I was incredibly late to the "smart phone" party.

I was an avid texter in my teens and had a £9 a month sim only deal with BT Genie which gave me no calls but unlimited texts.

They got bought out by O2 and the contract mever changed.  

I stuck with my £9 a montha as it was super cheap and to be honest i wasn't missing out.

 

I purchased a few unlocked Sim free second hand Nokias (remember when they were good) to keep (almost) up with the times but stuck with a Nokia 6300

 

 

until last year.

 

That was when Ms Pasty upgraded from a HTC Desire S to a Samsung Galaxy 3 Mini, which she then proceed to break and needed replacing.

Being the kind gent i am I spoke to O2 upgraded my contract to the cheapest data one they do and also took a Galaxy 3 Mini, which I donated to Mrs Pasty leaving myself to take custody of the HTC, while we sold the broken screened Galaxy for spares or repair to recoup a bit.

 

All has been fine & dandy with me not exactly pushing the boundaries of smart phone usage - the odd out-and-about google and whatsapp when Mrs pasty has been away on business - until recently when the HTC has started to die when you ask it to actually do anything.

 

you want to take a picture? - going to crash

answer a call? - crash

access the internet? - crash

use an app? - crash

 

Thought it was battery related but a google search seems to highlight an issue with motherboards overheating and there being no fix.

 

So to save me going back to the 90s with a non smartphone i need to find/obtain/buy an unlocked smartphone to live with my incredibly small smart phone needs (no social media no nothing really)

 

I want a decent camera and that's about all my requirements.

 

anybody have an last gen phone they have in a drawer and would part with for a small donation?

any recommendation on what to buy if i do have to buy something?

Is a non-branded generic android based look-alike (something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Emoto-5-0-Dual-Core-Android-4-1-Mobile-Phone-Smartphone-Unlocked-Touch-White-/370834565425?pt=UK_Mobile_Phones&hash=item5657766931) a decent option?

Nokia N95!

 

Miss my N95

I also had an 8GB N95, it was tremendous in it's day.

HTC One. No upfront cost £31.50 per month on Tesco Mobile. (O2 network ) Over 24 months

Phone payment £11.50 p/m

Talk plan £17.50 p/m

2GB of 3G data £2.50 p/m

Plus Triple clubcard points.

I couldn't find a better deal.

And YHPM

Moto G is supposed to be very good for the money but a bit weak in the camera area if that's important.

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/02/review_motorola_moto_g_android/

 

I keep considering going the other way since I hardly use the smart features on my phone. If I was buying I'd probably look at a Nokia (520 is cheap now) because they come with free offline Nokia maps and a lot of them still have changeable batteries and sdcard slots.

 

I also saw this and thought hmmmm (I break things)

 

 

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2320921/ces-cat-b100-arrives-as-a-dumb-phone-with-high-end-rugged-features

 

But probably will be well overpriced.

Edited 7 January, 201412 yr by Aspman

I have a Sony xperia Arc S in white here gathering dust if you want?

http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/products/phones/xperia-arc-s/#white

Not too sure if it's unlocked though. I had one of these (until the screen cracked) and found them as good any other phone I've had.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cheap-I9800-6-0-Inch-Touch-Screen-Smart-Phone-Android-4-0-3-OS-3G-Dual-SIM-Cu3-/141117662888?pt=UK_Mobile_Phones&hash=item20db44a6a8

I couldn't find a better deal.

 

Ah yeah forgot to say part of my upgrade on O2 was to sign up for a new 18 month contract so need to at least see that through.

Upside is thAt in in theory as it's a new contract i should now be in the normal upgrade cycle so should again in theory get a new phone in due course when the contract nears it's end to replace my Galaxy S3 Mini Mrs Pasty is using (although she'll get an upgrade to her S3 Mini which she broke before then! wow way to make it confusing)

Moto G isnt a bad buy, but the camera could be better.

 

Have you tried CEX or Game?

Another shout for the HTC One here.

Depends on your needs, how much you want to pay, and how you want to pay it.

 

Generally....

 

I find the best way if you don't want something special is to just buy the phone you want, either sim-only or PAYG, then get a SIM only that covers your needs as cheap as you can. My last phone was a £10 a month SIM that gave me everything I needed and more, and I dropped £70 cash for a midrange Sony (Xperia U).

 

But if you want something a bit special, a normal contract with a bundled phone can be worthwhile, especcially if you can cut your allowances down to get a low monthly cost. If you can stand a high-range phone that isn't the latest model, this works rather well. I wanted an Xperia Z, so I waited until the Z1 came out. 

 

All phones have their good and bad points. It's subjective, and what one person likes, another won't.

 

I use an Xperia Z, it's well specced, has a great camera, is waterproof. On the downside, it's hard to get a decent level of battery life out of it, it's square and quite bulky.

 

My mate uses an S4. it's well specced, has a great camera, is nice to look at. On the downside, it feels plasticky and seems to have loads of stuff installed that I wouldn't want and couldn't take off. 

 

I like the HTC a lot, it's a lovely phone in all regards, except the camera is really low res.

I went with a Motorola razr i, main reason was the battery life compared to all the others available at the time. Camera is ok, not as good as the newer phones but it's what all my pics are done with unless I have to dig out the proper camera

Nice sturdy feel as well. I was lucky with my contract, had to increase my minutes when starting the business so managed to double them and blag unlimited internet as the call centre in India still had the old plans available on their system I tried upgrading my sons a couple of months later and that loophole is well and truly gone now :-(