Advice needed on buying smart phone as a Christmas present.

MoSE2012

Hi
I would like to buy a smart phone as a Christmas present and would appreciate some advice.

The person I am buying the phone for, is currently on PAYG and their phone is well over ten years old. They are not a heavy phone user, making occasional calls and texts (say £10/20 a month).

I am thinking of buying the iPhone5, or would the 4/4S do just as well? Or an alternate smart phone suggestion.

Should I pay outright for the phone and leave the contract arrangements to the person I am buying for? Likely cost for myself and friend if this option chosen?

Would I be able to buy the phone over the counter in, say the Apple store, or would I have to wait for delivery?

Or, am I better off buying the phone on contract, then paying the monthly fee myself (12/18/24Mths)? Any current recommended offers?

Is it easy to use up all monthly data allocation with a smart phone?

If I buy a SIM free phone does this mean, once a SIM is inserted then the phone is locked to that supplier?

Should the phone be insured? Likely cost? Or would I be covered by home contents insurance?

How easy is it to keep an existing mobile number?

Any advice gratefully received and obviously anything I may have overlooked here.

Many many thanks
M

grumbler

MoSE2012 wrote: »

Hi
I would like to buy a smart phone as a Christmas present and would appreciate some advice.

The person I am buying the phone for, is currently on PAYG and their phone is well over ten years old. They are not a heavy phone user, making occasional calls and texts (say £10/20 a month).

I am thinking of buying the iPhone5,

It's fine if you have money to waste. The top range items never have the best value/price ratio.

or would the 4/4S do just as well?

Pretty much, especially 4s. A person with a 10y.o. phone will hardly notice any difference.
Iphone 4s vs 5

Or an alternate smart phone suggestion.

There are hundreds of them. Very good ones cost just about £100.

Should I pay outright for the phone and leave the contract arrangements to the person I am buying for?

IMO it is odd if a gift comes with any financial burden attached. For a gift a sim-free or a PAYG phone is the best option IMO. For some handsets a contract can be a better option in terms of the total amount over 18-24 month, although this is usually the case for heavy users.

Likely cost for myself and friend if this option chosen?

A gift is always likely to cost for yourself.

Would I be able to buy the phone over the counter in, say the Apple store, or would I have to wait for delivery?

You can buy/order instore or online, but AFAIK iP5 is in short supply ATM.

Or, am I better off buying the phone on contract, then paying the monthly fee myself (12/18/24Mths)?

Paying for someone is never the best option. Also, for iP5 this is likely to cost more in total than sim-free + sim-only.

Is it easy to use up all monthly data allocation with a smart phone?

Very easy, especially with iPhones, but depends on the allowance.

If I buy a SIM free phone does this mean, once a SIM is inserted then the phone is locked to that supplier?

Not if you buy directly from Apple.

Should the phone be insured? Likely cost? Or would I be covered by home contents insurance?

Contract Phone- is Insurance necessary??

How easy is it to keep an existing mobile number?

Very easy.
http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telephone/PAC

thatsean

Too many variables here - you might as well ask what car you should buy.

Whether iphone, Android or Windows depends on who is going to use the phone, whether they will want to use it with a home computer, or other devices.

Contract options depend on whether you are willing to pay £100-£700 depending on the outright cost of the device, or your friends credit file to get a contract (although airtime only contracts are quite easy to get).

Have you spoken to the recipient to test the water?

Keeping an exisiting number is easy - subscribers asks for a PAC from their current service provider - switch as quick as one working day.

In terms of device - there are lots - you can get a decent Sony xperia for £140 at Phones4u at the moment - the Galaxy S3 is around £300 on PAYT and the Nexus 4 just got released today at a very competitive price for the spec.

graspandsave

if your gift recipient has had the same phone for 10 years, you probably dont want the most expensive phone on the market

with iphones you are paying as much for the name than anything else.

cheaper smartphones- loads.
I took advice from another thread (i searched: cheap smartphones)
and there is an excellent thread for the huawei ascend g300
sorry cant post links

i'm sure someone will be along in a minute who will post the link for you

Cisco001

I would suggest you go for mid-range phone between £100-200. Nexus 4 is a good buy for its money.

Ultrasonic

Just to cover all bases, do you actually know that the potential recipient would like to have a smartphone? Not everyone does, especially people who have been happily using the same basic phone for 10 years. If last Christmas someone had given me a smartphone I'm afraid I really wouldn't have been particularly grateful.