Need to buy a smartphone

[Mileana]

Hi all,

I've been given a really good offer from my mum who wants to give me some money towards a smartphone.

She wants to give me some 100 quid or so, and I could perhaps afford to double that.

I am not after the latest most fancy model as you can hear, but does anyone have a suggestion for a smartphone to look at around that price range?

I'm used to Nokia phones but I'm told that is not really what I want. Personally, I'm leaning towards htc phones at the moment.

I want it for the web access, the slightly easier typing of mails when I'm away from home and I wouldn't mind it had a camera that was useful to sort of document I was there, or look at this mountainbike trail, but I don't need it to be overly awesome, hehe.

Suggestions, and reasons, would be very welcome. Thanks.

 

[mehdave]

Hmm its a buyer market right now with all the top end phones but for a budget of £200 it narrows it down a bit.

Is size important to you as some of the new smart phones are huge at over 4.8" in screen size they are bulky in the pocket. How about battery life as HTC have never been the best with battery's from my experiences of owning a few.

Personally my choices for you would be go second hand and get a Samsung Galaxy S2 in decent nearly new condition or if you wanted you could possible pick up a used iphone 4 but if you really must go for brand new then I would be looking at the Nokia Lumnia 710 its down to £130 on pay and go and only a few months ago over £200.

If you really dont fancy the lumnia due to windows mobile then an android handset such as Samsung Galaxy Ace plus but these lower end smartphones are not the best. The lumnia is about the best smartphone you can get new for under £200 has decent battery life and camera and a nice easy to use operating system. However the downside is the app store is not as full of free apps and paid apps compared to android or apple ios.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjZH_Pt7H0w

 

[michelereid2002]

Is there any reason for you wanting a smart fone if your diabetic there is a nice wee meter that slots into the iphone my daughter wanted me to get it then if I forgot my meter she could just plug hers in its called the IBG*star there a range of covers that comes with it just an idea for you

 

[Mileana]

Re the iPhone I suppose I just don't want to pay that amount for mainly a brand. I would never forget my meter, heh. I have basically converted my meter to my purse/wallet now, so I have my card, my cash and a couple sugar tabs in it along with my ID card - always on me, fits in my pocket. Thanks for the idea, though.

I've had a look around Dave, I may need to chuck in a bit more to get what I want. Would like a Galaxy S II also, really. I wouldn't want to miss out on the 3 year warranty for a piece of gadget at that price, I don't think.

Thanks both.

-M

 

[Craigybus]

I'm hearing way too many people having issues with iphones now too. Warranty claims are getting stupidly common on them, mainly related to batteries and charger circuit faults.

 

[DylansDad]

It depends on what you want to use the phone for and what deal you can get

I've been a dyed in the wool Nokia user since God was a boy, but have recently turned to the dark side and have an Android phone (HTC Desire) and I'm very happy with it. I'd also take a look at Samsung as they share a lot of underlying technology with the I-stuff without being (too) brand conscious.

as always whatever you get will be out of date by the time you receive it, but there are LOTS of Android apps that you can download including one called On Track which is a diabetic management app

dd

 

[Ali H]

Are you wanting comtract or pay as you go. Most contract phones are free or £50 to £100 these days. HTC Sensation here, very good phone.

Ali

 

[LaughingHyena]

I've been very happy with my Orange San Fransisco II, I think you can get the same model on T mobile. For the price range the screen gets good reviews, and the phone is small enough to fit in my pocket. Some of the smart phones seem HUGE to me. IT was between that and one of the samsung galaxey models. Loved the idea of the BG meter for the iPhone but couldn't justify the price of the phone

Battery life is OK, I charge it most days but it can go two without runnign out. Nowhere near my old basic phine but not bad for a smart phone I think. The big downside is that as a fairly new model and not being available on all the networks there is not a lot of choices of case. I wanted a slicone one to fit on the phone but have ended up with a sock style one.

After asking members here I downloaded on track to keep my bg records, it's great & free!. Unfortuanly the carbs and cals app I wanted to use crashes, hopefully the next release will work.

 

[BlindFaith]

I'm an iPhone girl myself, but I do know that the Sony Ericsson smart phones are pretty good for battery life, cameras, internet and email.
I'm not a fan of the HTC phones, I just never got on with them very well. The Samsung smart phones are pretty good as well, although a couple of them have awful battery lives.

I would say, in order of preference:
iPhone (I know that may not be an option)
Sony Ericsson
Nokia
Samsung

 

[mehdave]

Just a quick note to say that if you did fancy a decent brand new phone on a cheap contract buymobiles are doing the S2 for £15.50 a month but the best deal I have seen so far is talk mobile for a HTC One S at carphone warehouse just now for only £16 a month pre order price thats just mental its 40 quid free anywhere else im pre ordering it soon at that price they are shipping them out as of 20th.

Keep an eye on hotukdeals they get some corkers every now and then between the drivel. Also had a look on ebay for you and there are a few S2 going for around £200 that are only a few months old so they would still be under warranty as well.

 

[BeccaJaneStClair]

My biggest issue when I was recently phone shopping is that I didn't want a touch screen for typing, I wanted a full qwerty keyboard. I wound up with a Blackberry Curve and I'm very happy with it. I'm on a contract with O2 and pay £16/month for a basic low plan plus the data bundle. Since I have twitter, facebook, gchat, email, and web aps, I don't send as many texts as I did when I had my regular PAYG phone, too.

 

[viv1969]

............. but these lower end smartphones are not the best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjZH_Pt7H0w

I have Samsung Galaxy "Y" as i wanted a free android phone but only pay a £13 pm tariff.
It's a cracking little phone.

 

[malky]

if your not wanting a contract for £100 you cant get much better than the huawei ascend g300 from vodafone very well speced phone for the price

 

[lauren_gee_x]

Having had at least 6 smart phones over the past year I have finally settled for an iPhone. If you're not wanting to pend that much then acer or Sony Ericsson are great phones. Htc has got to be by far the worst phone I've ever owned the batter, memory is rubbish. Blackberry is also something to steer clear of having had to get mine replaces 6times in 7months their not the best. The software freezes after around 6 months the casing is ver flimsy aswell xx