mobile phones, absolute ignoramus

balustrada

This information might be coming to you a little too late now and I'm surprised that no-one else has mentioned that it's not necessary to have a sim in the phone in order to use most of its features.

I recently bought a smartphone for no reason other than that I wanted to keep pace with modern technology, particularly touch screen.

I bought a sim free Samsung Galaxy Core Prime from Argos for about £109. I'm not interested in using it for texts or phone calls so have NOT put a sim in it. I just consider it to be a pocket computer/camera/video camera/radio/calculator/ photo gallery/video player/MP3 player/alarm clock/timer etc.

I access the Internet through my home WiFi, which is adequate for my needs. It's much more convenient than having to boot up a PC or laptop to check for emails or if I just want to read a news site.

One of the first things that I did was to transfer old family photos from my computer to the phone using the phone's data cable. Very simple.

Even though the phone does not have a sim I was surprised to discover that the GPS tracking still works when I'm away from home. I simply open Google Maps and it immediately zooms in on the map to my current location, which is cool.

I may eventually get a sim, in which case I'll probably go for Three's PAYG tariff, which seems to be the best deal for light users because there's no time limit on using up the credit. (The last time that I topped up my old mobile phone with £20 was in March 2010. It still has £2.38 credit on it.)

Savvy_Sue

What's frustrating me as I come to the end of my contract is that the new smart phones are so big! I need one which sits in my pocket, I've got a small Samsung Galaxy atm, rejected the one DH chose as it was just too big. And now there's nothing! Ho hum ...

stockton_2

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

What's frustrating me as I come to the end of my contract is that the new smart phones are so big! I need one which sits in my pocket, I've got a small Samsung Galaxy atm, rejected the one DH chose as it was just too big. And now there's nothing! Ho hum ...

I am interested in getting a smartphone (after reading this thread) and having one that fits in the pocket would be a main criteria for me. As far as I can see the Samsung Galaxy is just a little smaller than the Moto G 3 mentioned above so presumably the Moto would be ok to fit in the pocket.

I thought that "balustrada's" post was quite interesting. I also make few phone calls and texts and mainly want a smart phone that I can use to get on line when I am out and about. So for me cheap data is important and from what I can see it does not come cheap. Most deals are designed for those who make masses of phone calls and texts. They would be useless for me.

What I am considering now is using a smart phone in conjunction with my mifi in order to get on line (I can get 6 Gig of data for £15, valid for three months). I could then put an Asda sim into the smart phone just to make cheap phone calls.

It is a bit of a dogs breakfast but you have to fit your needs into what is available and make use of what you already have.

Savvy_Sue

stockton wrote: »

As far as I can see the Samsung Galaxy is just a little smaller than the Moto G 3 mentioned above so presumably the Moto would be ok to fit in the pocket.

I think it's too big: I shall need to check the dimensions against DH's phone, but I rejected that as too big.

It has to fit snugly in my pocket and not fall out when I bend down. The bigger phones tend to pop out. I tried one of DH's previous ones before I got this one and it was a problem.

Browntoa

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

What's frustrating me as I come to the end of my contract is that the new smart phones are so big! I need one which sits in my pocket, I've got a small Samsung Galaxy atm, rejected the one DH chose as it was just too big. And now there's nothing! Ho hum ...

https://www.wileyfox.com/swift/


this has a 5 Inch screen , sort of mid way between the old Moto G screen and the new standard 5.5 inch


also dual sim so its possible to swap between a data sim and a call sim

esuhl

kittie wrote: »

tesco mobile do a monthly 1gb data packge for £12.50 a month. 500 mins and 5000 texts.

If you get a SIM-only 12-month contract from one of the networks via Quidco (a cashback site), you'll pay about £12 a month for unlimited minutes and texts and 1GB data.

Savvy_Sue

Browntoa wrote: »

https://www.wileyfox.com/swift/

this has a 5 Inch screen , sort of mid way between the old Moto G screen and the new standard 5.5 inch

also dual sim so its possible to swap between a data sim and a call sim

Lovely, but probably too big.

Current phone is 11 and a smidgen cm long. You might not think 3 cm would matter, but my current phone sits landscape orientation deep within my pockets and does not fall out. If it goes into portrait orientation, it will fall out.

I'm a dinosaur I know, but I don't really want to browse the internet, watch movies etc on my phone. It's a phone. I use it for phone calls and text messages. I read emails but rarely reply, and if the writing's too small I just close it to read it later.

But I want the phone in my pocket! Is that really too much to ask?

agrinnall

Sue, if your current phone is good for you why do you want to change it at all? Although my main phone is a brand new Nexus 5X I'm also still using a Nokia that I bought around 12 years ago as my backup phone with a PAYG SIM, and for calls and texts it is absolutely fine.

Savvy_Sue

agrinnall wrote: »

Sue, if your current phone is good for you why do you want to change it at all? Although my main phone is a brand new Nexus 5X I'm also still using a Nokia that I bought around 12 years ago as my backup phone with a PAYG SIM, and for calls and texts it is absolutely fine.

It's entirely possible that that's what I'll do, but I can see it's a bit slow and clunky compared to DH's. Plus I like to change it before I break it.

Savvy_Sue

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

It's entirely possible that that's what I'll do, but I can see it's a bit slow and clunky compared to DH's. Plus I like to change it before I break it.

And it is getting a bit broken: freezes periodically. Had to take the battery out today to get it out of a freeze.