£200 Smart Phone Budget

£200 is my absolute maximum budget (i just got a house and a car so im totally ruined), and i'm worried about buying one off the bay. If there is something wrong... what are my warranty options? Does manufacturer deal with it? If I spent the £200 and got a bad egg, i couldnt recover from that to buy another.
 
Jabbs said:
When I sold my desire a month back I saw a x 10 go for £250 for a brand new in un-opened box, from the bloke that bought my desire. I guess the worry would be why are they selling so cheap now compared to phones it's in the same class ass.
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Because they are worse than the other phones, despite what people who have one might say.

That said, they are worth downwards of £250 unless you can get the Desire for a bit more. (Like £285 on O2)
 
Sadly I can't get a contract phone else i'd be tempted.

I found a Hero on a shelf today and it felt nice and solid compared to the Wildfire/Tattoo/Touch Pro 2 etc. Girlfriend bought the x10 mini today but not a fan of the full size one. way too large and over my budget sadly.

Might consider the x10 Mini Pro... but figured the res is too low.

Still mostly undecided.
 
Do you have an O2 account/contract or know anybody with one?

You can get a Desire from them for £285, I know its well above your budget but its a bit smaller than the X10 and feels a bit more like the Hero. (As well as being arguably the best phone out)

I think that would suit you best, but I understand budgets are budgets.

I would personally hang on and save another £100 or whatever and get something that isn't already out of date like the Hero is now.

Just something you can maybe think about.
 
DampCat said:
Sadly I can't get a contract phone else i'd be tempted.

I found a Hero on a shelf today and it felt nice and solid compared to the Wildfire/Tattoo/Touch Pro 2 etc. Girlfriend bought the x10 mini today but not a fan of the full size one. way too large and over my budget sadly.

Might consider the x10 Mini Pro... but figured the res is too low.

Still mostly undecided.
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What about the samsung galaxy spica i5700? As I said I personally think its the best budget android mobile.

Very similar to the HTC hero but has a better battery, faster processor etc. personally I think the screen is very impressive (see the links I posted above comparing it to the ipod touch), imo it does almost seem like an ips panel type of screen (but its not, only a tft screen).

The only advantage that the htc hero has over the spica imo, is a 5 MP camera, much better support/developing by people over at xda etc. And HTC sense ui but that's personal preference, but nearly everyone with the desire on this forum have got rid of the sense ui and flashed stock android on and have put launcher pro plus on as it is much faster, more customizable and plus you can use launcher pro widgets which are very similar to the HTC sense ones.
 
I've seen reports that the i5700 is stuck on Android 1.5, which is quite limiting. I'm not too against custom roms or installing my own firmware or whatever but if something works nicely out of the box it's easier eh?

I'm not writing the i5700 off, though, i think i'm just going have to play with one before i'm convinced :)
 
As Robboftw said I wouldn't touch those 2 phones now well out of date, you won't regret saving a bit more and getting a superior phone that will last you much longer.
 
I don't think you've mentioned you're requirements for the phone OP? Personally I'm in the exact same position as you. My budget is 200 max as well. I don't think anyone is disputing that ideally one would want to get a Desire/Galaxy S, but for some of us it's just not feasible. From what I see in prices, it's not a 'bit' more, it's almost twice as much.

Here's my 2 cents. I reduced my choices down to the Spica, Hero and the Liquid (If you're getting the Hero for the same price as the mini and the wildfire, I don't see why you wouldn't go for the Hero). The Liquid's specs are really attractive, but the brand name is what's keeping me from going for it (build quality is questionable). Now between the Spica and the Hero, i believe the Spica wins out, though for me out of personal preference I prefer Htc over Samsung (prefer the looks of the Hero over the Spica as well). Also, Three here are selling refurbished Hero's for 160 and you can get a 12 pound cash back from Quidco, so I decided to go down that route. My requirements from a phone aren't much considering all I do is make few calls and text, but since I like gadgets I find myself drawn to getting an Android phone, and the Hero despite it's flaws, fits the bill.

P.S. - If you're in the UAE, where are you getting the Hero for 200? I see it going for almost 350 at Sharaf DG.
 
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So even if you wait a while longer you can't muster up another £80-100?

It's not like you are getting an awful low end phone to begin with.

To be fair though, the Hero with the new software updates isn't a bad phone, if anything I would strongly urge you not to get one if you use the camera a lot, it's god awful.

Simply put, I wouldn't be happy paying £200 for something which in all honesty, is flawed (the hero was flawed when it was released, nevermind now!) and well out of date.

They really aren't double the prices, unless your only options are certain stores in the UAE, which I know nothing about so can't really help you there :p
 
I wont be buying in the UAE. The Android phones here are overpriced and dont allow access to Android Market as standard (you have to debrand the phone). I'm flying to the UK this weekend and wanted to take care of it whilst there, really. Buying in the UK and shipping here is pricey and a pain, but i could get it delivered/pick it up in the UK in the next week or so.

I could save an additional £100 but where does that stop? I mean, if ive spent £300 on a phone i might as well spend 400 and get the top of the range one. Before you know it, ive doubled my price. I'm sticking to my guns on the £200 budget and want the best i can get within it. (i could squeeze an extra 20 or 30 quid if its utterly ridiculous no to).

It doesnt have to be the best phone on earth, but if it can manage an awful lot of contacts, emails and has an App Market then i'm happy. High Res touch screen is a bonus. Not plasticy and flimsy also works.
 
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Exactly, where does it stop?

As for prices, retail prices seem to be (approximately):

£300 for the Milestone
£350 for the Legend and,
£400 for the Desire and Galaxy

I'm an international student here in the UK at the moment and coincidently I as well decided to pick up a phone here before going back to the UAE (where as the OP has pointed out, prices of phones are ridiculous). The Hero from Three seems to give the best bang for my limited buck, so I decided to go for that one. TotalPDA have the Acer Liquid for £211, so if you want to take a chance with an Acer product, you might want to have a look at it.
 
Robboftw said:
Do you have an O2 account/contract or know anybody with one?

You can get a Desire from them for £285, I know its well above your budget but its a bit smaller than the X10 and feels a bit more like the Hero. (As well as being arguably the best phone out)

I think that would suit you best, but I understand budgets are budgets.

I would personally hang on and save another £100 or whatever and get something that isn't already out of date like the Hero is now.

Just something you can maybe think about.
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How does this work to get the Desire from O2 for £285? Just someone with a contract rings them up and says they want to buy a new phone from O2? Will it effect their upgrades etc?
 
Monster said:
How does this work to get the Desire from O2 for £285? Just someone with a contract rings them up and says they want to buy a new phone from O2? Will it effect their upgrades etc?
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No, you just get to buy one for that as you are an O2 customer. Its like a self-paid upgrade.
 
Where'd you find the Hero for £160? Three only seem to offer the refurb one at £20/month?

Edit: Any details on that 02 deal? A link to the self paid upgrade info?
 
AMG said:
If I remember properly does the galexy have full flash support ?
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It does now, but you need to root your mobile etc. But its working on 2.1 which is pretty good considering originally flash would only work on 2.2.

DampCat said:
I've seen reports that the i5700 is stuck on Android 1.5, which is quite limiting. I'm not too against custom roms or installing my own firmware or whatever but if something works nicely out of the box it's easier eh?

I'm not writing the i5700 off, though, i think i'm just going have to play with one before i'm convinced :)
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Yeah it does have 2.1 out of the box, well I am pretty sure, you need to check where ever you buy it though just to be sure, I know that when you buy the i5700 from 3 it will be on 2.1 straight out of the box as I got mine around April 19th this year on contract and it was on 2.1, however t-mobile are not going to be updating the i5700 to 2.1 (I have no idea why not, think they said it wouldn't benefit there customers and there sales or something like that lol).

Yeah it is easier when everything works out of the box which is why I haven't rooted or flashed any firmware on etc. But once leshack gets 2.2 working that's when I will do that stuff.

Yeah still do consider it till you have tried one for yourself as it is an excellent mobile for the price imo, just let down by the camera when taking photos in poorly lit areas.

Also be sure that you don't get the galaxy i7500 and the galaxy spica i5700 mixed up as I did when I was looking for a new mobile :p particularly an android budget one in April.

Lightning Count said:
I don't think you've mentioned you're requirements for the phone OP? Personally I'm in the exact same position as you. My budget is 200 max as well. I don't think anyone is disputing that ideally one would want to get a Desire/Galaxy S, but for some of us it's just not feasible. From what I see in prices, it's not a 'bit' more, it's almost twice as much.

Here's my 2 cents. I reduced my choices down to the Spica, Hero and the Liquid (If you're getting the Hero for the same price as the mini and the wildfire, I don't see why you wouldn't go for the Hero). The Liquid's specs are really attractive, but the brand name is what's keeping me from going for it (build quality is questionable). Now between the Spica and the Hero, i believe the Spica wins out, though for me out of personal preference I prefer Htc over Samsung (prefer the looks of the Hero over the Spica as well). Also, Three here are selling refurbished Hero's for 160 and you can get a 12 pound cash back from Quidco, so I decided to go down that route. My requirements from a phone aren't much considering all I do is make few calls and text, but since I like gadgets I find myself drawn to getting an Android phone, and the Hero despite it's flaws, fits the bill.

P.S. - If you're in the UAE, where are you getting the Hero for 200? I see it going for almost 350 at Sharaf DG.
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Yeah totally agree with most of that.

I was looking at the hero as well but it was a fair bit more expensive back in April than the i5700, but I prefer HTC more than samsung as well, quite liked the looks of the hero but thought it was a bit to big and I didn't like the bottom part of the mobile, you know the way it sort of sticks out a bit, so found that a wee bit annoying when you had the mobile in your jeans pocket.

In the end I went for the i5700 because the hardware specs were better, especially the processor i5700 800MHz versus hero 527MHz (can't remember exactly what it is, just know its around 500-600MHz I think), i5700 was brand new here in the UK, slightly smaller than the hero and it was cheaper than the hero back then plus I preferred the looks of the i5700 just a tiny bit more than the hero.
 
DampCat said:
Where'd you find the Hero for £160? Three only seem to offer the refurb one at £20/month?

Edit: Any details on that 02 deal? A link to the self paid upgrade info?
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http://threestore.three.co.uk/payg/dealsummary.aspx?offercode=DSL0PP280

It's £15 to get it unlocked from Three itself. The O2 deal is pretty good, and if you know anyone who's with them, go for it. It's only for existing customers I believe.

Tip: If you chat with one of their 'expert advisers' and ask them some questions regarding your purchase, they'll eventually offer you a voucher for £10 off the accessories that they sell. So pick it up if you see something interesting for yourself there (i.e. if you do decide to go for the Hero).
 
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