Smartphone for a non-techie user?

IC3

IC3

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My mum needs a new phone, her S3 is playing up and isn't holding the charge as it use to. She only uses the phone for calls, texts and photos. Pretty much any phone can do that, I'm aware of that.

The most important things in the phone will be
- Good battery life
- Durable
- Good camera (something that works well on auto point&shoot)

She wants to go on a contract with Three (all the family and friends are with 3) 300-500 mintues, unlimited texts and 500-1gb of data will be plenty.

Budget:£20-30 per month. The cheaper the better really, she doesn't use multiple applications at a time, so something like an e.g. S7 is not required.
 
Caporegime
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Any Huawei that's in budget?

Always had great battery life from the various Huaweis we've had, the photos are always great in point and shoot mode, and EMUI is simple to use.
 
Soldato
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Honor 6X is worth a look, you can get it through Three. My Mum has one and she likes it, the camera is decent and the battery lasts ages. Only annoyance is that it still hasn't been updated to the latest version of Android, which they said was due months ago.
 
Associate
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maybe the iphone SE? (link). £19 upfront + £15 x 24 for 500MB data, 300mins, unlimited text. Total amount: £379. Or £19 upfront + £19 x 24 for 1GB, unlimited text/mins. Total: £475.

You could also just afford the iphone 6. It has a 4.7" screen instead of the SE's 4". The iphone SE is a great phone and good value but 4" is really small :S
 

IC3

IC3

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maybe the iphone SE? (link). £19 upfront + £15 x 24 for 500MB data, 300mins, unlimited text. Total amount: £379. Or £19 upfront + £19 x 24 for 1GB, unlimited text/mins. Total: £475.

You could also just afford the iphone 6. It has a 4.7" screen instead of the SE's 4". The iphone SE is a great phone and good value but 4" is really small :S
The SE looks interesting, she did mention that the new phones are a bit big. I agree with that statement, give me a refreshed Nexus 5 and I'll take that any day vs what's on the market now.
 
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Another option is to buy the phone and data/mins/texts separately. There's a deal that expires today: Three sim only - unlimited texts/minutes, 4GB data £9 per month (12 month contract). Could pair it with the Sony Xperia X Compact (sim free, unlocked): £13.60 x 24 + £25 upfront. Total for the phone: 351.40 (link).

Link to 3 deal post.
Link to a decent review for the Xperia X compact.

edit: or forget that 3 deal and go for one their regular plans: 600mins/1GB data/unlimited texts for £8 a month (12 month). (link)

8*24 = 192
351.40 + 192 = 543.4
543.4/24 = £22.65 per month for the xperia x compact and 600/1GB/unlimited texts.

Can also get the iphone 6 for the same price (link)

Edit: or if you wanted to save money you could get a used but excellent condition iphone SE (link)(£11.12*24 + £25 upfront. Total: £291.88)(rose gold and grey are available at this moment).

£291.88 + 192 = 483.88
483.88/24 = £20.2 per month for the iphone SE (used) with 1gb/600mins/unlimited texts.

Or there's one iphone 6S in excellent condition available (color: grey)(link): £16.09*24 + £25 upfront. Total: £411.16.

411.16 + 192 = 603.16
603.16/24 = £25.1 a month for 24 months for the iphone 6S (used) with 1gb/600mins/unlimited texts.
 
Last edited:

KIA

KIA

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maybe the iphone SE? (link). £19 upfront + £15 x 24 for 500MB data, 300mins, unlimited text. Total amount: £379. Or £19 upfront + £19 x 24 for 1GB, unlimited text/mins. Total: £475.

You could also just afford the iphone 6. It has a 4.7" screen instead of the SE's 4". The iphone SE is a great phone and good value but 4" is really small :S

This.
 

IC3

IC3

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@Dumbnub Thank you for the very informative and helpful posts, I doubt she'll like the Xperia. The looks aren't its strongest point and since I had an Xperia Z before the camera isn't the best when it comes to point&shoot, its great when you know what settings to change. At this current moment the Iphone SE seems like a winner, I'm not a fan of apple myself. But I won't be using it, so we'll see what she'll pick. I've done a little list of phones (in the process of making it! :p).

Thank you all for your input, the phone will be picked tomorrow or on Sunday so until then, if anyone has a different suggestion please do share it here. :p ;)
 
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@Dumbnub Thank you for the very informative and helpful posts, I doubt she'll like the Xperia. The looks aren't its strongest point and since I had an Xperia Z before the camera isn't the best when it comes to point&shoot, its great when you know what settings to change. At this current moment the Iphone SE seems like a winner, I'm not a fan of apple myself. But I won't be using it, so we'll see what she'll pick. I've done a little list of phones (in the process of making it! :p).

Thank you all for your input, the phone will be picked tomorrow or on Sunday so until then, if anyone has a different suggestion please do share it here. :p ;)

NP ;) I'm glad my posts were helpful.
 
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