New mobile phone suggestions

[2SkodaFamily]

Hi,

My contract is up for renewal in October. I'm trying to get ahead of the curve a little by thinking of what phone and tariff ahead of time.

I've been an Android user for 4 years (HTC Desire and Galaxy S3) but I'm considering an iPhone for the first time. My wife has had one for a couple of years and hasn't managed to break it, so that's a good sign. :-)

My initial research shows that even the iphone 5C is expensive at around £40 a month and £100 (at least) up front.

If I stay with Android, there's almost too much choice! The Galaxy S4 mini looks good, as I've found the S3 a little too big. Considering Sony, or even LG.

The other consideration is that I use a lot of data, 8gb last month. With Three I get unlimited data but I will not be renewing with them as my experience has not been good.

Vodafone are not good in my area, but EE/Tmobile look to have the best coverage. I refuse to use O2.

Any other suggestions?

[GentleGiant]

You could always go out on a limb; I have just ordered my first smart phone, but not wanting to be tied in to any network, and not wanting to pay silly money either, I have ordered a Lenovo P780.

 

Lenovo are quite big in the PC world, they bought out IBM's PC business; but are almost unknown in the phone market; they dont even market their phones outside of China, although the few that have made it over here have had pretty good reviews.

 

The real kicker is the price; a brand new 8 core smart phone (2013 model), is costing me under £70 (+ 20% import duty if it gets picked up).

[2SkodaFamily]

Interesting....let me know how you get on.

[nellyboy]

I have been down the lenovo chinese phone road, never again. Be warned!! Updates few and far between and not much in the way of support. I bought an S4 off AV forums in the end and been happy with it ever since.

[gullyg]

Hi,

My contract is up for renewal in October. I'm trying to get ahead of the curve a little by thinking of what phone and tariff ahead of time.

I've been an Android user for 4 years (HTC Desire and Galaxy S3) but I'm considering an iPhone for the first time. My wife has had one for a couple of years and hasn't managed to break it, so that's a good sign. :-)

My initial research shows that even the iphone 5C is expensive at around £40 a month and £100 (at least) up front.

If I stay with Android, there's almost too much choice! The Galaxy S4 mini looks good, as I've found the S3 a little too big. Considering Sony, or even LG.

The other consideration is that I use a lot of data, 8gb last month. With Three I get unlimited data but I will not be renewing with them as my experience has not been good.

Vodafone are not good in my area, but EE/Tmobile look to have the best coverage. I refuse to use O2.

Any other suggestions?

 

 

 

If you're looking at an iPhone you might want to hold on for a while as the new models should be being announced soon, this will hopefully bring the cost of the older ones down or give you a chance to get a better phone (personally I'm hoping for a bigger screen otherwise I'll probably just keep my iPhone 5.

 

As for EE, well I'm only one person but I've had nothing but trouble with T-Mobile and EE's data charges on 4g are a total rip off in my opinion. 

 

Personally I would advise you buy the phone sim free and then get a 30 day rolling contract if you can as it gives you the option to tell the network to bolt.  Personally I'll be looking at either Virgin (MVNO on EE/T-mobile/Orange and do even better deals if you have other services with them) or 3 on a 30 day and buying a new phone or keeping my old one dependant on features.  There's also news reports that BT are going to launch their own network >clicky< either using it's own 4g spectrum >< or by acting as a MVNO on EE >clicky< or by acting as a MVNO on EE >clicky> or some some sort of combination etc and that it's going to "shake up" the market, hopefully they offer some good deals if you're an existing customer.

[TheWanderer]

Iphone is nice but a pain.

 

If you want to use Bluetooth to transfer music from say an Android to Iphone via Bluetooth, you can't, you cannot transfer files, photo's, music etc to an Iphone via Bluetooth, that's why, despite the superior quality of Apple's Iphone & Ipad, I stay away from them.

 

I've always found the display on an Iphone to be somewhat lacking, this is in the size department, probably because I've been spoilt by the SGS3 & SGS4.

 

The new Sony Xperia Z2 is very good, the Galaxy S5 is also very good and the quality is there too, especially the Sony, however the Sony lacks a bit behind the S5 in the photo department in that photos can be a bit on the soft side. The Sony has less bloatware on it, compared to the SGS5.

 

The Galaxy Note 4 is due later on in the year which is a 5.7" screen, so a bit of a phablet than a phone, but is useful if you use the web a lot.

 

Then you have the LG G3 coming out soon or if you want to breakaway from both Android & IoS, consider the Nokia Lumia 1520 which is a Windows phone.

[gadgetman]

8gb a month is pretty huge.

You won't find many other networks that'll let you have that kind of limit.

WTF are you downloading?

[Aspman]

I like my Windows Phone Lumia 920 very much.

 

Very cheap too.

 

Put win8.1 on it and the app store is improving rapidly.

[john999boy]

I like my Windows Phone Lumia 920 very much.

Put win8.1 on it and the app store is improving rapidly.

 

What network are you on as EE still has 8.0?

[2SkodaFamily]

8gb a month is pretty huge.

You won't find many other networks that'll let you have that kind of limit.

WTF are you downloading?

Streaming Sky Sports and internet radio.

[gadgetman]

Vodafone will include skysports streaming or Spotify

[gullyg]

Streaming Sky Sports and internet radio.

 

 

T-Bombile has never complained about my usage which is usually 4 or 5 gb (really carpy ADSL at home) but has been up around 15/16gb a month if I'm away from home for work (refuse to pay for the internet in hotels if I can avoid it).  Officially tethering isn't supported as I'm on "Unlimited" data but they've never complained.

 

I know someone who is on 3  and uses "a lot" and again they don't get any complaints about their data usage on an "All you can eat" allowance.

 

I'd avoid Vodaphone, EE (rather than T-Mobile/Orange) and O2 though as their data limits are rather restrictive.

[GentleGiant]

I have been down the lenovo chinese phone road, never again. Be warned!! Updates few and far between and not much in the way of support. I bought an S4 off AV forums in the end and been happy with it ever since.

 

 

Which phone and how long ago?? The phone is advertised as running Android 4.4, so no real issues there, and I havent come across any complaints after a google search on the model number; this is the updated model with 2GB RAM and 8 core cpu.

 

Lenovo are reportedly looking to move into the international market soon, hence their phones being shipped multi-language these days; so hopefully they will be upping their support levels to the expected Western levels - we will see.

Edited 15 June, 2014 by GentleGiant

[JohnMcL7]

One point to bear in mind is that the S4 Mini/HTC One Mini are not smaller versions of the S4/HTC One - they share a name and passing resemblance but their internal hardware is quite different so they have cheaper, slower systems.  The Sony Z1 Compact however is different as it is a smaller version of the Z1 but keeps the fast processor and decent camera, the screen resolution is reduced but it's still high resolution for the smaller screen.  It's worth checking the phones in the flesh though as the screen size doesn't always correlate as closely to physical size as you'd think so some of the larger phones aren't as large as they may seem on paper.

 

John

[JohnMcL7]

You could always go out on a limb; I have just ordered my first smart phone, but not wanting to be tied in to any network, and not wanting to pay silly money either, I have ordered a Lenovo P780.

 

Lenovo are quite big in the PC world, they bought out IBM's PC business; but are almost unknown in the phone market; they dont even market their phones outside of China, although the few that have made it over here have had pretty good reviews.

 

The real kicker is the price; a brand new 8 core smart phone (2013 model), is costing me under £70 (+ 20% import duty if it gets picked up).

 

Which processor cores are they using for the 8 core version?

 

Edit - All eight seem to be Cortex A7's which seems an odd choice, the reason for the A7 was supposed to be a low performance, low power consumption part to be paired with high performance processors, high power consumption cores as Samsung do in their Octo-core platform.

 

John

[@Lee]

I've been following this as I'm due an upgrade soon. What are peoples thoughts on the Xperia SP?

[Coops]

I like my Windows Phone Lumia 920 very much.

 

Very cheap too.

 

Put win8.1 on it and the app store is improving rapidly.

 

Another vote for the Lumia and WP. I've gone from a 520 to a 625.

 

 

What network are you on as EE still has 8.0?

 

Only just released to manufacturing, phone providers will be releasing over coming months. However if you register as a developer (free), you can download the developer app which will then force the phone to download the latest version of 8.1.

Aspman has done his and I am doing mine when I get the chance, prob @ the weekend.

[Aspman]

[Edit] just noticed Coops has given you the answer

 

8.1 isn't out yet but if you have a look in the Win8 thread in the forum there are links there how to register as a developer and get it on your phone for free.

I'd suggest it's arguable if it's worth buying anything newer than the 920. It's a bit heavy but WP8 is very fast and I can't really see what would be so much better on a 930 to justify £20 a month more. I only pay £12 a month and £3 of that is the phone which I can pay off if I like.

 

I did mine through Tesco although the phone behaves as an O2. No references to Tesco on it. Free 4G too if available,

 

One of the best things about the Lumia is there are no junk apps. My previous Samsung came loaded with crap I couldn't remove. WinPh has none. All the preloaded stuff could be removed.

Edited 16 June, 2014 by Aspman

[Phil-E]

I'm on EE (T-mobile really).

 

I get unlimited data and I can even tether (not sure I'm supposed to be able to but have done for the pas 16 months without issue).

 

Coverage is good too.

 

I got my last phone from mobilephonesdirect.co.uk

 

They only offer a few phones but their prices are cracking and managed to get a very good deal on an Xperia Z for £26 per month when they first came out (I avoided any cashback offers though).

 

Would an Xperia Z2 or Galaxy S5 be too big then?

 

Phil

Edited 16 June, 2014 by Phil-E

[bubba]

I'm on EE (T-mobile really).

I get unlimited data and I can even tether (not sure I'm supposed to be able to but have done for the pas 16 months without issue).

Coverage is good too.

I got my last phone from mobilephonesdirect.co.uk

They only offer a few phones but their prices are cracking and managed to get a very good deal on an Xperia Z for £26 per month when they first came out (I avoided any cashback offers though).

Would an Xperia Z2 or Galaxy S5 be too big then?

Phil

they are both big phones, I've got an LG Nexus 5 and they are both bigger than that

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[jlwah]

Got to say I'm liking my Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. Seems to have the same build quality as an iPhone and all the performance you could ask for.

 

Got it free on O2 on 24 month contact for £24 /month for the first 12 months then it goes to £30 (I think).

[vrsRob]

I have just gone from Nokia Lumia 820 to 1020, brilliant phone and Windows 8.1 is very VERY user friendly and customisable! The camera is AWESOME and the UI very intuitive! 

[2SkodaFamily]

Call it prejudice, but I am struck dumb with terror at the words "Windows" and "Phone" in the same sentence..... especially as Windows 8 is such a load of carp.

[vrsRob]

Don't knock it 'till you've tried it...

 

My suggestion? Pop into a phone shop and ask to play with one of their demo phones, that way you get a good hands on experience.

 

Also worth remembering that if you upgrade online/over the phone, you have 7 days to change your mind due to distance selling regulations, you could choose a phone, try it for a week then keep it or swap it for something else!! 

[Coops]

I too had the same view when my company changed from BB to Windows Phones (Lumia) but as vrsrs has said the UI is great, and it actually works very very well on the phone, as opposed to the rubbish that it is on a PC.