Thinking of swapping my HTC Desire for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc.....

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

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I'm at the end of my contract with o2 and have got itchy feet and wanted something a bit nicer than my HTC Desire (although its been a great phone and I even went down the road of rooting and trying some custom roms!)

Anyway, I like the specs on the Galaxy S2 but a) its a bit more than I wanted to spend on a monthly basis and b) its a bit bland to look at imo!

So I started to look at the Xperia Arc but I'm a bit unsure if it will provide me a decent enough upgrade from my Desire!

It looks very nice and watching a direct comparison on Youtube with the S2, it compares quite well even though its only a single core CPU!

The deal I have seen is a 12 month contract with Talkmobile, 400 mins, unlimited texts and 1GB internet for £30 p/m but then 6 months free through redemption and £30 Quidco which makes it work out at £12.50 p/m, free phone and I'm free and clear after just 12 months! :D

Anyway, I'm rattling on - any opinions on the comparison between the two is welcome!

Thanks.........
 
Put simply: Cost.

The cheapest S2 deal I can find is £25 p/m with £50 up front AND a 24 month contract!

I'm not keen on the Sensation, as much as I like my Desire, the Sensation just seems a bit clunky and I tend to use other launchers or ROM's rather than Sense anyway!

I know the S2 is technically superior but I like the style and look of the Arc!
 
Nice to get some arguments for both sides!

Must admit, my head is turned a little for the performance of the S2 but then I think, its way more money (and its not a case of "saving up" for it - its the continued monthly cost for another 2 year contract!) and I'm not overly keen on the "look" of it - I mean the display is supposed to be outstanding but the phone itself is very much a "slab" with not much of what I'd call style!

The main draw to the Arc deal is its cheap and gives me a better screen ect without tying me in to a 24 month deal!

I have considered keeping my Desire on a sim-only deal but for the right minutes, texts etc I'm looking at around £12 a month so I think its probably worth an extra 50p for a sparkling new phone too!

Decisions, decisions!!

@ Wicksta - how is the storage space on the Arc? The one thing that drove me crazy with my Desire before I rooted it was the stupidly low internal memory for installing apps!
 
As long as the internal storage is enough for a few apps then I'll be happy and I'll be shoving a 16GB micro SD card in it for photo & video storage! (I assume it takes a bog-standard SD card as opposed to Sony's own M3 cards or whatever they were?)
 
alchemistkevin said:
When you put the Desire on payg plan will that include data?

If not, why not sell the phone and get something cheaper and buy an SGS2 as the main phone and a cheap Nokia for calls/texts. Android phones, in my view, are wasted without data.
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The best sim-only deal I can find is Talkmobile for a 1 month rolling contract - 500 mins, 1000 texts and 500MB internet - £12 p/m

Compare this to having the Arc, albeit on a 12 month deal, at effectively £12.50 p/m (slightly lower minutes but I can live with 400 tbh) - it seems a bit of a no-brainer!

As for carrying around a 2nd phone, I already have to cart around a works phone so there is no way I'm carrying 3!!! :p
 
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Well deadline day arrived (contract ended today after 7-8 years with o2!) so I've gone for the Talkmobile deal for the Arc! :D

The guy in o2 retentions admitted that they couldnt touch the deal offered even before the 6 months free by redemption!

At least if I dont get on with it I can sell it and stick with my Desire and I'm only contracted for 12 months at roughly with cost of a sim-only deal for a similar package!

Definition of win-win?? ;)
 
Talkmobile use Vodafone's network so hopefully should be a decent connection!

I know I'll probably see something else in the next 6 months or so but I really dont like 2 year deals and I'll bet its going to be a while before something like the S2 is available for this kind of money!

Hopefully in 12 months time there will be a stylish successor to the S2 and I'll be in a good position to go for it!

I'll let you know how I go on!

Thanks for all the opinions guys......
 
St0rmer66 said:
Got an email saying temporarily out of stock... rang up to ask how long. Apparently they're end of life and no more coming into stock :( . Wish I'd just kept it and changed my number now, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
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Damn! This is basically what I've got to do as they have screwed up my number porting - definitely dont want to lose my number as I've had it for 10+ years!!

:mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Gutted! :mad:

The deal has now changed to £50 up front plus no redemption! (so not even a deal anymore!)

Since I was one of the "lucky" ones I can either keep the deal as-is without keeping my number or cancel and not be able to get the same deal! :mad:

I've e-mailed both Talkmobile and mobiles.co.uk to see if I get any joy!
 
Right, not looking good at keeping this deal now - it appears that the fault lies somewhere between mobiles.co.uk and Talkmobile - Talkmobile have my PAC code but its not been applied to my contract and they say there isnt any way to port the number across after the contract has been set up!

My question now is: who do I concentrate on get a decent deal?

a) Talkmobile - try and force them to do a brand new 12 month contract, free Arc phone at £15 p/m (ie. the deal after redemption!) and cut mobiles.co.uk out of the deal altogether!

or

b) Mobiles.co.uk - get them to honor the deal (although the operator said the phone was discontinued) possibly with a different handset (the Galaxy S2 is £30 p/m on a 12 month deal but with £150 up front cost - maybe they would consider waiving the up front cost??)

Anyone got any suggestions - surely someone is liable? I'm sure if I'd screwed up somehow they would be forcing me to cough up!

My feeling is its TM at fault as they do have my PAC code so I'm struggling to find mobiles.co.uk at fault!

Thanks guys....
 
I'm not keen on the white tbh - the deal I was looking at is the 12 month deal for the S2 with TM (although why I'd trust them to do it right this time is anyones guess!), £30 p/m for the same 400 mins, 1000 texts & 1GB internet but I'm not willing to stump up the £150 for the phone!

Mobiles.co.uk have offered to ring me back on Monday with their best alternative offer so fingers crossed they will either have a spare Arc lying around (slightly ridiculous given I'm perfectly happy with my handset!) and they will honour the original deal, albeit with the number porting being done right..... or a deal for the S2 thats too good to turn down! :p
 
St0rmer66 said:
StevieP did you do the same as me and not put the PAC code in or have they screwed it up? They better not mess me around this time after having to re-order!
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I put the PAC code in at the time of ordering and either mobiles.co.uk or Talkmobile messed up applying it to my account!

I'm sorry to say this but if the phone you have received works (ie. has a Talkmobile number already applied to the SIM in it that you can make and receive calls from) then I would say you wont be getting your number ported across!!
I was told by a manager at Talkmobile that once a number is on a SIM card, thats it and they cant port another number onto it! (something to do with them being a "virtual" provider on Voda's network!)

I'm awaiting a call back from mobiles.co.uk to see what deals they can offer me for alternative handsets as the Arc is discontinued! :confused:
 
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