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Best Windows Phone under £300


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Old 26-02-2011, 17:26
arm1
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Any recommendations?. I liked the HTC HD7 but its over budget
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Old 26-02-2011, 18:07
TheBigM
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With the exception of the Samsung Omnia 7 which is on Three, T-Mobile and Orange all the other windows phone options in the UK are network exclusives.

Which network are you on/do you want to be on? Price plan incl. minutes?

Do you want a hardware keyboard?

Contract/payg?

The cheapest option is probably the HTC Trophy free on a £25 pm plan from Vodafone which is £600 across two years. The cheapest and most appealing option for me was to buy the HTC HD7 on pay as you go for £390 and use it with giffgaff on a £10pm payg bundle giving me 250 mins, unltd texts and most importantly unlimited data. (Only Three and GiffGaff do truly unlimited data).
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Old 26-02-2011, 19:04
Vallhund
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The cheapest option is probably the HTC Trophy free on a £25 pm plan from Vodafone which is £600 across two years. The cheapest and most appealing option for me was to buy the HTC HD7 on pay as you go for £390 and use it with giffgaff on a £10pm payg bundle giving me 250 mins, unltd texts and most importantly unlimited data. (Only Three and GiffGaff do truly unlimited data).
How are you liking it?
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Old 26-02-2011, 19:25
Pencil
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Android is a much better mobile OS.

Android is more like Windows 7 than Windows Phone 7.

You will get bored with Windows Phone 7 very quickly.
The apps are very expensive.
No folders.
No widgets.
No multi-tasking.
No copy and paste.
Annoying animations you can't turn off.
Barely any customisation options.
Updates are few and far between.
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Old 26-02-2011, 19:29
Vallhund
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The OP wants a Windows Phone, if he wanted an Android or any other he would have asked for one.
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Old 26-02-2011, 19:38
Pencil
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Well, this is a forum, that's my two cents worth and I'm on topic.
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Old 26-02-2011, 19:49
scumble
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Android is a much better mobile OS.

Android is more like Windows 7 than Windows Phone 7.

You will get bored with Windows Phone 7 very quickly.
The apps are very expensive.
No folders.
No widgets.
No multi-tasking.
No copy and paste.
Annoying animations you can't turn off.
Barely any customisation options.
Updates are few and far between.
Points worth mentioning.
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Old 26-02-2011, 19:49
cavemanjames
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Android is a much better mobile OS.

Android is more like Windows 7 than Windows Phone 7.

You will get bored with Windows Phone 7 very quickly.*1
The apps are very expensive.
No folders.*2
No widgets.*3
No multi-tasking.*4
No copy and paste.*5
Annoying animations you can't turn off.*6
Barely any customisation options.
Updates are few and far between.*7

*1 What probably happened to you won't guarentee it'll happen to anyone else. I got my HD7 3 days after launch day and it's still not bored me yet.

*2 Probably nice to have. But not neccessary.

*3 Live tiles.

*4 Coming in an update

*5 Coming in an update

*6 Personal preference. At least they stay smooth and don't slow the phone down.

*7 There's been one update since release. The update process is absolute shite at the minute. They need to update WP7 quicker.

EDIT: Windows Phone 7 isn't trying to be a Desktop OS. It's trying to be a smartphone OS. It's just branding.
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Old 26-02-2011, 20:38
TheBigM
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How are you liking it?
Really loving it.

Initially there was enough to interest me as I explored the device. Then started looking to marketplace apps a bit through slight boredom. But, I realised, this is a phone for people who just want to get stuff done and put the phone away again. If you want a phone you can be constantly playing with, get Android. iPhone is in between by offering flexibility and polish.

I bought an Xbox recently too. Having Zune Pass across my PC, phone and Xbox (which is plugged up to the excellent Panny P42G20B) is my favourite feature. I can stop listening on one device and pick up where I left off on the next. Other features such as Smart DJ etc helping me explore music.

Recently had to work on a powerpoint as a team. The powerpoint (in the 2007, pptx format) displayed with perfect fidelity on my phone compared to my friend who had to use a third-party office solution on his iPhone. Looking forward to better skydrive support in office hub in the Mango update.

Xbox - there's no crossover games at present. But I like the quality of the games I've downloaded so far and having my gamerscore and achievements sync'd across xbox and phone. This area will develop a lot over the year.

Facebook integration in people hub is super, I like pinning artists, individual songs and favourite web pages to my start screen.

Partly wish I had a hardware keyboard but wouldn't want the extra thickness so settled for touch one and the WP7 one is good.

Long list menu is getting a bit tedious now. But all they need to do is add alphabetical jumping to help solve that one.

Android is a much better mobile OS.

Android is more like Windows 7 than Windows Phone 7.

A) You will get bored with Windows Phone 7 very quickly.
B) The apps are very expensive.
C) No folders.
D) No widgets.
E) No multi-tasking.
F) No copy and paste.
G) Annoying animations you can't turn off.
H) Barely any customisation options.
I) Updates are few and far between.
:yawn: The constantly repeated saying - there is no "better" just devices that more closely match personal preferences seems to be needed to be repeated again.

A) Good. Android is better if you want a phone to constantly be fiddling with. If you want a phone that let's you do stuff quickly and easily and then put it away again then WP7 is great. Get back to real life. If you do get bored however, there's plenty of great games to try out.

B) The marketplace is expanding all the time. It will probably be the third-biggest app store by year end. MS have changed policy on free apps very recently so start to expect a lot more of these. Also, it has to be said - I'd rather pay money for 5 great apps then have 20 low-quality free apps.

C) Don't need folders as much. iPhone and Android have an "app everything" model so need folder to organise apps. WP7 tries to use hubs to reduce need for apps and get you straight to your content, bypassing the app layer. Good example - dive straight into people's statuses - no need to go into facebook app first. Same with pictures - hit the pictures hub and see the photos straight away, not the photos apps.

D) No widgets - hello, Live Tiles?

E) No multi-tasking. This is incorrect. First-party apps (e.g. Zune player) already have multitasking so you can listen to music whilst doing other stuff. Third-party multitasking is coming this year in the Mango update. Besides, you really want to do ten things at once on a small screen and limited interface of a mobile device? Want to hit your battery life and slow things down through allocation processor time and RAM to hundred things at once? Or do one thing, smoothly, and then go on to the next.

F) Copy & paste. Should be here within two weeks.

G) Animations are blended in, I don't notice them, they don't bug me.

H) Yup. They want a consistent UI across all devices - you know what you're getting. It's targeted more at current featurephone users and more technophobe people who would otherwise be like "aah! what did I do? how do I change it back?". If you want extensive customisability - Android is the way forward (Symbian was customisable too).

I) Platform launched end of last year, the updates are coming. How long did HTC Hero owners have to wait to go from 1.6 to 2.1? Over a year?
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Old 26-02-2011, 23:48
arm1
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Thanks for the replies.

I will be using it on PAYG and needs to be unlocked.

For my budget I was set to get the HTC Desire - £260 from phones4u but having now seen/played with a Windows phone I really like the simplicity of it.
I've never owned android so i have nothing to compare but having read just about every andriod vs windows blog there is I think i fall more into the windows category.
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Old 28-02-2011, 13:10
neo_wales
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My lad has the HD7 and loves it, even I, a bit of a luddite with phones like it, very fast and very sleek in operation.

O2 are selling them for £370
http://top10.com/mobilephones/news/2...ract_379_payg/
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Old 28-02-2011, 16:15
TheBigM
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I think HTC HD7 will be the best payg option even though it is a bit more expensive. You can also get it unlocked using HTC database codes if O2 won't unlock it for you.

This is if you want to get a phone NOW. The next wave of phones is supposed to be released with mango update. Nokia is also expected to "aggressively reach lower price points" but you're really looking at 2012 phones then.

Go for the HTC HD7 I say and then change in say 18 months or so. Note the HD7 will work with any MVNO running on the O2 network (e.g. Tesco, Giffgaff, Lebara) without needing unlocking.
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