Spec me... A new phone.

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Hey guys. :)

My phone contract runs out soon and recently had a phone call from Three saying that my contract is almost up and I can now cancel/upgrade etc.

I'm currently paying £18 a month on 3 for unlimited texts and internet and 300 minutes. Ideally I would like to pay up to £20 a month for a similar tariff and phone.

I have just had a look round some websites but am struggling to choose on a phone and don't really know what OS will suit me best etc. What I am looking for is a phone with 3G to allow e-mail and Internet on the move, a decent camera as I don't have a dedicated one atm and a quick and easy to use UI. Battery life isn't terribly important as I charge it everynight, I wont need massive amounts of memory as I won't really use it for music and videos etc., as I have an iPod touch. Enough memory for some photos/apps will do.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, and feel free to ask further questions. :)
 
Soldato
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You can get a Samsung Galaxy S or HTC Desire S (Both good phones) for £18/month from the carphone warehouse with a fairly competitive contract.

If you can stretch to £25/month you can get the Samsung Galaxy SII, however you will be losing text allowance as the contract only allows for 500.
 
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The Galaxy and Desire both look good phones and would probably suit me. What about the cheaper HTC Wildfire or the number of Windows 7 phones?
 
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I have the normal Desire, my wife has the Wildfire - the wildfire is a cut down version, and slightly smaller than the desire. If you have the option for a desire or wildfire, go with the desire. Big difference in the screen, quite low quality on the wildfire.
 
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Thanks.

Anyone have any opinions on Windows vs. Android? Speed and ease of use are quite important to me as I don't want anything with a poor touch response or complicated/sluggish UI etc.
 
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Just read through the official thread for the Galaxy S II on here (not all of it, it's massive!!) and it looks brilliant tbh. Very tempting. :p

Will give 3 a ring or maybe pop into my local store and see what kind of offers they can give me to make me stay.
 
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Not an Android detractor, I have one and I like it, but it sounds like you want to shop around a bit before you settle down so I SERIOUSLY recommend you go into a shop and play around with a couple of phones! I've no experience of WP7 myself but the interface looks very snazzy and clever (I love the "at a glance" homescreen tiles), and Microsoft are very aggressive with updates and patches, adding in new and missing features at a pretty fast rate and strong-arming manufacturers into rolling them out for their handsets promptly. You're not likely to get a newly-released phone running a 1-year-old version of Windows, as you often do with Android phones, some of which have been abandoned by manufacturers and will never be updated!

I'm also personally very intrigued by the new version of WebOS but I don't think any of the new phones have made it here yet.
 
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Thanks for that. :)

When I first saw the Windows phones it was really the UI that first attracted me as, although it may not be as refined as Andriod, it seemed very simplistic and sleek yet still functional.

Anyway, I plan to pop into the town centre tomorrow and take a look at several phones in the flesh.
 
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Android is best for reading on a mobile as it has text reflow in its own great browser etc.

You'll need Opera browser for the others, which will give inferior quality, due to compression, on a top of the range smart phone screen.

I'd go for the Xperia X10, or higher, 8MP/720P, soon to get Gingerbread.
 
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Opera is GREAT and you can switch off the compression! :) I use the built-in Webkit browser, but only because on my Desire Z pinch-to-zoom doesn't work in Opera. (I asked around on forums and it seems to be working in every other Android phone, so I guess it's HTC's fault).
 
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Just before I go, what do people recommend as the best W7 phone right now?

Omnia 7 yep, beautiful screen*, beautiful bulld quality (metal and glass) and just the right size IMO.

*how WP is supposed to be seen, with the blacks of the screen just disappearing into the edge

Android is best for reading on a mobile as it has text reflow in its own great browser etc.

You'll need Opera browser for the others, which will give inferior quality, due to compression, on a top of the range smart phone screen.

I'd go for the Xperia X10, or higher, 8MP/720P, soon to get Gingerbread.

What you on about? WP7 has reflow in its own browser (which is being upgraded in a couple of months), same as Windows Mobile before it. :p

I am a bit bias as I have an Omnia 7 but I did almost go android, first with the Desire and then the Desire HD (coming from a Touch HD so windows mobile version of the Desire essentially), I just preferred the look and feel of WP7 over Android and the hardware over the Desire and DHD. 4" is just about perfect for a screen as well, 4.3" is too big IMO (and I have giant hands).

As for apps etc. WP is at a disadvantage with shear numbers but the quality is very good, most of the big name games on the other OSs are there on WP* and it's exploded with around 10-15,000 apps released in the last 3 months or so and no sign of it slowing down.

*with a notable exception of Angry Birds, but that's being built for WP as we speak and there are a couple of similar and just as good a games that do the same thing anyway...

Go check out all the phones and have a hands on and see what you think. Oh yeah, forget about not putting music and videos on your phone, you will when you realise they are just as good as your iPod Touch for those (the zune software on both the phone and computer is very good and gives you access to zune pass if you wish) and I'm sure there are some good Android players out there as well.
 
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My deal recent deal on 3

Hope this helps you. Was in the same position as you and had a few hours negotiating with 3 on 333 (I think you would get a better deal over the phone surprisingly than in the flesh). Anyway, decided that I was not really willing to pay the SGSII prices as yet (£26pm) as my wife will get a new contract in 5 months time so will likely get it then and do a swop.

When they originally offered me 300 min or texts and 500Mb of data at £18 per month I figured fine as that is more or less my current usage and no need to go through to TalkMobile for the same price but more of everything as I work from home mostly and am on Wifi. However, after receiving the phone I figured I would return it for the TM deal. After requesting the PAC I spent a long time riposting and parrying every trick they threw - TalkMobile is a MVNO, service not guaranteed, speeds slower, Vodaphone doesn't allow Skype (not true) blah blah. They eventually offered me what I wanted 500m or text, 500mb data and threw in 300 3 to 3 minutes for the same £18 over 24 months and that worked for me. Essentially it is the talk 500 plan with the 300 additional 3 to 3 minutes thrown in. It is not shown on their website but negotiate.

I know that this is not the same as the Talkmobile plan which is arguably better but I it is right for me and I do not need to go through the whole rigmarole of PAC etc or be at the mercy of the (apparently) poor TM customer service. I dare say if your text usage is much higher, you could hold out for the Text 500 plan for £20-£22 (500m/5000t/1Gb) on the Galaxy S. Not sure about the Omnia 7 though.

The 3 customer services have always been great to me and the customer retention thing is always fun and the staff are courteous and negotiating was a wonderful experience. I look forward to it everytime :)

Good luck and let us know how you go

NB
 
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