Can't get on with new phone on contract

Bogof_Babe

I've been with 3 for about 2 1/2 years, using the same Nokia qwerty keypad phone for all that time, i.e. about a year since my original contract ended.

I saw an ad in a newspaper for a deal on a Samsung Galaxy Europa, that seemed ideal @ £13 a month for masses of texts, more than enough minutes and unlimited data, so I signed up yesterday for a new 2-year contract.

However I've been playing with it today and just can't get the hang of the touch screen - it either doesn't respond or puts all sorts of stupid things in. Have spent a couple of hours and haven't even managed to access my Twitter account as it says "sign in" but when I touch it nothing happens, then eventually it takes me to an alphabetical screen where the keys are so close together (even when I press the magnify thingy) it's impossible to put anything in. Perhaps my thumb and fingers are too big.

Also it has been on charge for about four hours and is still charging. I've read a few reviews that say the battery life is rubbish. Was told in the 3 shop that I'd have to charge it every day "for a couple of hours".

The stupid thing is that my old Nokia E63 is still in good nick, battery lasts several days even during use, and the keypad is of course far more user-friendly.

Anyway to cut to the chase, is there anything I can do? Would it be possible to move the new contract back to my old phone? I don't know how these things work. Worst case scenario I have chucked £312 down the drain, as I can't see me ever getting the hang of this phone.

Stuart_W

The simplest option is to simply remove the SIM card from your new phone and place it into your old phone.

You will still get the minutes and texts on your new contract.

Then sell your shiny new handset to help reduce your costs, although it looks like it may only be worth £14 at one of the sell-your-phone sites. You could always try to sell it directly yourself.

At least your £13 will still be getting you all the texts, minutes and data you need, just without the new phone.

Bogof_Babe

Thanks for the swift reply Stuart, much appreciated. The only reason I was doubtful about your suggestion is that since early this morning (before I moved my SIM to the new phone about 4.00 pm, and still had it in the old one), for some reason whenever I opened it (old phone) it was showing a Disconnected message. That might have just related to the email function though, as it was over the Messaging menu, and I could still get online.

Interesting that it's worth about £14. Shop told me £200. No such thing as a free lunch eh?

Edited to add - does that mean I could buy a phone that is more to my liking, when my Nokia eventually dies, and use the SIM in it? Presumably I'd have to go to one of those unlockers, or could I buy just a phone without a service from 3?

sdduk

If you have an eBay account put the phone on there you will get a lot more that £14...have a look at link below

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Mobile-Smart-Phones-/9355/i.html?_nkw=Samsung+Galaxy+Europa&_catref=1&_sc=1&_sop=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m1538

If you decide to buy a new phone make sure it is 3g and not 2g because your 3 sim card will not work on 2g

you can buy a Payandgo form 3 which will be 3g and just put your Sim in it and away you go

Or you can buy an unlocked 3g phone from were ever you like
Shop, Online, Market Stall...just make sure it unlocked and 3g.

James_Nolan

Surely there is a cooling off period so you could just cancel it and only pay for services used so far? (calls / data etc)?

Bogof_Babe

sdduk wrote: »

If you have an eBay account put the phone on there you will get a lot more that £14...have a look at link below

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Mobile-Smart-Phones-/9355/i.html?_nkw=Samsung+Galaxy+Europa&_catref=1&_sc=1&_sop=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m1538

If you decide to buy a new phone make sure it is 3g and not 2g because your 3 sim card will not work on 2g

you can buy a Payandgo form 3 which will be 3g and just put your Sim in it and away you go

Or you can buy an unlocked 3g phone from were ever you like
Shop, Online, Market Stall...just make sure it unlocked and 3g.

Terrific advice, thank you so much. I am hopeless with that side of things so really appreciate you explaining it.

James_Nolan wrote: »

Surely there is a cooling off period so you could just cancel it and only pay for services used so far? (calls / data etc)?

Thought about that but as I went into the shop myself and asked for the deal I'm not sure the cooling off period would apply. Also thanks to wonderful timing on my part we're off on holiday today for 10 days, so unless the cooling off period was a fortnight I'd miss it anyway.

At least I'm saving a fiver a month on the contract. I'm not that fussed about what phone I have tbh, don't need it to be state-of-the-art so long as it does what I want. Unfortunately one drawback of my Nokia is that I can no longer get into MSE on it, since they seem to have made some techie changes to the site a few weeks ago, but most other websites are okay.

markdoc_2

The Galaxy Europa is a very old phone, dreadful, with a very small screen, of the old touch resistant (not capacitve) technology, an out of date version of Android - its not worth £14
Nothing like the newer phones

If you buy a good phone SIM free and put your SIM in it.
Try the 4.3inch ZTE skate, its a fantastic mobile, you'll be blown away (thats £130 SIM free from Amazon)
Heres a review of the SKATE thats been branded by Orange as the Monte, but if you get it online you will get the unlocked Skate

http://www.trustedreviews.com/orange-monte-carlo-zte-skate_Mobile-Phone_review

Bogof_Babe

markdoc wrote: »

The Galaxy Europa is a very old phone, dreadful, with a very small screen, of the old touch resistant (not capacitve) technology, and old version of Android
Its virtually worthless, nothing like the newer phones

If you get the 4.3inch ZTE skate you'll be blown away (thats £130 SIM free online)

Wow didn't expect anyone else to be around at this time of day!

Thanks for that recommendation, I'd rather pay extra for a decent phone that I can actually use so will look into that in due course.

Bit naughty of 3 to market this deal as if the phone was a top quality item.

Some reviews rate it quite highly, but they are mostly a year or so old. Obviously things have improved greatly in the meantime. The keypad is really ridiculously small, would be much better with a stylus but apparently that's not an option.

markdoc_2

I dont rate 3 as a company.

I prefer buying unlocked SIM free phones anyhow now. I got the Skate myself and its fab,

I also dont do contracts anymore. I have a PayAsYouGo Giffgaff sim which gives me unlimited texts, data, and 250mins calls for a £10 a month top up, thats great too!