What will it cost me to get a no-contract Apple iPhone?
gpk
Posts: 10,206 Forum Member
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I know I am going to get into hot water over this, because I bet this question has been asked in various threads on here, so apologies in advance.
My dilemma is probably not unique, but I am completely clueless on what to do. I have a contract with Virgin Mobile, which is actually a good deal for a sim only deal.
However, I want to ditch my Galaxy Ace in favour of an Iphone 6, preferably with the 128gb storage space for my music, since the Ipod Classic has been discontinued and the Ace is pretty terrible imo.
How much would one of these phones cost "unlocked" or could I buy one from any retailer and will it work with my Virgin SIM Card? Basically, is this "unlocked|" option just a waste of money and would a cheaper price point with another retailer be compatible with a Virgin mobile SIM?
Also, could there be any possibility of the Ipone being included in the "Black Friday" savings that hit online and shops tomorrow?:D
My dilemma is probably not unique, but I am completely clueless on what to do. I have a contract with Virgin Mobile, which is actually a good deal for a sim only deal.
However, I want to ditch my Galaxy Ace in favour of an Iphone 6, preferably with the 128gb storage space for my music, since the Ipod Classic has been discontinued and the Ace is pretty terrible imo.
How much would one of these phones cost "unlocked" or could I buy one from any retailer and will it work with my Virgin SIM Card? Basically, is this "unlocked|" option just a waste of money and would a cheaper price point with another retailer be compatible with a Virgin mobile SIM?
Also, could there be any possibility of the Ipone being included in the "Black Friday" savings that hit online and shops tomorrow?:D
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http://store.apple.com/uk/buy-iphone/iphone6
If you buy direct from Apple it will ship unlocked, then you can bang any sim you want in it. There maybe deals around if you want it via contract but even then usually Sim Only as you have now and buying outright is cheaper.
EDIT: I should add the customer service experience is the best there is, if you have a shop near you most problems they will sort in store. They might come across as a bit too happy and american......but given they support the product from creation to sale and after there aren't many mobile makers that offer such a proposition.
I say this as an Apple and Samsung user, dealing with Apple directly is often a pleasure compared to Samsung....(Though I like my android more)
Android has come a long way since then and I've seen 128gb SD memory cards that you could bung in an Android phone for less than £60 if you look around.
If you are concerned about price the iPhone will cost a hell of a lot more (especially with 128gb of memory).
I would be considering the following if price was an issue for a phone with 144gb of memory (16gb + 128gb) for well under £400:
LG G3 - SIM free for £299
128gb Micro SD memory card
Sorry if you have made your mind up on an iPhone, but just a thought.
The Ace was kind of crap when it was first released plus Its stuck on Gingerbread
Like you said a better value for money Android upgraded above is a good plan.
An iPhone 6 with 128Gb is an eye watering £700
A happy Virgin customer is also unheard off
It's Black Friday tomorrow and Apple are having a sale on iPhones.
They're very unlikely to discount the 6,or at least by very much, demand being as high as it is.
Savings on 5C/5S more likely.
They're giving Apple gift vouchers for all iPhone purchases apparently.
It is important that I have a fairly decent phone, due to work, but I really dont want to be parting with hundreds of pounds.
This did actually make me chuckle.:D I pay £15 a month and I have unlimited calls, internet and texts. Sure, the coverage is crap at times, but I think I am overall happy with the deal.:) I am a complete novice when it comes to smartphones, so any advice is very much appreciated. Thank you everyone for your input so far.;-)
Why not just grab a LG G3 for £299 and a 64gb or 128gb SD card and whack it in the phone.You can transfer your itunes library over to Android.
For what it's worth, i have the LG G3 and its a beast of a phone.
Have a look HERE
The best thing is that they'll either repair in store (for simple things) or give you a replacement immediately.
No having to "send it off" for several months until someone bothers to look at it and declaring it's out of warranty, claiming "water damage" like HTC did to me.
Google is somewhat better than that though, for the Nexuses they will apparently just do a swap via post rather than repair
Good point, but the SD Card would take my over my budget (£300).
However, I have found one one hundred pounds cheaper (in the link below) and I have typed in my email for them to notify me when stock is available.:)
http://www.handtec.co.uk/lg-g3-s-smartphone-white.html?gclid=CPbPlfjTncICFWf3wgodeikAmw
Thats the smaller G3. With that you would be better with the Moto G!
I think I will go for the Moto G. The phone aspect is important for work, but I am determined to get an Ipod Classic (refurbished), while I still can at a reasonable price, because my music is very important to me.:) The Moto G is going to be much better than the Galaxy Ace surely?
Most definitely.
Why not go for an iPhone and have the best of both worlds.
At £700 I cannot possibly justify such a cost. If I go for the Moto G and a refurbished Ipod Classic (with a 12 month warranty), I will pay £300.
I am really sorry for setting up this thread, because of course people are going to encourage me to buy an Iphone (given the thread title and opening post), but I just cannot get past the cost.:o I honestly thought I could pick up a Black Friday bargain, but its just not going to come anywhere near what I can afford.
I am genuinely sorry guys, if anyone feels posting in this threads has been a waste of time, but I am very grateful for every bodies contribution.:)
You don't have to pay £700 for an iPhone.
The one I want with 128gb storage is at least £700, closer to £800 from what I have seen.
I can vouch for the other comments about Apple stores too. Totally excellent.
My iPhone 5 developed a touch screen fault half way through a 24 month contract with EE. Took it to the Exeter Apple store.
The guy spent a short while trying to get it to work. I explained that I was a PC tech and knew my stuff and I'd tried everything including a full reset.
He just got his keys out, went to the end of the (rather lovely) pine support desk, opened a drawer and got out a brand new shrink wrapped 32GB iPhone 5.
He asked if I had a backup and I explained that I had backed up to iCloud and iTunes before I left home.
He filled out the paperwork, said "if only all customers were like you, my job would take a lot less time", gave me the new handset and off I went.
That's service.
Why not buy a Moto G 4G (2013) for £150, a SanDisk Ultra microSDHC 128 GB UHS-I Class 10 Memory Card 48 MB/s + SD Adapter (SDSDQUIN-128G-G4) for around £80 (make sure it's exactly that speed and model number, it's compatible: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2781443 ) and a Denon DA-10 portable DAC for £279. £1 for elastic bands to hold it against the phone!
You can then load your 128GB of music on to the micro SDXC card, and then subscribe to TIDAL for 16-bit/44.1kHz lossless streaming (and they have already tested 24-bit/96kHz with a rumoured launch of late 2015, although hopefully they will upgrade for 24-bit/192kHZ).
If you use the new EE 100GB/month trial SIM then there should be no concerns at first about data costs - your fixed cost will be £500 for the equipment (and far less if you forgo the DAC) and an ongoing cost of £20 p/m for the TIDAL subscription.
Alternatively, an iPhone 4S 64GB for £180, a VentureCraft Go-DAP Unit4.0 for £100 ($185 + delivery) would be even cheaper. Whilst it would only have half the storage and only offer 3G speeds, there are rumours that Apple will release a streaming service based on Beats Music in time for the Grammys next February, and may possibly be 24/96 or even 24/192.
The price will rise once they have it in stock. I have noticed more and more online retailers do this. When the item is out of sock they slash the price, when its in stock it goes back to the 'normal' price.
I saw this a couple of days ago, I was gutted. I paid just under £500 for mine when it came out around 6(?) months ago (although it came with the wireless charger). £300 for that phone is incredible value. Blows the iphone6 out of the water. The screen on this phone, especially when viewing 4K video is amazing. Nothing comes close.
I got mine fairly cheap a few months ago at £350.
Agreed about the screen though! I just managed to get youtube streaming at 1440p and its just stunning. Not one other phone i have seen comes remotely close to the clarity on this thing.
EDIT: It seems that both of these still require a Camera Connection Kit (for iPhones up to and including 4S), Lightning to USB cable (for iPhones post-4S) or USB OTG cable (for Android etc.)