Upgrade time, same again or all change?

nightofjoy

Hi.

My phone is coming up for upgrade soon, and before I start going into shops & getting babbled to death by sales people regarding deals & packages, I'd like a heads up regarding which actual handset to get.

My current one is a Galaxy Ace and I've not been overly keen on it. Are they any better now than they were a couple of years ago, or still basically the same? I found the internal storage to be laughable, even without any movies, music or tonnes of apps on there. I only have 1 page of apps and it tells me all the time my storage is getting low.

I'm going to stick with a smartphone, as I'm used to it now. I don't make a lot of calls, mainly texts. Don't play games, or listen to much music on there - certainly don't use it like an ipod. Just a good sized screen for web browsing - nothing smaller than what I have now, basic phone/text capability and ideally more storage.

If I do have to take my chances replacing the old with more or less the same new, can I pay less? Are they getting cheaper? Don't want to break my £21/£22 a month limit, don't use many calls but text loads & need at least 500mb of data.

But the handset is the main thing.

<edit> o2 provider, no longer than 24months

Any suggestions? Cheers.

stef73

Try looking at carphone warehouse you can choose o2 and how much you want to pay, i found this http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/SAMSUNG_GALAXY_S_3/MONTHLY?tariffNetworks=O2&colourCode=WHITE

NFH

Buy the phone SIM-free and buy a SIM-only service. If you get your phone from a mobile network, then:

• The low or zero upfront price of the phone will be funded by a disguised loan from the mobile network, and you will usually pay more overall, effectively paying a high rate of interest through an inflated monthly charge.
• You will be tied into a long service contract, often for 24 months, rather than one month or 12 months with a SIM-only contract. You will then be unable to switch networks when the market changes, for example if you move home to somewhere without coverage or your network removes coverage in your area (EE does this a lot) or simply if prices come down over time, as is likely for 4G.
• You will continue paying the inflated monthly charge even after you have paid off the cost of the phone, unless you remember to take action at the end of the minimum contract period.
• The phone will be SIM-locked, making it more difficult to switch networks and impeding you from using local SIM cards abroad, allowing your UK network to impose unreasonably high roaming charges by excluding foreign competition.

mikegahan

nfh IS giving excellent advice, you can get a reasonable quality smartphone for about £100. For a very good deal look at the Giffgaff website, they are offering rolling contracts for 10 to 12 quid a month without any committment, you will need a phone either unlocked or compatible with O2. For the phone look at Carphone warehouse or Argos, the Huawei G300 or G330 phones are great value, I had one myself