Smartphones - which one to buy?

[Eenuh]

So I will have to hand in my loaned smartphone back into work tomorrow and I am not sure if I will be getting it back at some point or not. But it has made me realise that I can't go back to my old Sony Ericsson W595. =P

 

The one I have been using now is a HTC Desire S, which has served me well for 8 months or something and I quite enjoyed using it.

 

Right now however, I am not sure what phone would be right for me, mostly because I have absolutely no clue about what is available and which ones are considered good or bad.

 

Basically I think I am looking for an Android phone (simply because that is what I am used to now) that is not too expensive. I don't know if it is better to get one on a contract or to buy one without as I am not used to contracts (it is not something we used to have in Belgium, though maybe that is changing now too). I am currently Pay as you Go with O2, I spend less than £10 per month (or two months even) and mostly just use Wi-Fi. Would a contract be beneficial or not? What are the advantages of a contract? Do you "own" the phone? Do you have to hand it in after two years or do you automatically upgrade or what?

 

 

Anyway, what smartphones are worth looking at you think? =)

[Cube]

If you can wait for it to be in stock, the Nexus 4 is one of (if not the) best phones available at the moment, for a much lower cost than every other high-end phone.

 

As for contract, yes, you do own the phone (technically only after you've finished the contract period) and can do what you want for it. However after the usual 2-year period, you'll likely either give it to a friend or relative, or sell it for around £50. The price and quality of the Nexus 4 allowed me to get a much lower contract (£12.90 for 200 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited unlimited internet) with a one-month contract period.

[MoogleViper]

If you're not bothered about having a top of the line phone then you can get the Samsung Galaxy Ace for £7.50pm. You are locked into a 24 month contract though.

[Shorty]

If you like the Desire S, take a look at the One S, its spiritual successor.

 

The Nexus 4 is pretty big compared to the Desire, if it's not out of your way you might want to get to a carphone warehouse or somewhere that has display models to see the sizes for yourself. They probably won't even have a display model of the Nexus 4, but take a look at a Galaxy III for comparison. Don't let them sell you anything while you're there though :p, there'll always be a better deal online.

 

Then, if size doesn't matter (<flink joke>), the Nexus is a crazy good price for a brilliant phone. When it's back in stock, that is.

 

And if you want something top of the line, you could do worse than wait and see if anything new surfaces at CES over the next few days.

[bob]

The Galaxy Ace is not the best though. I don't know how it compares to the Desire S, but my gf found it a bit slow and it has a terribly small amount of memory on it, which means you can't have many apps running on it.

[Eenuh]

If you like the Desire S, take a look at the One S, its spiritual successor.

 

The Nexus 4 is pretty big compared to the Desire, if it's not out of your way you might want to get to a carphone warehouse or somewhere that has display models to see the sizes for yourself. They probably won't even have a display model of the Nexus 4, but take a look at a Galaxy III for comparison. Don't let them sell you anything while you're there though :p, there'll always be a better deal online.

 

Then, if size doesn't matter (<flink joke>), the Nexus is a crazy good price for a brilliant phone. When it's back in stock, that is.

 

And if you want something top of the line, you could do worse than wait and see if anything new surfaces at CES over the next few days.

 

I know all about the One S (I kinda work for HTC), but I am not sure I really want to go for it.

 

As for size, I like the Desire S because it is nice and compact. A lot of phones seem a bit too big for me. The Samsung S III Mini seems interesting, but then people keep saying it is slow etc. So maybe the Samsung S III is better?

 

I mostly use my phone for internet, listening to music (Google Music has become my friend lately) and taking photos. And of course a bit of texting now and then, not really for calling though. As for memory, I haven't really downloaded many apps onto my Desire S, but then I never really felt the need. Maybe if I own the phone I might download more but it is not something that is a priority right now. =)

[Retro_Link]

The phones you're talking about are around £25-£30 a month though I think aren't they?

 

How much do you think you would want to spend?

[Eenuh]

That's the thing, I don't know how much contracts cost and what you can get for what price. The cheapest I saw on O2 (haven't shopped around yet) was the Desire X for 13.50, but that was on low usage. But then I currently mostly seem to stick to Wi-Fi so not sure that is much of an issue. But then on low usage the Samsung Galaxy S III seems to be about 18.50.

 

Basically I would like to stick to 25 or less I think.

[Shorty]

Stay away from the SIII mini, it was a big disappointment. And if you want compact, the SIII might not be for you either, it's a bit of a lump. Also the S4 is expected May, so either wait for that or wait for it to lower SIII prices.

 

I forgot/didn't realise you worked for HTC, no company benefits/discounts to be had? They're expected to announce a new range soon with the top of the line "M7" rumoured to have a 1080p screen, 1.7GHz quad-core processor, 13MP camera and 2GB of RAM.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Shorty

[Eenuh]

Nah sadly no discounts for me. =(

 

I don't need the best of the best, as I would probably just be afraid of breaking the phone haha. I think my friend at work has a Samsung S III and it seemed quite nice, but it is indeed bigger than my current one.

 

I guess it mostly seems to be between HTC, Samsung and the Google Nexus at the moment, but only because there doesn't seem to be much else going around? I am really not interested in Windows phones, they just put me off. And I love my Macbook Pro but I don't think I would get an iPhone as they simply seem too expensive. So not sure that leaves much else. =P

 

 

I will have a look around to see what is available I guess. =)

*just cleared her phone and already misses it haha*

[Shorty]

Maybe I'm getting too caught up in the hype about the biggest and bestest but buying a top handset SIM free is still a great option. Right now you can get a 12 month contract with 3 for £6.90 per month (200m,5000t,500MB), so over that 12 months you'd save £217 against the £25 you were willing to spend, with a possible £52 cashback which would be enough to buy a Nexus 4 outright.

[Platty]

I have the One X which is pretty amazing apart from the battery life ¬_¬ I am on a contract with o2. 30 pound per month for 18 months. 200 mins, unlimited text and 500mb data. Had to pay about 80 quid to get the phone too.

 

I think that is overly expensive to be honest and when that contract is up I am definitely going to be buying a phone offline (like the Nexus 4) and going with a sim only (PAYG) company like GiffGaff (http://giffgaff.com). Essentially for what I get now I could be paying 10 pound per month instead of 30 pound. As phones like Nexus 4 are cheap to buy offline now I think that makes sense.

 

You can even set up direct debit with giffgaff so you don't have to worry about remembering to top up every month. Take a look into it and if you can buy a new phone offline relatively cheap I reckon this is a good option.

 

Funnily enough I believe they run over the o2 network... Mobile phone companies need to wake up and start thinking about the stupidly high prices they charge customers for contracts.

[Cube]

The Nexus 4 is pretty big

 

I suppose it is - I don't really notice that it's big. Then again, I've sat next to someone who was using the Galaxy Note. Now that's a pretty big phone.

[bob]

How about the galaxy s2? It's smaller than the s3 but is still fast and you can get some pretty cheap contracts with it?

[James]

I was worried the nexus 4 would be too big for me. Now I use it really isn't bad. I'm used to it save for a few jokers asking why I brought my laptop out with me.

[Cube]

I was worried the nexus 4 would be too big for me. Now I use it really isn't bad. I'm used to it save for a few jokers asking why I brought my laptop out with me.

 

Just ask them why they bought the iPhone Mini.

[Eenuh]

Thanks for all the input guys.

 

Seeing as I might be jobless soon, I think I will have to put this on hold for now. Can't afford a new phone if I won't have an income. And I now know which brand I am definitely not getting haha. =P

[Charlie]

As for contract, yes, you do own the phone (technically only after you've finished the contract period) and can do what you want for it.

 

AFAIK that's not actually true. A lot of contracts ask you to pay an up-front cost for the phone or say the phone is free, therefore you own it straight away.

 

Your monthly cost is for the inclusive minutes, texts and data - it isn't related to the phone. The contract can be used on any phone.

[Jim]

I'd like to put in my 2 cents, and vote for anything by HTC. I'm not big on the specs of phones, I basically want my phone to be able to text, call, and occasionally check facebook/email. But I also want the damned thing to be durable, not shatter into a million pieces if I look at it funny.

 

Just about everyone I know has an iPhone, and of those people I'd say that 80% of them have a completely smashed up screen/back or both. The ratio is a little better on people with Samsungs.. but not much...

 

Sooooo let me tell you a story about my HTC, keeping in mind it had no protective case...

 

It got absolutely shit faced drunk one night, and decided to go joy-riding on top of my car. He hung on for a good 5 minutes or so, until I braked and turned into a corner doing about 40km/h. He fell on the inside side of my car, landed on the road and promptly through himself under my back tyre. At the time I thought I'd run over a maccas cup or something, and thought nothing of it. A further 5 minutes down the road, it kind of dawned on me what had happened, so I asked my mate to call my phone and sure enough it was going straight through to the answering machine without ringing. Fuck.

 

Anyways, we returned to the scene of the crime.. Bit by bit I found my HTC... First the battery. Which was a little banged up, but looked okay. I held some hope. Then I found the back case (battery cover part). It was absolutely destroyed. Here's a photo of it.

 

 

As the minutes passed by, hope for finding the actual phone part was fading fast. I was about to accept the fact that it had probably been smashed into several hundred pieces from the force of it being run over and pushed out of the backing case.. until my mate started laughing hysterically and calling me over. He'd found it about 30 metres from the crash site, huddled in the gutter on the far side of the road completely in tact. Not even a scratch on the screen. I was impressed, but i was resigned to the fact that the phone was most definitely broken.

 

It was a fool's hope, but I popped the battery in the back, and held down the power button.. hoping for but definitely not expecting a miracle. My heart jumped a little as I felt the little power on vibration.. but that was nothing compared to the shock I got when the screen came on, as if nothing had happened. The touch screen worked perfectly, and like I said not even a scratch on the screen. I couldn't believe it, my mate and I sat there laughing and celebrating like idiots for about 5 minutes :P

 

With my phone, the backing case actually doubles as the antenna.. So I did have to fork out some cash to get a new one of those. But I was still amazed at the beating it took, and how it came out the other side fine. 3 months later and it's still operating as though nothing happened. And that my friends, is a true story. which took far too long to type out for the 3 people that will read it here

[Cube]

Let me tell you about my Dad's HTC. His was faulty from the start - the power button worked oddly in that it randomly caused the screenshot function to activate when the home button was pressed, resulting in a loud camera flash - pretty bad when you're on public transport. HTC refused to accept this as a fault and ignored the issue. Also, the battery was terrible.

 

With mine...it was a good phone, but outdated. I was promised an update and a week before it was due out, HTC decided against it. Apparently my phone couldn't handle it (but newer, budget, phones with lower specs did get the upgrade). Also, the battery was terrible.

 

I'm never getting a HTC again.

[Sheikah]

In pure U-turn fashion I do quite want a Nexus 4 now. After properly understanding the high speed 3G being much better than what I have, and being stuck on a sluggish iPhone 3GS on iOS 4.0 (jaikbroken, pain in the ass to update) I'm ready for change.

 

Trouble is it seems there's not a chance in hell of getting one...LG/Google apparently didn't realise people would be all over a £240 top spec phone like a blind wolf in a butcher's.

[Eenuh]

About phones (HTC or other), I think a lot of it comes down to luck. I had no trouble at all with the Desire S I had and I know people who have used their device for years without trouble. I have had a few stories like Jim's car one come by at work, with phones still working after being driven over too. =P

 

Cube: were you not offered a repair or anything? I'm not sure about the difference between the Dutch and English support, but the way it works for the Dutch ones is that you can get your device repaired for free if under warranty (and this sounds like it is under warranty). If you wanted the device to be replaced, you would probably have to go back to the retailer and get it exchanged there. Sorry you weren't offered any proper support.

 

 

 

As for smartphones, I will now be working for another brand it seems, so maybe a smartphone is on the cards again. I might check if I can get a loan device, but I kinda doubt it. Fingers crossed though. =P

[Rummy]

FUCKING SHOES

 

Also, my Desire HD(secondhand from Eddage, who kept it mintly) has taken a through battering since I got it. I did accidentally throw/drop it on the floor in asda, cracking the screen quite hideously; but it's been working fine ever since and that was maybe about a year ago now? Personally on the money saving option I'd second Shorty's notion of getting a handset and then a deal separate from that(giffgaff PAYG for me personally), but even a good contract/sim only deal could still save a lot. Obvious risks are of course loss/breakage of the phone - though either get insurance, or sort of 'self-insure' by setting aside the same money each month as if paying for insurance.

[Retro_Link]

In reality what does 500MB of data do for you?... checking emails and twitter/facebook, visiting website etc...? even then would you have to be careful not to go over it or?

[Shorty]

Some providers (Tesco spring to mind) can set up a cap so you can't go over. Some simply limit your service to off-peak only or a low maximum speed until the month is up. You can get wifi nearly everywhere now, so with that I have never gone over my data limit.

 

You might be more likely to hit it however if you commute on public transport and spend it streaming videos or maybe spotify in your car, however.