Advice needed pls - Which is best smartphone (inc iPhone & droid ones)

Mics_chick

Hi

Bit of a dinosaur about phones these days - used to have one when I worked away from home alot but that was over 10yrs ago now

Anyone would like to get a new one but don't know which one to get at all...
I know everyone has their faves and I don't want this to turn into a battle or anything I just want to know what to look for I suppose.

I want it mainly to be more contactable by friends who I'm the co-founder of a charity group with coz we're just starting out and applying for lots of funding so sometimes need to meet fairly urgently to make quick decisions and I can't always attend them coz they can't reach me.
I also like t'internet so would probably use it daily for Facebook, emails, etc...

I'd like to cost of it down so don't want to pay alot per month.
Also not interested in it being flashy and have the latest model coz I'm very out-of-date so wouldn't know how to use it fully anyway.

Anyone able to help me what to look for and what pitfalls I need to watch out for pls?
Cheers Gail

bengalknights

Depending on budget id say a low end android phone or a blackberry would probably be suited to you.

pramsay13

I've had an iphone 3G for 2 years, and just taken a Samsung Galaxy S2 on a new contract as it was £5 per month cheaper for exact same deal.
I'm glad I changed as S2 can get flash on websites.
It has a bigger, clearer screen.
It had a sat-nav included on it.
Songs I buy are locked in to Apple products.

A few other minor things.

gonzo127

low level android phone if cost is important as you have said and since the iphone or galaxy S2 will set you back about £30 (or more) a month these are probably out of the question (unless you need all the extra mins texts and internet)

low level android phones can be got from £10 a month on contract (although of course has less included mins texts and internet) and my personal opinion is that the following phones are the better 'cheap' ones

HTC wildfire S
Samsung Galaxy Ace
Orange San Francisco 2/t mobile Vivacity (these are the same phone)

bod1467

Daughter #2 has a Galaxy Ace and loves it. (We paid for the phone and she has a SIM-only contract).

Mics_chick

pramsay13 wrote: »

I've had an iphone 3G for 2 years, and just taken a Samsung Galaxy S2 on a new contract as it was £5 per month cheaper for exact same deal.
I'm glad I changed as S2 can get flash on websites.
It has a bigger, clearer screen.
It had a sat-nav included on it.
Songs I buy are locked in to Apple products.

A few other minor things.

Is the songs thing a positive or negative thing?

callistris

Mics_chick wrote: »

Is the songs thing a positive or negative thing?

It may be negative;)

I'm guessing they meant songs bought through iTunes, as these used to be DRM, now though they're free of DRM and you can play them on anything, but you may need to convert from AAC to mp3 first though:)

Marvels

Since 2008 iTunes music isn't DRM'd so can be used in any device, the only draw back is tracks downloaded from iTunes are in the AAC format, only Andriod 3.1 or higher can decode these on the device (so you'd be looking at tab and/or high end new phones eg the nexus prime).

If you do have many itunes tracks you'd have to convert them prior to transfer onto the Andriod device. Andriod supports many formats.

paddyrg

Actually, I wouldn't go too low-end on Android, I'd look for a mid-top end phone which will give you a decent enough experience to enjoy having a smartphone! An under-spec smartphone feels worse than none at all in fact! An old top-end model may suit more than the shinyshiny latest made 'to a price'.

Have a think about hardware keyboards - if you're going to be using the phone mostly for emails and texts, you may benefit from one. Blackberry-style/upright keyboards can feel a 'bit small', or be just right, so play with a few in the shop, see how they feel. I prefer the 'desire z' style (pop out horizontal) myself.

You can get secondhand 'G1' phones (with pop out keyboard) for £65ish from CEX, btw, and that was a nice little phone in its day.