I want to get a new phone. But i'm thinking of getting a contract for about £20/pm or 30/pm.

This will be my first mobile contract. How strict are the credit checks?

I'm looking at the following phones

HTC Desire
HTC Wildfire
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
Samsung Wave
Samsung Galaxy S
Blackberry 8520 and 9700

The Tesco Mobile 12 month £20/pm coontract
iphone 4 16GB is £349
250 Minutes
Unlimited Texts
1GB Data

I've looked at the following networks:

o2, T-Mobile and Orange

I mainly text, so wouldn't need a lot of minutes.

Thanks in advance.

All the phones you mention would require a data package to make the most of them so make sure you have one included in the contract.

o2 and Orange no longer offer 1GB of allowance but its around 500-750MB instead. Not sure on your needs but this may not be enough.

Although to be fair, 1GB is a pretty high amount to get to.

As for the credit checks, I dont think they are too strict at all. I got my first contract under my own name when I was at uni so had my occupation as student. That was for a £30 a month contract.

If you are not too fussed about which phone, you can look here: http://mymobiledeal.com/
They have deals which come and go all the time.