Best smartphone for £100

MoneyGypsy

Aaarrgh - just trying to call orange to see if I can swap this phone for another due to its defective wifi and discovered that it costs 25p/min to call customer services. They also have a long convoluted automated system to ensure max. money gained.

Calling their 'mobile' number from my tmobile phone and hoping it counts as a normal inclusive x-net call.


Edit: In any case a new one is on its way to me tomorrow.

GRM

Pretty sure it's a 25p charge (if you call from an Orange PAYG phone), not 25p/min. Think of the hold time as value for money ;-)

nnj10

yes, it is 25p per call and not a per minute charge.

karendb

MarkBargain wrote: »

You need to go in with your last payslip. I bought one yesterday. I previously went in with my ID badge and bank statement, but they wouldn't accept than and insisted on a payslip.

The NHS discount takes the San Francisco phone down to £79 + £10 top-up, which is great value. You can buy an unlock code on Ebay for £1.50 and then move to a better value network such as Giffgaff (who I think are the only network to offer unlimited internet).

Sorry for the late reply - been away for a few days. Thanks a lot for this info

Will definitely look into Giffgaff as well - not heard of them before.

As an aside, how do you think the Orange Sanfrancisco compares with the Samsung Galaxy Europa?

karendb

Hi - I've just checked out the Giffgaff website and WOW I'm really impressed by it. The prices are extremely competitive, especially for a light user like me and I love the whole ethos. However, I'm a bit worried about how much I'd end up spending on mobile internet with the SF phone - Giffgaff's free mobile internet is ending on 1st December - great shame.

Ideally, I would like to spend no more than £5/7.50 per month on a mix of calls, texts and browsing. (I currently use Tesco mobile on PAYG but only use it for calls & texts - definitely no more than 30 texts/30 mins per month (I told you I was a light user )

I'm not sure how much more I'd end up spending with Giffgaff if I went with them.

Is it worth phoning around - Orange etc. - to see if I could negotiate a light user tariff that would incorporate a fixed amount of internet use?

Dreamnine

karendb wrote: »

Sorry for the late reply - been away for a few days. Thanks a lot for this info

Will definitely look into Giffgaff as well - not heard of them before.

As an aside, how do you think the Orange Sanfrancisco compares with the Samsung Galaxy Europa?

Quite a lot better: http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/5097/samsung-galaxy-europa-mobile-review

1jim

karendb wrote: »

Hi - I've just checked out the Giffgaff website and WOW I'm really impressed by it. The prices are extremely competitive, especially for a light user like me and I love the whole ethos. However, I'm a bit worried about how much I'd end up spending on mobile internet with the SF phone - Giffgaff's free mobile internet is ending on 1st December - great shame.

Ideally, I would like to spend no more than £5/7.50 per month on a mix of calls, texts and browsing. (I currently use Tesco mobile on PAYG but only use it for calls & texts - definitely no more than 30 texts/30 mins per month (I told you I was a light user )

I'm not sure how much more I'd end up spending with Giffgaff if I went with them.

Is it worth phoning around - Orange etc. - to see if I could negotiate a light user tariff that would incorporate a fixed amount of internet use?

I think the trouble you will have is the amount companies charge for data (browsing)- wife is on vodafone and they charge £5 month for internet (500mb), I really have no concept of how much that is, some people (the phone companies usually) swear that this is much more than you need-even for smart phones- other people swear that this will be used in no time at all. I guess it depends on what apps you use and how much browsing you will do. I am with giffgaff and use the free internet at the minute as I am also a light user, in december though I will be using the £10 goodybag, 150mins talktime (way more than I will use), unlimited texts and unlimited internet so for me this is a good deal. If I were you I would register on giffgaff forum, you can post a thread saying how many calls/texts yopu will use and how much browsing/type of apps you might use and someone will tell you the most cost effective way of doing it. On the otherhand you could just try it for one month of normal useage and see what it comes to (its PAYG) so you could put £10 on and see how long it lasts? sorry cant be more helpful- also make sure you get someone to refer you as you will get £5 free credit when you top up

karendb

1jim wrote: »

I think the trouble you will have is the amount companies charge for data (browsing)- wife is on vodafone and they charge £5 month for internet (500mb), I really have no concept of how much that is, some people (the phone companies usually) swear that this is much more than you need-even for smart phones- other people swear that this will be used in no time at all. I guess it depends on what apps you use and how much browsing you will do. I am with giffgaff and use the free internet at the minute as I am also a light user, in december though I will be using the £10 goodybag, 150mins talktime (way more than I will use), unlimited texts and unlimited internet so for me this is a good deal. If I were you I would register on giffgaff forum, you can post a thread saying how many calls/texts yopu will use and how much browsing/type of apps you might use and someone will tell you the most cost effective way of doing it. On the otherhand you could just try it for one month of normal useage and see what it comes to (its PAYG) so you could put £10 on and see how long it lasts? sorry cant be more helpful- also make sure you get someone to refer you as you will get £5 free credit when you top up

Good ideas here - thanks for all the info

karendb

Dreamnine wrote: »

Quite a lot better: http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/5097/samsung-galaxy-europa-mobile-review

Hmm - the review wasn't brilliant was it? However, it was focusing (pardon the pun) a lot on the "measly" 2 megapixel camera which I wouldn't really use anyway.

Being a smartphone newbie, I think it's a case of buying the one you think is right for you and then after a while you start to get an idea of the one that's really right (probably one that's 3 times the price

Thanks for your input - much appreciated!

Karen

Astec

Ordered one yesterday over the phone, should be delivered this afternoon.

Registered a sim I bought last month (with £10 topup), said as it's new they can't offer me a discount.

Told them I had an older sim, but hardly used it (used £4 credit in about 3 years for orange Weds). Gave the number...he registered it over the phone for me and gave me £31 off (inc £1 phone fund).

So, £78.99 delivered including a £10 topup! really chuffed with that.

Note for others though, sim does need to be at least three months old, but doesn't need to be used often or registered.