Spec me a sub £150 phone

Jony27 · 15 Jul 2013 at 11:22

Hi all, my mom is looking to renew her contract with O2 and was looking at getting another 24month contract with a new phone but after showing her the Giffgaff goody bags, she is considering getting a PAYG phone with the Giffgaff SIM.

She's been using my old Galaxy Ace and loves the feel/size of it, she was looking at getting an IPhone 4S, so I guess shes likes something similar to them.
I was looking at the Lumia 520/620 but wasn't sure if there are any alternatives which are better for the price?

Budget is £150, any help will be much appreciated

Space Monkey · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:20

My first thoughts were the Nokia 520 and 620, not much help but thought I'd re-enforce your first thoughts too. Not sure there is much to beat the 620 at that price TBH, especially with the Nokia apps, build quality and super smooth OS

Jony27 · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:30

Theres not much difference between the two is there? The only thing I can notice is the camera flash and the screen types :confused:

There's also a £30 price differnce between the two with the 520 being £125 and the 620 for £155.

Another contender was the Windows 8S similarly priced as the 620.

Space Monkey · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:34

Haven't checked the differences recently so can't answer fully, though the 520 is £89 as a PAYG upgrade, do it on O2 and you should be able to use the GiffGaff sim in it

MookJong · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:36

Went from iPhone 3G to a Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 running Jelly Bean for £119.00 PAYG from Phones4U

Does everything I want, super slick had no issues at all. I am on GiffGaff £10.00 a month PAYG.

Jony27 · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:40

Space Monkey said:
Haven't checked the differences recently so can't answer fully, though the 520 is £89 as a PAYG upgrade, do it on O2 and you should be able to use the GiffGaff sim in it

Really? I didnt know Giffgaff SIM can be used on O2 PAYG, or do I have to get it unlocked by them?

Space Monkey · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:44

GiffGaff piggy backs the O2 network so normally it works, same as the phone I've just recently bought, it is locked to T-Mobile but worked with my Virgin sim as they piggy back T-Mobile as well

Not guaranteed but a good chance.

Also have a look at the 30 day rolling contracts from Virgin, amazing value, I'm on £15 a month, unlimited minutes, texts, and data!

Rusty! · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:54

Have a look at the Moto Razr i from Three, it's £149.99

Jony27 · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:56

Space Monkey said:
Haven't checked the differences recently so can't answer fully, though the 520 is £89 as a PAYG upgrade, do it on O2 and you should be able to use the GiffGaff sim in it

Call me stupid but I cant seem to get this to work.

I sign in to my mom's O2 account and see that her contract is eligible for upgrade, I click on the button and it gives me 3 options, cashback tariffs, simplicty and phone and tariff.

It brings all the monthly tariffs which we no longer want :confused:

And when I click on PAYG phones, the Lumia 520 is still £119, and when I click on the upgrade option, it brings me back to the 3 choices of tariffs?

Space Monkey · 15 Jul 2013 at 12:59

This through CPW right? Tried calling them?

Columbo · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:02

I think you need to be on PAYG to get the PAYG upgrade discount.

Space Monkey · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:04

ManCuBuS said:
I think you need to be on PAYG to get the PAYG upgrade discount.

Ah, maybe, didn't notice your mums on a contract currently, just saw the GiffGaff PAYG bit, doh!

Its £99 for PAYG on CPW plus top up. Maybe you have a spare payg chip lying around?

Jony27 · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:05

Space Monkey said:
This through CPW right? Tried calling them?

Nah O2 mate.

ManCuBuS said:
I think you need to be on PAYG to get the PAYG upgrade discount.

Hmm that explains everything then!

Seems like well be going for a Lumia 520 PAYG and a £10/month Giffgaff SIM.

Will have a look at the RazrI but I think she wont like it as she finds the S3 too big which is similarly sized to the RazrI

Space Monkey · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:07

Still get it from CPW as its cheaper

Jony27 · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:10

£99 for the O2 version?

and £124 for the SIM Free?

So am I right in saying that once everything runs out in the O2 version, she can start using the GiffGaff SIM?

Sorry for all the questions, newbie to PAYG as always had contracts!

Space Monkey · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:13

Yep, just use up the sim then switch to GiffGaff when you want to (she can even port over her contract number to GiffGaff if she wants)

Jony27 · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:15

Ok thanks, does the phone come with a SIM as I dont think we have any PAYG sims...

Also, is it possible to transfer her current number to the CPW sim and then transfer it to Giffgaff?

Shes been using the same number for the last 4-5 years and itd be a lot of hassle getting a new number.

Space Monkey · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:20

Just had a thought!

Get your mum to cancel her contract and for O2 to make her sim and number a PAYG sim (normally an easy thing for them to do) then she keeps her number and then use the PAYG upgrade for the 520 at the CPW to get it cheap at £89.99. Double check with CPW if there are any T&C's with the PAYG upgrade just in case.

That seems the easiest and logical thing to do, and yes she can transfer her number to giffgaff etc, just needs a PAC code from O2 (if you do the above, wait until the sim is made a PAYG by O2, not when its still a contract sim)

Hope this helps?

Jony27 · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:28

Hmmm, ill get her to do the above(although itll be mostly likely me doing everything

)

Its help a lot mate, gave me a lot of options

Thanks for everyone else's help too

sonic_rm · 15 Jul 2013 at 13:47

Space Monkey said:
Just had a thought!

Get your mum to cancel her contract and for O2 to make her sim and number a PAYG sim (normally an easy thing for them to do) then she keeps her number and then use the PAYG upgrade for the 520 at the CPW to get it cheap at £89.99. Double check with CPW if there are any T&C's with the PAYG upgrade just in case.

That seems the easiest and logical thing to do, and yes she can transfer her number to giffgaff etc, just needs a PAC code from O2 (if you do the above, wait until the sim is made a PAYG by O2, not when its still a contract sim)

Hope this helps?

To be eligible for a PAYG upgrade the sim card shoud be at least 6 months old (On PAYG). So that method won't work.

Simply call O2 get a PAC Code, Order giffgaff and give them the pac code to keep the same number.

Now for the phone, go to any CPW buy it for 99+£10 top up (you will get a sim card with £10 on it) use that £10 if you want to or just put the giffgaff simcard in the phone and you are done.