Looking for a pay and go Android phone for under £300, looking to upgrade from my iPhone 3G to something with more power and freedom to customize. What's the best phone for this price range?

It needs to have the latest Android software updates available - I don't want to get left behind

Play is selling the HTC Google Nexus 1 for £299, which as a Google handset should stay up to date.

The HTC Desire is also on there for £329. HTC has also just confirmed that the Desire will get the Android 2.3.

You may find better prices elsewhere.

HTC Desire in Phones4U (I know, I know!) but at a price of £279.99 unlocked and unbranded... you can't go wrong!

I got a Galaxy S for £337 in o2 retail.

^^

This

Quoted for truth..

I'm looking around at phones myself and have found reevoo.com a pretty useful site, as well as searching Youtube for review videos. I'm 95% sure I'm going to get a Samsung Galaxy S based on reviews.

Go for the desire as mentioned above, similar to the nexus one yet has HD video!

Motorola Defy.

Very good phone, but if there is ever any issues with apps or software, the Samsung phones seem to get an overly large amount of attention/warnings/workarounds. I think there is also issues with slow OS updates - but I might be wrong.

Yeah I'm now torn between that and the Desire HD, but O2 don't do that one, damn them - only the original.

Amazon currently have the Desire HD for £348..might be worth stretching your budget out

Showing as £399

Must have changed - fairly sure I sorted the phones in price order and the Nexus was above (cheaper) than the Desire,

Where is the unlocked version? all I see is network locked phones.

I think the HD suffers from less than stellar battery life... relatively speaking.

If you do want to get it, get it from CPW. I am on o2 and always upgrade via CPW as you get unbranded phones, This means you don't have to wait for o2 to monkey with OS updates prior to releasing them to your phone.

Galaxy S is a good phone, Excellent battery life compared to both Desire and HD, its let down by Kies and I never could get GPS working correctly, does have a 2 year warranty though

The handsets from Phones4U are unlocked, no matter what network you buy it on.

With the new batch of phones coming out next two months, it might be best to monitor the price over the next month as most likely the current crop of £400 1GHz phones will get reduced to shift stocks.

Good advice.
I was going to wait and get the Desire but I quite like the look of the new Wilddfire S which has solved its poor screen issue.
The smaller size and better battery life of the Wildfire S over the Desire is what appeals to me.

another vote for the Desire here...

Well let's face it, with Android there's ALWAYS going to be something new coming out! Eventually, you have to bite the bullet and buy one. I'm waiting for things to slow down a little before replacing my Hero because I want to make sure whatever I get will be able to upgrade to the newest version of Android at that time.