Best Budget Smartphone

bex88

Heya all,

Spent quite a while last night looking at phone reviews and I'd like to get some personal opinions.

It's my partners birthday coming up and he's a bit fed up with his blackberry. I want to get him a smartphone but not sure which one will be best for £150ish budget.

A fairly decent camera would be nice, but not entirely essential.
Nothing too ginormous but not too small. Quick and non laggy.
Good build quality.

Any suggestions would be helpful
PayasyouGo only

Thanks

ZhugeEX

Which network will he be using? Or does he want an unlocked phone?

diamonds

Always pops up this question, perhaps MSE needs sticky thread cos such discussion given most population is going online with their mobile, just like the granny in a glovebox thread - that needs to come back and be a sticky...everyone should have a granny glovebox as a back up in a drawer, glovebox, pocket or bag!

ZhugeEX

diamonds wrote: »

Always pops up this question, perhaps MSE needs sticky thread cos such discussion given most population is going online with their mobile, just like the granny in a glovebox thread - that needs to come back and be a sticky...everyone should have a granny glovebox as a back up in a drawer, glovebox, pocket or bag!

I might make one to go along with my 4G thread and unlimited thread which are already stickies.

Do you think something like "Best Budget Phones" or something like that would be a good title?

bex88

Yea a sticky would be a good idea, I think it's probably a very common question, although the one I saw recently posted was best for under £300 which had suggestions for phones a bit more than I can afford.

He's currently on O2 which is the same as myself and I think he'll probably want to stay with it, although unlocked is ofc fine too, I know they are slightly more though.

Neil49

Orange and T Mobile have recently been offering the Motorola RAZR i for £149.99 + £10 topup which is a great discount but it keeps going in and out of stock so you need to keep checking their sites.

At the moment they are both out of stock but had some a couple of days ago.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/mobile-phones/

ZhugeEX

So for an Android phone my recommendation would be the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 which you can get for around £120 on an upgrade or £130 on a new sale.

It's a dual core android phone with a nice screen, not to big but not tiny either. Camera is 5mp, it's nice and fast, has the latest android OS and will run all those android apps. Memory can be expanded via an Micro SD Card.
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/SAMSUNG_GALAXY_ACE_2/PPAY

Other recommendation would be a Windows phone. This is a nice simple phone to use, very fast and snappy and comes with some nice perks such as Nokia Maps, Microsoft Office and more. Only downside is the lack of apps but i'm guessing that's not a huge worry. Same size and similar specs to the Ace 2.
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/NOKIA_LUMIA_620/PPAY

If you don't need a front facing camera then the Lumia 520 might be a better choice due to the fact that it's cheaper by about £30 or so.

You might find a cheaper deal if you shop around.
The prices i've shown here is for O2. There are phones on other networks i can recommend if he wants to switch networks. If not then the two above fit the bill.

bex88

Thankyou, that was some useful info and also the carphone warehouse is a good place to compare the phones as it makes it easy to find out and read about!

I like the sound of the Ace, I was actually thinking if I could find it cheap enough or a good deal somewhere, I was thinking about the S3 mini?

My brother was saying how its nearly £300 but when looking online its around the £200 mark and some places even selling it at £187.
Would this be a good choice to go for it I can get some money of it somehow?

MillicentBystander

Is the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 really worth £60 more than the Huawei Ascend Y300?

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=4559&idPhone2=5386


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

bex88

Neil49 wrote: »

Orange and T Mobile have recently been offering the Motorola RAZR i for £149.99 + £10 topup...

Wow, £149.99 is so cheap for this phone, all other places seem to sell it £280+ how are they selling it this cheap, What's the catch?

+£10 topup, what is that, credit or..?

ZhugeEX

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Is the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 really worth £60 more than the Huawei Ascend Y300?

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=4559&idPhone2=5386


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

On paper it's good. And i wouldn't rule it out as a budget phone. But 512mb ram with android today isn't amazing. Especially as the OP specified a quick and non laggy phone.