Help choosing a new phone

Status
Not open for further replies.

admin

Retired Administrator
I am still having a great deal of trouble purchasing a new phone, there is about a billion out there I don't know which one!! :D

I want a pay as you go, preferably flip phone and an absolute limit of £100 to spend on it!

What are people's opinions on these - they are sort of my short list but new suggestions are welcome.

Siemens SF65 O2 - £89.99
Panasonic X400 Vodafone £69.99
Sony Eric K300i Orange £49.99
Sony Eric K500i Virgin £99.99
Samsung X640 Vodafone £79.99

I am also looking for a digital camera, the best one I've found it the Fuji Finepix E550 6.3mega pixels, 4x optical zoom for £159.00
 

arach

New member
I'm pretty happy with my Sony Ericsson T630. It's more solid than my old Siemens, it's pretty user-friendly and it's battery lasts long. I would recommend you a Sony-Ericsson.
Don't buy a Siemens. ;)
 

admin

Retired Administrator
That phone looks very nice, I will certainly add it to my list of possibilities, and its in my price range too! Sony Eric T630 O2 89.95
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I am really wondering....why do you ask us? I mean, a bunch of teenagers and 20-somethings who've used a phone or two and who will probably give you a biased review about it? Why not begin at a site like PC Magazine's Top 10 Phone Buying Tips: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1651343,00.asp and then proceed to read PC Mag and CNET reviews? This is just me, but I think that may make more sense.
 

Dewey

Minimalistic
Was going to give a whole list of reasons; but I decided against it - didn't want to sound like a big rant. :)
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Is that why you won't write your analysis? Because you're afraid it will sound like a big rant? I like reading big rants.
 

Jimmy Junior

New member
@admin

I notice you have handsets from a variety of networks in your shortlist - it's essential to choose a network with decent coverage in your area, because obviously there's no point buying a phone which you can't use. Generally Vodafone has the best coverage, followed by O2 - this is because they run on half the frequency of Orange and T-Mobile (plus Virgin Mobile and Fresh which use the T-Mobile cellsites) which travels through walls more easily.
While the new H3 network offers cheap calls and video phones, the cheap handsets are unreliable and emit large amounts of radiation, the customer service is appalling and because it uses 2100MHZ (twice Orange's frequency) you nearly always need to go outside to make a call.

From the list you've given (provided the O2 signal is OK where you are) I would go for the Siemens SF65 - people slag off Siemens phones because they feel 'plasticky', but they generally have a much higher specification than similarly-priced phones (the SF65 is a flip-phone with a 1.3MP camera for under 100 quid!) and all their phones come with a 2 year manufacturer's warranty.

As a general rule I would go for a Siemens (great value for money), Samsung (trendy and reliable) or Nokia (expensive but user-friendly and easy to get repaired due to their popularity)

If you're spending more than about £25 a month on PAYG you should seriously consider pay monthly phone (contract) - the inclusive minutes work out much cheaper than PAYG and you get a better handset, usually free.

Personally I think flip phones are over-hyped and I can't understand why kids love them so much, but I think one of the best ones around is the samsung P510 (O2), which has a 0.3MP camera and motorised flip (massive 'pose factor'). It's also been around for a while so the price has already reduced significantly, and the fact that it's still on the market is an assurance that it's fairly reliable.
That said, for a more accurate recommendation I'd need more details about how you use your phone - let me know if you're interested.
 

Dewey

Minimalistic
Jimmy Junior said:
If you're spending more than about £25 a month on PAYG you should seriously consider pay monthly phone (contract) - the inclusive minutes work out much cheaper than PAYG and you get a better handset, usually free.
Thats exactly why I have a contract instead of PAYG. Also, I don't think you can make international calls with some PAYG operators.

Something i don't understand though is what happens to your inclusive minutes when you don't use the full amount one month. Why can they never carry over to the following month. I mean, i have 120 mins each month. Sometimes, i may only use around 100 minutes. Another month, i might go over the allocation and use, say 140 mins; and end up paying extra for doing so. I'm sure cell phone companies must make a fortune from this.

More of my rants about cell phone companies coming soon..:)
 

Dewey

Minimalistic
I personally recommend Orange for a reason other than phone calls. They have their "Orange Film Wednesday" promotion whereby with your Orange phone you can text the word "film" to 241 and your participating cinema will give you two tickets for the price of one, should you go on a Wednesday.

Another way to see it is that you and your friend can see a movie each week at half price. If you attend the cinema as often as i do [I'm already on first name terms with the lady behind the desk], this is a very good promotion indeed! :)
 

Jimmy Junior

New member
yardgames said:
Lol what are you, some kind of phone reviewer?
LOL! No, I just worked at the Carphone Warehouse (independent phone shop) for a while. Their slogan used to be "simple, impartial, advice".
 

Jimmy Junior

New member
@ Dewey

Orange offer plenty of other incentives other than 'Orange Wednesdays', for example, if your call gets dropped, call up Orange and they'll refund the entire cost of the call to you.
You get however many minutes you've got doubled up to use in the evenings to other Orange phones and landlines for the life of the contract.
Orange will match any deal that the major networks are doing, so for example you can get O2 100 (100 x-net mins and 100 texts), but on Orange.

With their PAYG phones they give you 2 free calls when your credit has run out, and your number is generated by them when you register, so if you lose your phone or you upgrade, you can keep your old number.
There are a few more, but I can't remember them all right now.


If you're on Orange's 'Your Plan 120' (120 mins x-net per month) then your minutes should roll over for 1 month - for example, if you used 80 of your 120 minutes, then the next month you would get 160. If in the next month you only used 10 of those 160 minutes, only 120 minutes would roll over, so instead of getting 270 minutes you'd only get 240 the next month - the standard 120 plus whatever was left over from the previous month's inclusive minutes (in this case the full 120).
It's easier to understand than to portray in writing!
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
admin said:
I am also looking for a digital camera, the best one I've found it the Fuji Finepix E550 6.3mega pixels, 4x optical zoom for £159.00
I'd advise againt it, i have a a few digital camera's in my time and done lots of research on them, and it comes down to what you want out of the camera?

are you interetsed in taking really hight quality pictures for huge print/pro phtographs?, i mean, it seems you have just MP counted its got 6 so its good,

the camera is that small, so if you after something you can carry aroudn easily then its not the ones, as xD pictures cards are bad limited to only 512Mb and expensive. persoanlly id got with camera's with SD cards or secondsly CF cards. i can advise more if you expalin wat u want the camera 4.......

I have this camera, it 5MP way enought 4 a4 prints, cost about £225 (less now) and really tiny. http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/optios5i.html

i'd check out camera's on steve's digicam review he does the best user eviews about :D
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I agree that not everything is perfect about the E550, but I just bought one, and overall it's a good compact camera. I did extensive research, and perhaps the E550's best feature is that it has an interpolated mode that artificially increases the resolution to 12 MP. It takes in RAW and JPEG format, although I do dislike it uses xD cards. But the batteries last awhile, it's small, compact, and powerful, and prints it produced on my vacation in Yosemite were absolutely breathtaking!
 

admin

Retired Administrator
The camera seem to get great reviews on amazon, as regards the 6MP and the great value (159.00) it is alot cheaper than many of its lower resolution counterparts. As yg says its not perfect but I think it might be what I am after..

High resolution
Good quality pics
Good optical zoom capabilities
A few extra features, movies etc.
Reasonably sized viewing screen
Good Value

My range with the camera is probably about 180£ max, as someone is going to buy it for my next birthday... I am always open to suggestions though :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top