer service team that hate their lives. I cannot plead with you enough.

 

[dysfunction]

I echo the fact that 24 month contracts are evil!

 

[Tay]

I test a lot of phones in my job, mostly Androids now as we've gone to GAPE for email.

Android is fine but the marketplace place sucks donkey balls, it is just a matter of time before
1. It gets well and truly nuked with viruses etc
2. You get bored checking why a compass app needs access to your contacts list, and just hit ok.

I personally use a iPhone 4 now, its simple to use easy to hack and outperforms most everything else, I use a Nexus One for work.

iTunes works great for me, if my phone gets screwed or I buy a new one its back up and running in 30mins, all data restored, profile returned and thats that. My Androids arent that sweet.

I use Mac's at home and PC's in the office, the only gripe I have is that I cant manage my phone "out of the box" on various machines, such as my Mac Pro and my MB Pro. My Old 3G is now in my sons hands and still working well, not bad for an 18 month old phone.

90% of smart phones suffer from poor signal strength same as the iPhone's, but hey, they gave me a free case to fix it, Blackberry gave me shit, so did motorola and HTC.

All smartphones are shit when it comes to battery life, ask any 3 user, that has to use 3G only..you end up turning off 3g if you want to get more than a day out of your phone.

I'll hold my breath for the next gen Androids with the 1.2Ghz cpu's.

As for Windows mobile...just lol.

 

[Wij]

Got a Samsung Jet myself for a tenner a month. Will be handy when the Mrs is on Mat leave as it's on Virgin like the landline so she can call it for free. Seems OK. Much better than my very old knackered work one

Still looking for a nice one for the Mrs...

 

[nath]

Android is fine but the marketplace place sucks donkey balls, it is just a matter of time before
1. It gets well and truly nuked with viruses etc
2. You get bored checking why a compass app needs access to your contacts list, and just hit ok.

If it was going to happen, I'd have expected it to happen by now already. For one, you'd need root your phone and allow SU permissions on the app to *truly* fuck things up. Additionally, if an app were fucking about there's a "flag as inappropriate" option in the market place and a star rating, it's pretty hard to miss something that has 1 star.

iTunes works great for me, if my phone gets screwed or I buy a new one its back up and running in 30mins, all data restored, profile returned and thats that. My Androids arent that sweet.

Try Titanium backup - it's absolutely amazing software, backs up absolutely everything and restores everything in one click (with the $4 donate version), slightly more time consuming with the free but still very handy. I've been flashing a new ROM every other day on my Hero, without a solid backup/restore process I'd be spending hours getting things back the way I had it before the flash, as it is I spend about 5 minutes.

90% of smart phones suffer from poor signal strength same as the iPhone's, but hey, they gave me a free case to fix it, Blackberry gave me shit, so did motorola and HTC.

Perhaps, but the new iPhone has a pretty significant physical design flaw, one that can't be fixed via software. I've flashed new radio firmwares on to my Hero and the signal strength gets better each time.

All smartphones are shit when it comes to battery life, ask any 3 user, that has to use 3G only..you end up turning off 3g if you want to get more than a day out of your phone.

Of course it entirely depends on how you're using it but with the right setup you can get really very good battery life. Standby life is the main issue I find as when you get used to a phone that's what it's doing most of the time. Even with light usage I'd get a day out of the Hero, tops, before using these new ROMs. I tried keeping my phone on standby overnight (8 hours) the other day, battery went down 2%. That'll do me. General use still doesn't last long but that's because they've made so many improvements that I can't stop playing with the phone all frickin day.

I'll hold my breath for the next gen Androids with the 1.2Ghz cpu's.

I'm interested in the next gen too, predominantly because Android 3.0 requires a much beefier system and I'm very curious to see what it's like. Despite the 200-300% speed increase I've got from custom ROMS I don't think they'll be able to work that sort of miracle for 3.0 on my Hero.


I'll freely admit I'm a total Android fanboy, but in my defence - it is the best smartphone OS.

 

[Bodhi]

Hmmmm. See I've had about 6 smartphones now down the years, and not one has had any reception issues whatsoever. 5 of these were SonyEricsson's, 1 was Nokia.

It seems if you let a mobile phone company design the hardware (rather than a jumped up PR company that took 20 years to figure out a mouse could probably use another button) it actually works as intended?

 

[Ch3tan]

LOL Bodhi