Nokia used to be the gold standard for mobiles. These days they make tat. Our work phones are Lumia. When I get it call from one of the Lumias, it sounds like the caller is on a WW2 Lancaster radio.

 

My work phone is a Nokia E5, which was 5 years out of date when it was new.

Nokia used to be the gold standard for mobiles. These days they make tat. Our work phones are Lumia. When I get it call from one of the Lumias, it sounds like the caller is on a WW2 Lancaster radio.

 

My work phone is a Nokia E5, which was 5 years out of date when it was new.

 

Interesting, my mrs changed from a Galaxy S2 to a Lumia 520 and I instantly noticed a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) improvement in call quality!! 

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.

 

You've got to give it a bit of time to adjust to the change but winpho 8 is a very good OS it works much better on the phone than on a desktop. Win8 is actually very good under the hood, it's just got a crap interface on top.

 

I have a friend who works securing government networks and we had a conversation recently where were realised we'd come to point where we now trusted Microsoft with our data more than any other tech company. It was a strange feeling to realise the old blame hound is now better than the Apples and Googles that have risen up. MS has actually got the privacy thing. Not 100% but much more than the others.

 

I find the phone quality on my Lumia to be the best since, well my last Nokia. I think the 920 has some background noise cancelling tech in it.

Edited 16 June, 201412 yr by Aspman

Nokia used to be the gold standard for mobiles. These days they make tat. Our work phones are Lumia. When I get it call from one of the Lumias, it sounds like the caller is on a WW2 Lancaster radio.

 

My work phone is a Nokia E5, which was 5 years out of date when it was new.

 

Hmm. I used to get a terrible echo on BB to BB calls and even BB to other makes too. Needless to say, there is no echo on the Lumia and in fact I think the call quality is improved over the BB.

 

Still getting used to the keyboard on the touch screen, after the physical keyboard on the BB.

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!! 

 

The law has recently changed and IIRC you should now get 14 days.

I've had a look at the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8. Both are too big.

The nexus 5 is the same screen size but smaller overall.

Otherwise you'll be looking for a 4.5" handset

What do you need it to do beyond calls and texts? - Camera, mapping, social networking, games

 

What apps do you want to use?

 

A bit like computers any mid-level phone is hugely powerful now. the top end stuff is for vanity. So you really need to pay out £45 a month  for an uber phone or would you be better with a more modest phone and a better contract?

 

In all honesty you might be best off with a Moto G and a good data contract.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2351804/moto-g-with-4g-and-microsd-card-slot-now-available-in-the-uk

 

^ £150 sim free and get yourself a good sim only contract.

Edited 25 June, 201412 yr by Aspman

I know it sounds daft coming from someone who drives a Skoda but there are some brands I can't stand. Motorola is one of them. I just can't get their tacky rubbish from the 90s out of my head.

 

I do a lot of social media, email, internet and (less often) games on my phone. However my paranoia about slow phones comes from the ones my kids have (Galaxy Ace and a HTC Desire One I think) which are so SLOW as to get me doing . I think I'd end up chucking it through a window. However, my daughter in particular never deletes anything from her phone and complains to me that it is slow when there are 6000 text messages on it!

 

If a Galaxy S4 mini is reasonable then I'd be happy with that. My S3 seems slow now after two years, even though I did a full reset on it a month or so ago.

Might be worth getting over that old impression the Moto G is cracking value. I'm not keen on Samsung personally because I think they come loaded with a  lot of rubbish you can't remove.

If I hadn't gone the Lumia route I'd probably have got a Nexus 5.

 

But I think anything that comes in around £150 sim free will probably hit the mark for you. Should be a world away from the Galaxy Ace budget phones.

You're right about the carp that comes with Samsung. Is that not the same with all of the manufacturers though? HTC loaded a lot of guff on my old Desire I couldn't get rid of.

had my Xperia M2 for a week now; not too shabby, FB is smooth, browsing is smooth, camera 8MP and full HD video recording, 4G so mobile browsing is pretty quick.

Useless pre-installed apps from Amazon which I can't remove, (I only ever used Amazon once in my life), can seem a bit too big in the hand and seems to be quite slow charging.

Free phone on £22.99/month with 2Gb data (plenty for me), unlimited calls and texts on EE.

 

http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/products/phones/xperia-m2/?utm_source=marketing-url&utm_medium=/gb/products/phones/xperia-m2/&utm_campaign=www.sonymobile.com/xperia-m2

had my Xperia M2 for a week now; not too shabby, FB is smooth, browsing is smooth, camera 8MP and full HD video recording, 4G so mobile browsing is pretty quick.

Useless pre-installed apps from Amazon which I can't remove, (I only ever used Amazon once in my life), can seem a bit too big in the hand and seems to be quite slow charging.

Free phone on £22.99/month with 2Gb data (plenty for me), unlimited calls and texts on EE.

thanks, will bear it in mind.

You're right about the carp that comes with Samsung. Is that not the same with all of the manufacturers though? HTC loaded a lot of guff on my old Desire I couldn't get rid of.

 

I'm sounding like a Winph8 evangelist now but my Lumia came with nothing I couldn't remove.

Just to join on, had the Iphone 5 for a while but swapped to the nokia 1020 wouldn't go back, am even looking at a Windows Tablet now

Iphone 6 when it comes out

Just to join on, had the Iphone 5 for a while but swapped to the nokia 1020 wouldn't go back, am even looking at a Windows Tablet now

 

[hijack] Got a Dell 11" tab in font of me now. Better value than the Surface stuff but quite heavy and expensive compared to an android tab. More of a work tablet / super-netbook when you add the keyboard with the big battery. I wouldn't want to work on it all the time but I hate chiclet keyboards anyway.

Edited 25 June, 201412 yr by Aspman

Trying to stay on topic, went and had a look at the surface, I have a Nexus 7 at the moment I just want something with a bigger screen, I quite like the new Sony Android Tab as well,

I've requested an upgrade of my work E5 to a Lumia 630. That should at least give me a decent opportunity to try out Windows.

Trying to stay on topic, went and had a look at the surface, I have a Nexus 7 at the moment I just want something with a bigger screen, I quite like the new Sony Android Tab as well,

Galaxy S tab is due soon, Nexus 9 later this year, or there's the Asus memo pad in various sizes (nexus 7/8"/10" with sd slot) if you wanted to stay android

quite liking the surface tablet, and only 259 in currys at the moment,

quite liking the surface tablet, and only 259 in currys at the moment,

 

That's an RT which I wouldn't recommend. RT is a cut down version of Win8 and only runs software from their app store. You can't install anything you've already got. More of a big phone that doesn't phone. If you like the surface better to spend another £100 and get the full fat version.

 

IMHO the MS hardware is overpriced.

Martin, take a look here:

http://www.s21.com/mobile-phones.htm

IMO one of the best phones out now is this:

http://www.s21.com/motorola-moto-g.htm

And they've just released the Moto 4g a few days ago, unbeatable for the price...

http://www.trustedreviews.com/motorola-moto-g_Mobile-Phone_review

Ahh I see, I will hold fire then, am going to wait I think, am in the US next month anyway see if I can pick up something cheaper there anyway,

 

 

That's an RT which I wouldn't recommend. RT is a cut down version of Win8 and only runs software from their app store. You can't install anything you've already got. More of a big phone that doesn't phone. If you like the surface better to spend another £100 and get the full fat version.

 

IMHO the MS hardware is overpriced.

 

I went from a Samsung S3 to a Nexus 5 and couldn't be happier. The S3 was getting slow as you also noticed, but the Nexus flies along and isn't much bigger in size.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk