Cheap Huawei android phone for me from carphone warehouse (About £70 or £80 IIRC), plus 1-2-3 PAYG Sim from Three. Very pleased with it
Edit. I can't imagine ever going for a phone with contract. I don't make a lot of calls, and generally use it for the odd bit of web browsing. Even then, there is often free wifi available.
I'm a very 'light' phone user and the Giff Gaff PAYG more than suits my needs as I rarely make more than 30 minutes of calls a month and maybe a dozen or so texts. I tend to inherit phones off my children I'm using an S3 off my daughter now but in the draw are phones like a G300, S2, G1, HD7, and others I can't remember. When I get the daughter a new phone I'll inherit her Note 3 I suppose.
I just can't get worked up about phones to be honest even though I love technology.
Go on then, tell us what area of technology is worth getting worked up about these days.
Cheap Huawei android phone for me from carphone warehouse (About £70 or £80 IIRC), plus 1-2-3 PAYG Sim from Three. Very pleased with it
Edit. I can't imagine ever going for a phone with contract. I don't make a lot of calls, and generally use it for the odd bit of web browsing. Even then, there is often free wifi available.
you got two problems there, one is Huawei. i think mine was damaged from the start and no one wanted to know, vodafone said it was screen damage and that I would be charged as the only way it get broken is if I knocked it. something i did not do. Huawei just did not want to know either.
Carphone warehouse store managers are awful, I think CPW must train them to be a arse. i will never step in one of their stores again and if they combine with Currys, that will be another shop that will not get my custom, not that it got much anyway.
CPW service must have rubbed onto Talk Talk, must be a Dunstone special.
Go on then, tell us what area of technology is worth getting worked up about these days.
I don't really know what your 'into' in terms of technology so my answer may not be valid from your point of view. I enjoy ham radio and use vintage stuff through to the likes of Icom hand held and main base units (they cost considerably more than any telephone).
I started my 'technology' route with a home made crystal radio, then made a 'valve' radio, moved onto transistor sets and then solid state kit. I have fun with the little QRP rigs or two I own (low power output using morse code) for 'mobile' operation. I just like new technology.
I don't really know what your 'into' in terms of technology so my answer may not be valid from your point of view. I enjoy ham radio and use vintage stuff through to the likes of Icom hand held and main base units (they cost considerably more than any telephone).
I started my 'technology' route with a home made crystal radio, then made a 'valve' radio, moved onto transistor sets and then solid state kit. I have fun with the little QRP rigs or two I own (low power output using morse code) for 'mobile' operation. I just like new technology.
I get about 2 hours use out of my phone, so I'd say it's one of the most important things technology wise. I listen to stuff via bluetooth in the car, listen to stuff with headphones in my lunch break, use the navigation a lot, use apps when I'm waiting or stuck somewhere and just generally get good use out of it. So for me I would always plan to have a really nice phone I like a lot, and update every 1-2 years.
Yes. The only reason I've got any new phones in the last 10 years (with only one exception) was because they were given to me for free with a contract.
Same here.
I have an iPhone 5 that I would never have paid for outright. Obviously the cost of the phone is included in the monthly contract, but it seems more manageable and you don't feel it as such over 24 months.
Some tariffs will now set you back anything from £30-60 a month, so you bloody well should notice it!
If you'd bought your phone up front, and wanted to keep it for some considerable time, then you could get a SIM only deal for nearer £20 a month (possibly less, depending on what you wanted in terms of minutes/texts/data).
In a few cases, where there's a great promotion on, you can perhaps get a better overall deal on a contract. But likewise, there are many ways to get a great deal on a SIM-free phone, especially if you're willing to wait a bit. While a SIM free phone may come down in price after a month or two, networks rarely slash the price of line rental until the phone is very old or already superseded.
As you can tell, I'm not a big fan of long contracts and can't see how anyone could not notice that £30, 40 or 50 per month is quite a lot of money!
I've always bought phones on a contract because I've never had enough spare cash to justify paying out three or four hundred pounds at one time. I know I've paid more in the long run than if I'd been sim free, but that's been the only way I could have got a decent phone.
However, as good phones become ever more affordable (somebody kindly pointed out an LG G2 phone for £280 on Amazon), buying a phone outright becomes a real option. Granted that phone is a few months old, but prices will continue to come down and I can live with a phone that's a few months old - especially if I remember how quickly any phone gets outdated.
If the Android Silver project takes off and phones can be updated to the latest software a lot more easily, then I wouldn't be surprised if sim free becomes a lot more prevalent.
Some tariffs will now set you back anything from £30-60 a month, so you bloody well should notice it!
If you'd bought your phone up front, and wanted to keep it for some considerable time, then you could get a SIM only deal for nearer £20 a month (possibly less, depending on what you wanted in terms of minutes/texts/data).
In a few cases, where there's a great promotion on, you can perhaps get a better overall deal on a contract. But likewise, there are many ways to get a great deal on a SIM-free phone, especially if you're willing to wait a bit. While a SIM free phone may come down in price after a month or two, networks rarely slash the price of line rental until the phone is very old or already superseded.
As you can tell, I'm not a big fan of long contracts and can't see how anyone could not notice that £30, 40 or 50 per month is quite a lot of money!
jon is spot on. A £40 a month contract is £960 over 2 years. It isn't too hard to source a decent sim only deal and buy a phone for way less than this. Of course you may have to wait as jon says for the price to drop, but so what.
It is worthwhile looking on HotUKDeals for both contract and sim free phones. All of my phones (apart from the Nexus ones) since 2011 have come from there. Actually no one was a deal for a SGS3 I found and posted on the site.
Of course the worst deals are from the high street. But some people want to be badly advised and then pay through the nose for that advice. You see the poor buggers every time you have a look in a shop.
That is sad really, it is also sad that some people can't go out for a drink or a meal without looking at their phones every five mins.
People walking down the street while looking at what is on their phone and even riding bikes, almost as bad as driving while using a phone.
For once Noise, I am in total agreement with you. My family and friends know that if they are having a meal with us all phones are turned off. If we're watching a film on the home cinema all phones are turned off. If the family are playing a board game, Monopoly et al all phones are turned off. My daughter who's only 28 now does the same in her house.
Mobile phones are highly intrusive to you the individual and sometimes those around them.
you got two problems there, one is Huawei. i think mine was damaged from the start and no one wanted to know, vodafone said it was screen damage and that I would be charged as the only way it get broken is if I knocked it. something i did not do. Huawei just did not want to know either.
Carphone warehouse store managers are awful, I think CPW must train them to be a arse. i will never step in one of their stores again and if they combine with Currys, that will be another shop that will not get my custom, not that it got much anyway.
CPW service must have rubbed onto Talk Talk, must be a Dunstone special.
The Huawei was a reasonable spec for the money. I've not had any problem with it, so cannot comment on after sales performance of either Huawei or Carphone Warehouse.
I've always bought phones on a contract because I've never had enough spare cash to justify paying out three or four hundred pounds at one time. I know I've paid more in the long run than if I'd been sim free, but that's been the only way I could have got a decent phone.
However, as good phones become ever more affordable (somebody kindly pointed out an LG G2 phone for £280 on Amazon), buying a phone outright becomes a real option. Granted that phone is a few months old, but prices will continue to come down and I can live with a phone that's a few months old - especially if I remember how quickly any phone gets outdated.
If the Android Silver project takes off and phones can be updated to the latest software a lot more easily, then I wouldn't be surprised if sim free becomes a lot more prevalent.
I used to buy cheap PAYG phones, but then smart phones was not really smart phones. the first time I ever went for a contract was with BT and their broadband anywhere thing. It was a fiver a month and it got me 50 mins talk time, with 50 text or something like that. the phone was a HTC S710, with Windows Mobile 6.0. it was a load of rubbish really, but I suppose good for the time.
When I dropped BT after 18 months, I got myself a PAYG Vodafone 541 little touch screen phone and changed to a sim only vodafone contract, after 12 months i got myself a HTC wildfire on the a Vodafone contract. that was my first smart phone, sadly before the 2 year contract was up I got water in it and it played up, so I got myself Huawei ascend g300 and went the contract ended just over 12 months ago, i went back to sim only and got my Nexus 4
I saved up for the Nexus, I don't think i would go for a contract phone again, if I could not afford another branded phone i would have a look at a unbranded.
For once Noise, I am in total agreement with you. My family and friends know that if they are having a meal with us all phones are turned off. If we're watching a film on the home cinema all phones are turned off. If the family are playing a board game, Monopoly et al all phones are turned off. My daughter who's only 28 now does the same in her house.
Mobile phones are highly intrusive to you the individual and sometimes those around them.
i do keep my phone on, but on vibrate, just in case my Dad is taken ill, but I do tend to ignore text if I am out.
but i have said many times and I think even on here, i wish I never had a mobile in the first place.
What is sad is your constant whining about people who like technology.
We have all established you do not like tech, so why you constantly come into these threads to constantly complain about it, i don't know....
If you all have established that I don't like tech then you are all wrong.
If i did not like tech then why do I have a smart phone, a Ps3, ok it is old tech now, but not when i had it, what about my computer and my HD video camera, I also got myself a digital camera, when they was pretty pricey, but i don't like tech, so why would I get a digital camera, dreaded digital rubbish, analogue is much better. while it was at the time.
On digital i had as well, one of the first people to have digital terrestrial TV, but I don't like tech. Ereader, i got two of them, but i don't like tech.
A DVD recorder, which at the time was state of the art, but I don't like tech. I had a freeview PVR, when a lot of people would not even know what one was, but again I don't like tech. a HD PVR, again before most people had one, but I don't like tech
a nexus 7 tablet, I have got, sure I don't use it a lot, but I don't like tech, so maybe i should have left it in the shop.
Now we got that crap out of the way, I was not whining about tech or the people that like it, I just find it sad that some people these days can not make do without looking at their mobile phone every ten mins.
If i go out with a friend and her daughter comes with us as she sometimes do if we go to town, my friend is forever telling her daughter to put her phone away as she thinks it is rude. People who walk down the street texting and not looking where they are going, and I noticed even cyclist are doing it. I also hate it when people are on their mobile phones as they are waiting be to be served.
I've never had a contract phone but the phones that i've bought have been kept until they don't do what i want them to anymore.
The worst thing i did was letting my current phone upgrade to Kitkat as it killed Flash.
I haven't found the browser 'flash' options very successful.
I got Dolphin on my Nexus 4 and I must admit i was a bit worried about updating to Kit kat, but i have had no problem with flash sites.
My Nexus 4 will stay with me until it don't work any more, i have no interest in updating it unless i have to.
I did have a quick look at the Nexus 5, but it offers very little compared to what I have got on the 4 and it was a bit of temptation for about five mins.
Best move I ever did was getting off my £38pm contract to a Nexus 5 + 15pm One plan.
Never going on contract again, I plan to keep this til when the 64bit Android phones arrive (A year from now). This will mean the phone lasted 18 months.
Or 31£ p/m if the maths is done, still cheaper and I can do what I want.
Comments
Edit. I can't imagine ever going for a phone with contract. I don't make a lot of calls, and generally use it for the odd bit of web browsing. Even then, there is often free wifi available.
Go on then, tell us what area of technology is worth getting worked up about these days.
you got two problems there, one is Huawei. i think mine was damaged from the start and no one wanted to know, vodafone said it was screen damage and that I would be charged as the only way it get broken is if I knocked it. something i did not do. Huawei just did not want to know either.
Carphone warehouse store managers are awful, I think CPW must train them to be a arse. i will never step in one of their stores again and if they combine with Currys, that will be another shop that will not get my custom, not that it got much anyway.
CPW service must have rubbed onto Talk Talk, must be a Dunstone special.
Electric cars, ok electric motor racing. should be very interesting, not sure if it is worth getting worked up for mind you.
I don't really know what your 'into' in terms of technology so my answer may not be valid from your point of view. I enjoy ham radio and use vintage stuff through to the likes of Icom hand held and main base units (they cost considerably more than any telephone).
I started my 'technology' route with a home made crystal radio, then made a 'valve' radio, moved onto transistor sets and then solid state kit. I have fun with the little QRP rigs or two I own (low power output using morse code) for 'mobile' operation. I just like new technology.
What do you get worked up about?
Fair enough. For me it is phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones, phones,
And phones.
That is sad really, it is also sad that some people can't go out for a drink or a meal without looking at their phones every five mins.
People walking down the street while looking at what is on their phone and even riding bikes, almost as bad as driving while using a phone.
Same here.
I have an iPhone 5 that I would never have paid for outright. Obviously the cost of the phone is included in the monthly contract, but it seems more manageable and you don't feel it as such over 24 months.
If you'd bought your phone up front, and wanted to keep it for some considerable time, then you could get a SIM only deal for nearer £20 a month (possibly less, depending on what you wanted in terms of minutes/texts/data).
In a few cases, where there's a great promotion on, you can perhaps get a better overall deal on a contract. But likewise, there are many ways to get a great deal on a SIM-free phone, especially if you're willing to wait a bit. While a SIM free phone may come down in price after a month or two, networks rarely slash the price of line rental until the phone is very old or already superseded.
As you can tell, I'm not a big fan of long contracts and can't see how anyone could not notice that £30, 40 or 50 per month is quite a lot of money!
Sad? And that from a amateur radio enthusiast.
However, as good phones become ever more affordable (somebody kindly pointed out an LG G2 phone for £280 on Amazon), buying a phone outright becomes a real option. Granted that phone is a few months old, but prices will continue to come down and I can live with a phone that's a few months old - especially if I remember how quickly any phone gets outdated.
If the Android Silver project takes off and phones can be updated to the latest software a lot more easily, then I wouldn't be surprised if sim free becomes a lot more prevalent.
jon is spot on. A £40 a month contract is £960 over 2 years. It isn't too hard to source a decent sim only deal and buy a phone for way less than this. Of course you may have to wait as jon says for the price to drop, but so what.
It is worthwhile looking on HotUKDeals for both contract and sim free phones. All of my phones (apart from the Nexus ones) since 2011 have come from there. Actually no one was a deal for a SGS3 I found and posted on the site.
Of course the worst deals are from the high street. But some people want to be badly advised and then pay through the nose for that advice. You see the poor buggers every time you have a look in a shop.
For once Noise, I am in total agreement with you. My family and friends know that if they are having a meal with us all phones are turned off. If we're watching a film on the home cinema all phones are turned off. If the family are playing a board game, Monopoly et al all phones are turned off. My daughter who's only 28 now does the same in her house.
Mobile phones are highly intrusive to you the individual and sometimes those around them.
How long before this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNyTqIsrk0w
becomes reality
What is sad is your constant whining about people who like technology.
We have all established you do not like tech, so why you constantly come into these threads to constantly complain about it, i don't know....
The worst thing i did was letting my current phone upgrade to Kitkat as it killed Flash.
I haven't found the browser 'flash' options very successful.
The Huawei was a reasonable spec for the money. I've not had any problem with it, so cannot comment on after sales performance of either Huawei or Carphone Warehouse.
I've been very pleased.
Sad that you just think about phones. what have being a Amateur radio enthusiast got anything to do with it? i presume you mean Neo and not me.
I used to buy cheap PAYG phones, but then smart phones was not really smart phones. the first time I ever went for a contract was with BT and their broadband anywhere thing. It was a fiver a month and it got me 50 mins talk time, with 50 text or something like that. the phone was a HTC S710, with Windows Mobile 6.0. it was a load of rubbish really, but I suppose good for the time.
When I dropped BT after 18 months, I got myself a PAYG Vodafone 541 little touch screen phone and changed to a sim only vodafone contract, after 12 months i got myself a HTC wildfire on the a Vodafone contract. that was my first smart phone, sadly before the 2 year contract was up I got water in it and it played up, so I got myself Huawei ascend g300 and went the contract ended just over 12 months ago, i went back to sim only and got my Nexus 4
I saved up for the Nexus, I don't think i would go for a contract phone again, if I could not afford another branded phone i would have a look at a unbranded.
i do keep my phone on, but on vibrate, just in case my Dad is taken ill, but I do tend to ignore text if I am out.
but i have said many times and I think even on here, i wish I never had a mobile in the first place.
If you all have established that I don't like tech then you are all wrong.
If i did not like tech then why do I have a smart phone, a Ps3, ok it is old tech now, but not when i had it, what about my computer and my HD video camera, I also got myself a digital camera, when they was pretty pricey, but i don't like tech, so why would I get a digital camera, dreaded digital rubbish, analogue is much better. while it was at the time.
On digital i had as well, one of the first people to have digital terrestrial TV, but I don't like tech. Ereader, i got two of them, but i don't like tech.
A DVD recorder, which at the time was state of the art, but I don't like tech. I had a freeview PVR, when a lot of people would not even know what one was, but again I don't like tech. a HD PVR, again before most people had one, but I don't like tech
a nexus 7 tablet, I have got, sure I don't use it a lot, but I don't like tech, so maybe i should have left it in the shop.
Now we got that crap out of the way, I was not whining about tech or the people that like it, I just find it sad that some people these days can not make do without looking at their mobile phone every ten mins.
If i go out with a friend and her daughter comes with us as she sometimes do if we go to town, my friend is forever telling her daughter to put her phone away as she thinks it is rude. People who walk down the street texting and not looking where they are going, and I noticed even cyclist are doing it. I also hate it when people are on their mobile phones as they are waiting be to be served.
I got Dolphin on my Nexus 4 and I must admit i was a bit worried about updating to Kit kat, but i have had no problem with flash sites.
My Nexus 4 will stay with me until it don't work any more, i have no interest in updating it unless i have to.
I did have a quick look at the Nexus 5, but it offers very little compared to what I have got on the 4 and it was a bit of temptation for about five mins.
Never going on contract again, I plan to keep this til when the 64bit Android phones arrive (A year from now). This will mean the phone lasted 18 months.
Or 31£ p/m if the maths is done, still cheaper and I can do what I want.
Noise is not a radio ham, I am