Advice required for new/refurb smartphone

suelees1

I'd be most grateful for any advice please.....

I'd like to treat myself but am not willing to pay £300+ for any phone as I'd definitely feel financially exploited.

Currently using a KTE Blade/giffgaff - not managed to get rid of all the Orange stuff because I'm just not techie enough and neither can I manage to set up MMS despite spending hours and hours trying.

Wish list is to be able to use it for emailing (messages to come in automatically not having to log in to check them out), use FB, t'internet for area guides etc etc. Don't (yet) use it for music or films and such but that may come in the future.

Don't mind a refurb

Currently with Virgin for broadband/phone so not sure if I should stay with giffgaff or pay Virgin for mobile use.

Can't root or do any of these things everyone talks about even though honestly I try, it's just that the wording of the advice is usually so techie I just don't understand what I'm being advised :think: I just need to be able to switch it on like I do my laptop and use it in that way.

Many thanks

diamonds

Go Virgin, unlimited data (& tethering) on £12+ plans.

Dont buy a iphone, Android or Wiindows Phone, for simplicity of use Windows Phone. Windows Phone 7 is about to get a 7.8 update and I have seen them from £49 - bargain !!

mazza111

Virgin mobile do some great deals for existing virgin media customers. I've got a blackberry for the wee man at £8 with free insurance that normally costs £7.99/month, it was a retention deal though. But if you go on their website and have a look at the tariffs for VM customers, you may get a good deal, probably on a par with giff gaff for mins and data, but getting the phone. They are 2 year contracts though, so it's swings and roundabouts.

Herongull

The ZTE blade/orange san francisco is one of the easiest phones to unlock and root.

Try: http://sanfranciscoandroid.co.uk/android/how-to-install-custom-roms-android-2-3-android-4-0-from-scratch-on-the-orange-san-francisco-zte-blade-zte-libra-u-v880/

For free minutes/texts/data go for Ovivo
http://ovivomobile.com/our-offer/

Why pay more?

JethroUK

its got to get a mention but - Huawei G300 is a popular choice on the forum and has to worth considering

4" gorilla glass, 1 ghz, 5mp camera

I have 4 email accounts synced to mine no problem - also synced contacts and calander events from all 4

you can also sync your camera/photos with any Gmail account

Facebook app no problem

you can still pick one up brannd new for £70 ish

can unlock it to any network for £5

MillicentBystander

Agree with JethroUK. Why buy a refurb when for £66 you can have a brand new phone (with a 2 year warranty) that does all the things you have highlighted you want it to do?

mazza111

The G300 is a very good phone if you do want to go down the road of buying a handset. Smart and very easy to use. This is where you need to weigh up what you're supplier will give you against what giff gaff and ovi may give you.

For me with the bb deal it was a no brainer. Some networks you can pay £5 just for the bb services.

suelees1

Herongull wrote: »

The ZTE blade/orange san francisco is one of the easiest phones to unlock and root.

Try: http://sanfranciscoandroid.co.uk/android/how-to-install-custom-roms-android-2-3-android-4-0-from-scratch-on-the-orange-san-francisco-zte-blade-zte-libra-u-v880/

For free minutes/texts/data go for Ovivo
http://ovivomobile.com/our-offer/

Why pay more?

This is my current phone Herongull but unless I'm doing something dreadfully wrong I can't get MMS sorted so no photos back and forth, can't get auto emails, get rid of Orange stuff......this is why I'm looking for a different one.

suelees1

JethroUK wrote: »

its got to get a mention but - Huawei G300 is a popular choice on the forum and has to worth considering

4" gorilla glass, 1 ghz, 5mp camera

I have 4 email accounts synced to mine no problem - also synced contacts and calander events from all 4

you can also sync your camera/photos with any Gmail account

Facebook app no problem

you can still pick one up brannd new for £70 ish

can unlock it to any network for £5

Thanks for this. I read the thread on here before starting my own wanted thread but was somewhat baffled by the techspeak in some of the posts and thought I'd be putting myself in the same position as when I bought the KTE Blade. Being quite intelligent(!) I'd then assumed I could tweak a few things to make the Blade suit but am embarrassed to say my frustration got the better of me. If this G300 can be bought ready to go then it would be fine for me.

suelees1

Been doing some research on the G300 and note from 'android central' website that the ice update is now available as an over-the-air download.

However very recent reviews in the last couple of day are poor, one says -

network reception is weak after update, The system ignores the external SD and you have no space for application except the internal memory, iplayer does not work properly. And most important problem is that the phone now is very sluggish and not as responsive any more

and the other -

the update is bull$#@p.... was better with Gingerbread. now voda has flooded the phone with it's own apps that eat like 60% of the memory and from 512mb of RAM you remain with 40-50mb.

Hmm what do you reckon? Should I buy, should I wait for G330 even though it's more expensive?

MillicentBystander

Imo you should buy the G300 now because there is absolutely no need to install the ICS update if you don't want to. I installed it on mine and the jury is still out so my wife isn't updating it on hers - she's more than happy with Gingerbread. No-one really knows how much more the G330 will cost but the speculation is it will be about £140-£150. Of course the spec is better (it adds a dual core processor and a front camera) but the £30 you can get off the £99 G300 with Very/Isme is a far better %tage discount than £30 of a £150 phone!