Is there a phone that will last the length of the contract?

VoucherMan

I've got an old Nokia 3210 & a 5100 somewhere. Both still going strong after about 10 years.:D

gonzo127

lovethymini wrote: »

I'm feeling very frustrated - I have an HTC Wildfire S with numerous issues, and despite researching ways to improve/solve the problems I'm stuck with a "smart" phone that;-
has major memory problems - yes that is a problem with the wildfire however have you looked at your apps to see which can be moved onto SD card, when my wifes had this issue it was down to having choosen bad apps which wouldnt install on the sd card, changing them to ones that did solved this problem
doesn't come out of standby a few times a day - not had this problem so cant help
battery just about lasts a day - (poor, but not uncommon these days) - as you say this seems generally normal for a smart phone, even more so on the more expensive ones
fails to receive calls despite showing good signal. - unfortunatly this is not always a phone problem but a network problem, this is (usually) down to capacity at the mast your phone is connected to at the time, in that they can only handle so much traffic, so if its full you phone can still be showing full signal as its recieving the basic 'i am here' signal from the mast, but the network/mast is actually unable to handle any more information be it calls texts or internet at that time, swopping phone doesnt usualy cure this

comments above

paulmapp8306

Most should last. My HTC Desire is 2 years old, and Im not getting a new contract - Im going SIm only as I loke the phone and theres nothing wrong with it.

I did have a Blackberry that failed 18 months into a 2 year contract but thats it.

TBH anything electronic can fail at any time - thats electonics for you, however if it fails within a contract period, it should be fixed for you. I know vodaphone (who Im with) generally give a 2 year warentee with 2 year contracts whether the phones manufcturer (in this case HTC) only gives a single year or not.

i dont know the legallity - but Id say if a phone is sold on a 2 year contract and it doesnt last 2 years, then its not fit for purpose and you could go down that line if vodaphone refuse to help. Id approach them - tell them your not happy due to the issues and the contract left. Id think they 'll either fix your phone, replace it with the same model (that is probably a return - either fixed or not) or possible let you upgrade early.

elektra

scooby359 wrote: »

My own experience with HTCs is that they become a bit unreliable after a year or so.

If you just need a phone for calls / text then you can't go wrong with a cheap Nokia - they're famous for being practically indestructible! £15 from Asda or similar shops

Agree with that - I have a Nokia 1800 bought for a 1p. But most want smart phones these days.

VoucherMan wrote: »

I've got an old Nokia 3210 & a 5100 somewhere. Both still going strong after about 10 years.:D

Ditto - good little phone, battery not so good now but it sounds like these new phones not much better.

[Deleted User]

My HTC Desire HD has been working happily for 26 months now - to the point i just bought a giffgaff sim since I don't feel like I need a new phone yet

paddyrg

HTC's have 2 year warranties, but 'memory issues' are probably software related not hardware. Clear the browser cache, uninstall some of the rubbish apps, etc and see if things improve at all?

I've had 4 HTC's which all lasted the length of the contract, just on my first Samsung which seems to be doing ok so far and has a 2yr warranty too. I always buy right at the very top end of the market, so maybe that means I get better quality/longevity?

esuhl

Most of my phones have lasted at least 4 or 5 years. I'm quite happy with my Samsung E2121B, which cost £14.99 (and came with £10 PAYG credit). The battery lasts for days (weeks if I don't use it much).

paulmapp8306 wrote: »

i dont know the legallity - but Id say if a phone is sold on a 2 year contract and it doesnt last 2 years, then its not fit for purpose...

You couldn't claim that something used to be fit for purpose and no longer is. An example of something not being fit for purpose would be if you advised the salesman you wanted a phone that can send emails and you were sold a basic phone that lacked such a feature. You bought it for the purpose of sending emails, yet the phone you were sold is not fit for such purposes. If the phone stops working, it's simply "faulty".

If the phone doesn't last the length of the contract, then you might be able to claim partial compensation under the SoGA if it would be deemed that a "reasonable person" would expect it to last that long, taking in to account the price that was paid for it. But the network contract would be separate from the supply of goods contract (i.e. having a 2-year contract doesn't make any difference to how long one should expect the goods to last).

lovethymini

Thanks for all the responses :A

Since my post I have used the online chat service with Vodafone, and as a result, they sent me a new sim card which is now installed.
I have marginally better signal at work now - up to two bars! I can make a phonecall if I go to the windows (which I couldn't before)
Time will tell if I can get signal in other previously difficult locations.

I regularly clear the cache anyway, but I also ruthlessly uninstalled updates on things such as the pre-installed maps app and other apps which cleared a chunk of space, so now it's just being used as a phone and a camera, which I could have got a phone for less money to do but hey ho.

BrandNewDay

I've had problems with the two HTC phones I bought under contract with Vodafone, too. I don't remember which models just now, and the second one wasn't really too bad. The first one did cease to really work well, though.

What I did was to buy a Huawei Ascend for £100. It's got a really big screen and works better than the HTC phone I was upgrading from. And, because it's so cheap, I just paid cash for it. I'm still on a contract with Vodafone, but just for the SIM.

So far I've had it about 8 months and I'm still happy with it.

BrandNewDay

By the way, my experience with sending a phone in for repairs - under the warranty or insurance - is that you send it in, and they send it back saying they didn't find anything wrong with it. Like, the annoying thing it had been doing didn't happen for them when they turned it on, I guess.

That really blisters my paint.

That's why, in the future, I'm happy to buy something much cheaper like the Huawei. It really does work quite well and at £100 I don't feel like I have to insure it. The insurance is generally useless, anyway. They tend to get out of paying via some loophole or another.