Best mobile phone up to £100

Buster_Danog

Herongull wrote: »

These "branded" PAYG phones can be amazing value when they are on sale. You are certainly not tied to Orange or T-mobile - you just need to unlock the phone and then you can pop whatever sim you want in it.

You can often unlock these phones yourself and many of the rest can be unlocked for a fiver on ebay. You can also root the phone and change the operating system to get rid of Orange or T-mobile bloatware.

The phone itself may have a logo on it, but if you are getting a good phone very cheap, does that really matter?

But I would presumably have to pay Orange money for 3 months before they will agree to unlock it. No I suppose the Logo is not a huge deal.

As for the other phones they look interesting and I will keep the Ascend in mind. I hate the blue cover on the 02 phone though.

Truth is I don't know what I am looking for, but the posts above help me to understand what is decent for the price.

Apart from the HTC which seems to have a lower resolution camera.I want at least 5meg.

MillicentBystander

Sergeant_Troy wrote: »

But I would presumably have to pay Orange money for 3 months before they will agree to unlock it. No I suppose the Logo is not a huge deal.

As for the other phones they look interesting and I will keep the Ascend in mind. I hate the blue cover on the 02 phone though.

Truth is I don't know what I am looking for, but the posts above help me to understand what is decent for the price.

Apart from the HTC which seems to have a lower resolution camera.I want at least 5meg.

You could always opt for the pink version

https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/phones/huawei/ascend-w1-pink/

Buster_Danog

I seen that but it's to butch for me. Any thoughts on the Huawei Ascend G30 at 94.99 from Amazon??

It also has the 5mp camera.

MillicentBystander

Sergeant_Troy wrote: »

I seen that but it's to butch for me. Any thoughts on the Huawei Ascend G30 at 94.99 from Amazon??

It also has the 5mp camera.

The G300 is the phone I am currently using, it was definitely last year's best budget Android phone (especially at the £70 price point many of us managed to get it for)and it's quite surprising (and disappointing) that it still appears to be the best currently readily available under £100 Android - you would have thought a phone maker would have released a phone to at least compete with it by now wouldn't you? Personally, if it was me buying now I would stretch to the G510 at £130 because for the extra £35 it has much more going for it - bigger screen, dual core processor, Jelly Bean (latest) version of Android etc.

Edit: The £80 ZTE Blade 3 from Virgin is definitely worth looking at, though.

Herongull

MillicentBystander wrote: »

AFAIAA the San Diego can only be unlocked by Orange and they won't do that until you have been with them for at least 3 months. Anyone confirm?

You are right. I had now had a look on the developer forums. It looks like they have found a way to root the phone, but have to go to orange and pay £20 to get it unlocked (and orange are often not very responsive to unlock requests)

MillicentBystander

Herongull wrote: »

You are right. I had now had a look on the developer forums. It looks like they have found a way to root the phone, but have to go to orange and pay £20 to get it unlocked (and orange are often not very responsive to unlock requests)

And apparently Orange has now upped the min term to 6 months before you can get an unlock code. It would be a real deal breaker for me.

Buster_Danog

Thanks guys. So many suggestions. I am reading a lot of reviews. I might wait and see what pops up, but glad I didn't buy the Orange deal I suppose.

arielcohen

How about getting a second hand SGS2, they are just brilliant phones that keep on going. I sold my Orange upgrade because the difference between them was so marginal even after a year.
I would not ever recommend the sgs3/4 i personally think they are hyped up junk.

Cisco001

Nokia 620 is at £128 + £10 top up at phone4u

Buster_Danog

Does anyone know if you can get someone else on PAYG to "upgrade" and buy the phone at a reduced rate?? My brother in law has a Sony Xperia on PAYG. If he "upgraded" would that make any difference to him using his own phone or would he only be able to use the new phone with the supplied SIM card.

Thanks for the suggestions. The SGS looks interesting, but I don't want to buy second hand this time. I usually do search for bargains / second hand, but not this time.

Yeah, as for the 620 I was in carphone warehouse today and I'm sure it was cheaper in store than on their website. There were some lovely looking phones including the Sony Xperia J and others. I didn't take it all in to be honest.Will need to think about it some more next week.