Questions: 1st smart phone

diamonds

Hi hairyfairy,



As someone posted above hotukdeals and select MOBILES, got dad on Ovivo saving £10 a month and crappy touchscreen phones not being responsive can be poor processor, non capative screen or a non generic operating system tampered by the network to "enhance" your experience.


For first touchscreen I say by the mid range unless you KNOW you will not be using loads of apps, ie your biggest need is a 'hotspot' app only to use your mobile data. I know too many people who didnt understand any of the above and ended up buying a new phone within a year as phone was not performing as expected due to non information googling and underestimating the processor or the amount of apps they ended up using.


Why I went mid range on contract, Sony Xperia SP which is mid range but trying quite successfully to be a top of the range Sony handset.


I underestimated HTC Wildfire which was £150 at the time, replaced within a year, the Android Operating System was limited by the phones low specs, thankfully better specs for less are now available than 3 years ago


Dont get iphone of anykind, all about marketing and OS is limited but good app selection, as is Windows Phone7/8 which can be app restricted compared to Android or Apple but VERY easy for new smartphone users to start, Android is by far the most open and apps available but in my opinion is unsecure by its open platform OS.


I have a Blackberry Playbook/Curve for secure browsing and my S X SP with Android really is a playtoy with great camera, Walkman (remember them, why they are not competing with ipods ?) and I will use it for unsecure stuff and pointless (lol) apps.




Hope that helps and not confuses lol, google is a friend indeed when in need

fairyfairy

thanks for your time and suggestions everyone :]


re: handset - I've narrowed it down to HTC One V.
Has anyone had experience with it? or know those who have for a long period of time?

i should have mentioned earlier, for a very brief time i did have a Samsung Ch@t 335 which i got for around £90 and it lasted me a couple of months maximum as the optical trackpad broke very quickly. since then i've been without a mobile, before i brought the above i did a lot of research but it didn't serve at all.

geting a mobile on contact is not an option for me at all.

oldgrumpygit

Apart from Ovivo and Giff-Gaff which have been mentioned have a look at some of the Tesco tariffs (uses the o2 network)

These can be capped so there is no danger of you going over budget.

You can also use apps such as viber, whatsapp and skype to send messages to others who have the same app on their phone which can be handy when you don't want to use your messaging allowance or if you would normally get charged for picture messaging for example.

This phone seems hot on HOTUKDEALS at the minute

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/HUAWEI_Y300

grumbler

fairyfairy wrote: »

re: handset - I've narrowed it down to HTC One V.

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=4575&idPhone2=4594

Don't know for how much you are going to get the One V, but G300 costs no more than £75 plus £5 for unlocking. Also, One V has non-removable battery.

fairyfairy

grumbler wrote: »

Also, One V has non-removable battery.

Yeah, I've read about that in your opinion do you think that could cause problems early on? for One V I found a deal of around £160 or so.

fairyfairy

oldgrumpygit wrote: »

You can also use apps such as viber, whatsapp and skype to send messages to others who have the same app on their phone which can be handy when you don't want to use your messaging allowance or if you would normally get charged for picture messaging for example.

this is useful info, thank you

oldgrumpygit

Quite a lot of phones have non removable batteries these days so for many people it is not a deal breaker.

Cycrow

as you plan to text a lot, and watch larger checks. Make sure the phone you get doesn't convert large texts into MMS.

Most smart phones have the option to do that, so you can turn it off. But there are some phones that dont give you the option and just do it

fairyfairy

grumbler wrote: »

Don't know for how much you are going to get the One V, but G300 costs no more than £75 plus £5 for unlocking. Also, One V has non-removable battery.

thanks for your link.

before reading the reviews on the above site, i'd read many others - doing my own research and for One V it was largely positive, from the above it seems it doesn't last at all?

really unsure now! i just need a reliable lasting handset.

LouLou

There are two great ones on HUKD right now: the Y300 (£59.95 if you can get PAYG upgrade): http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/huawei-ascend-y300-released-6th-june-carphone-warehouse-59-95-payg-upgrade-possible-1572075

Or this, from Phones4U PAYG upgrade £39.95: http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/39-95-payg-12-months-free-wifi-huawei-vision-u8850-3-7-screen-1-ghz-scorpion-cpu-1568962

Both are considered to be better phones than the Huawei G300. Not my opinion, but expressed in the comments on HUKD.
(The Huawei U8850 Vision has a smaller screen at 3.7" to the G300/Y300's 4" though).

Both phones come unlocked.