Samsung s3mini

bjbyorkshire

Hello, can anyone tell me what difference they can find between the above s3 phone priced at £79 at Sainsburys and the ones I have googled at Argos, £119.99 and giff gaff at £99?

That is a big difference in price if they are in fact the same phone?

Thanks for any help.

grumbler

I guess the (only?) difference is that the Sainsburys' one is locked to the network.
At giffgaff you'll need to buy some bundle together with the phone unless you are already a customer.

bjbyorkshire

Your reply hasn't helped much, but thanks anyway.

I've now found another S 3 phone in Argos catalogue which is a different price again.

What I really want to source is a new phone for hubby. We both have ancient Nokias which have served us really well but hubby's has become unreliable so he needs a replacement.

We went into the EE shop in town today, looked at a few phones in the £50 to £70 price range and he liked the feel and look of the Samsung S3 mini in there. That was until the girl serving us told us that the PAYG tariff is 30p per minute for calls, he never texts. But she said we would be locked into EE TARIFF ONCE WE HAD PUT THE SIM INTO THE PHONE. We left the shop to think about it as that is expensive for calls.

Sainsburys has the same phone but none in stock but they will be coming in very soon at £79. The lad we spoke to in Sainsburys was just an general assistant but said that this was a sim free phone which would take their PAYG TARIFF SIMS WHICH COST 8p for calls and 4p for texts. We thought this a good price. On coming home I looked in Argos and the same phone in their book are £119 or £79 for what looks like the same phone but in black rather than ble or White. I am now totally bamboozled by it all.

Anyone out there able to give me an idea which way to jump PLEASE.

Our current Orange tariff is Raccoon which is 12p for calls. If I just buy a new PAYG phone then call orange/EE will they just transfer his remaining credit and existing number onto the new phone, job done?

I am now dizzy with it all!

Thanks

grumbler

bjbyorkshire wrote: »

I've now found another S 3 phone in Argos catalogue which is a different price again.

What's the point in saying this if you don't post the link?

But she said we would be locked into EE TARIFF ONCE WE HAD PUT THE SIM INTO THE PHONE.

It's already locked to EE, not to tariff, before you put the sim into it - normally this is the case for all phones sold by networks (giffgaff is exception I believe, possibly 'Three' as well).
You can get a locked phone unlocked, but the price depends on the model.
Alternatively you can buy a not locked (sim-free) phone. It will work on any network.

MSE article: Mobile Unlocking

Sainsburys has the same phone but none in stock but they will be coming in very soon at £79. The lad we spoke to in Sainsburys was just an general assistant but said that this was a sim free phone which would take their PAYG TARIFF SIMS WHICH COST 8p for calls and 4p for texts. We thought this a good price. On coming home I looked in Argos and the same phone in their book are £119 or £79 for what looks like the same phone but in black rather than ble or White. I am now totally bamboozled by it all.

It's normal for prices to vary, but everything said by sales people has to be taken with a pinch of salt. I mean that the £79 phone in Sainsburys is sim-free. Make sure that it really is the case.

Edit to add: this thread at HUKD indicates that indeed S3 Mini from Sainsburys is sim-free (not locked):
Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini only £79.00 at Phone shop by Sainsbury's - plus free Mobile By Sainsbury's SIM with double nectar points and cheap call and SMS charges

Anyone out there able to give me an idea which way to jump PLEASE.

Buy a sim-free phone you want. It will work on any network. The best PAYG tariff for low usage is Three 3-2-1 with 3p/min: http://www.three.co.uk/Store/Pay_As_You_Go_Price_Plans

If you prefer Orange (EE) signal, Delight Mobile use EE signal and offer the same prices as Three: http://www.delightmobile.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/rates/uk-rates.aspx

Our current Orange tariff is Raccoon which is 12p for calls. If I just buy a new PAYG phone then call orange/EE will they just transfer his remaining credit and existing number onto the new phone, job done?

You don't need to transfer anything if the new phone takes the old sim-card. S3 mini does take traditional mini-sims (newest sizes are smaller: micro- and nano- )

bjbyorkshire

Thanks Grumbler, so much info there I will read and digest in the morning and reply when I've done that.

Please be kind, I'm an oldie so not very techie savvy and posting links is way beyond my prowess.

Ok speak to you tomorrow.

bjbyorkshire

Thanks so much for all the info Grumbler.

Now it is much clearer to me. As soon as Sainsburys get them in store I will get one but for now I will transfer the sim from his old phone, if it is indeed the same size. Our old dark and light grey Nokias must be at least 15 years old so may be the large type. We will stay with Orange until his credit is used up and then look into which company to go with then. He makes so few calls that 12p is neither here nor there but it is very easy to stay chatting for no reason and then 12p becomes £1 before you know it. When the time comes to change mine I might well go with Talk Talk as our home phone is with them and they are always ringing to tell me they can reduce my mobile phone bills if I go with them. When they ask how much a month I spend on mobile calls and I say not more than £25 PER YEAR, they think I mean per month. They soon realise that none of their plans will save me money! I do indeed use the Internet quite a lot but would only use it sparingly on such a small screen, it is pretty easy to pop my
I pad mini into my bag and if needed there are free wi fi cafes and Weatherspoons all over the place.

You see I really am a money saving oldie, not because I really have to be, just because it is a life times habit trying to save the pennies where I can. I now spend my spare money going on holidays!

Thanks so much for all your help.

grumbler

An important note:

S3 mini is a smartphone. Unless you switch mobile data off, it eats it without asking you and this can be very costly on most PAYG tariffs. Also, unlike basic phones, smartphones need charging every 1-2 days, depending on usage.

Do you really need a smartphone?

bjbyorkshire

Thanks for the heads up! Not sure now what it actually means, smartphone? I expect it is way smarter than we are.

If not a smartphone then which would you be choosing in my position. Hubby wants a modern phone, no internet at present but maybe in the future, maybe not. But he said a decent camera and a keypad for the not so nimble fingered. He can use the keypad on the I pad mini but it is a good size unlike a phone. I feel that we want an android as opposed to a windows phone, but I'm now asking your opinion.

Thanks

iris

I have recently purchased a Moto E smart phone after using a very antiquated alcatel and really like it.

My Moto E is sim free, however my Orange payg sim from my alcatel is a standard one, so I needed to get a micro sim (this is easy to do via the Orange web site and is free).

Once I had received my new micro sim from Orange (it comes with full instructions on how to use it), I just rang them up and asked them to transfer my credit and phone number across to my new phone. I used their 0800 number via my home phone to save using my mobile credit. I found them very helpful and there were no problems.


I am able to use my home wifi with this phone, which may be useful, but it doesn't have 3/4G capability.


You can read about this phone below


http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/moto-g-vs-moto-e


HTH

forgotmyname

A smartphone means it want to connect to the internet for everything..

Unless you turn it off or get a deal with some data your going to get billed for it.

It wants to check the time, date, weather, news, app updates and firmware updates.... etc etc...

When you set it up it will want you to create an email account to backup your phone and contacts etc...

bjbyorkshire

Iris,thanks. That was great. I looked at the comparisons between the 2 and the photos are the only significant thing that hubby might feel that he would like better quality close ups. He does take photos of tractors and needs clear detail so I think that might just influence the purchase.

The details about the orange sim and transferring of original phone number is exactly what he would want to do so thanks very much for your info. I didn't realise that buying a phone could be such a minefield.

Thanks