At the moment I have a Samsung Tocco Lite which I find quite irritating so it's put me off touch screen phones.

I need to move to Vodafone and can't decide between the 3 phones - HTC Desire, Blackberry Curve 3G and the Samsung Galaxy S. The Vodafone deals aren't great but I can get any of those three phones for £20 month. I'm not a heavy user, just texting, bit of facebook, occasional email check but like the sound of apps and games.

What do you suggest? I really like the Blackberry but there aren't that many apps. Carphone Warehouse are doing £20 worth of free apps.

Also, does anyone know with Carphone Warehouse/Samsung package what the free 6 games and 3 movies are, or can you choose? You have to register your IMEI number to find out and I can't do it yet!

Thanks guys!

Yoou get a choice of games from gameloft and movies from samsung's store.

Galaxy S is the better of those handsets.

Thanks, that's very useful.

I would add the Nokia E5-00 to the list, I compared the features between that and the BB and it wins hands down.

Thank you. I'll have a look at that too.

If I may interject - don't let your poor experiences with a Tocco Lite cloud your judgement of todays touchscreen smartphones, as they are totally different beasts. The screen on the Tocco Lite is a resistive screen - meaning a hard press is needed for the most basic of functions, whereas the screens on phones nowadays are capacitive - far more responsive and lighter to the touch.

In answer to your question about the phones - I have a Galaxy S, and thoroughly recommend it, I've had a shot of the Desire which is terrific as well. I've never had experience of using a BB, so can't offer any help there.

Reginald

Thanks Reginald. It's not the screen itself I find irritating it's the continual tapping about 6 times before you actually get to the screen to type an SMS. Seems to go all round the houses! I've heard the Samsung PC software hasn't improved either. How do you get on with it?

Well the Galaxy S and the Desire are both touchscreen phones, so if you don't like touchscreens, why are you even considering those?

You can compose an SMS with one press with the Write & Go app, or go into Messages and do it with two. Seemless really.

Regarding the Kies software - in my experience - which I'll admit is limited, I've only attempted to use it twice in a week - it is spectacularly bad. Slow, clunky, and very bloated. I very rarely use the software supplied with mobiles, but the last one I used (SE's Media Go) was positively lightning compared to Kies. I'm not impressed with it in the slightest.

Reginald

Because I wanted to know if the touchscreens had improved and it appears they have. You no longer have to tap about 6 screens to be able to type a message.

Thanks Reginald. That's what I'd heard. I was only going to use it to back up my contacts before getting a blackberry, but if get another Samsung I could just copy them from sim to new phone I guess. I don't use the previous Samsung one, rubbish!

That's not "touchscreens" that cause that, that's a symptom of the operating system on the phone you had previously. Not every touchscreen phone is running the same operating system.

Thanks Grumpyoldbat. The Tocco Lite was awful so I wondered if it was a Samsung thing. Sounds as though they've improved though.

Even more confusingly Samsung produce touchscreen phones with several different operating systems. In the last 2-3 years Samsung have done phones using Java OS, Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian, Windows Phone, and even their own bada OS. Each of these operating systems will work a bit differently.

The Galaxy S is running Android and is a really popular phone. Their Windows Phone 7 device is also quite nice, but the operating system is still relatively new and isn't quite as mature as Android or BlackBerry right now, although updates are expected soon.

The Galaxy S should suit you well. I'd definitely suggest it over a BlackBerry. Whilst BB phones do some things really well (texting, email, BlackBerry messenger), they're not great for web browsing or games, and the cameras tend to be average at best (I've never seen a great quality photo taken by a BB).

Ordered a Samsung galaxy S the other day on the £20 per month free phone deal,should be here on Monday.

One of my mates has a Galaxy S. Lovely phone. It's what I'd go for if I wanted an Android phone.

I was seriously thinking of getting the Galaxy S but a few friends/family members put me off. The kies software has caused them no end of problems and I'm surprised there is no flash for the camera. Other than those two flaws it does seem like a decent phone though, and you get a radio too.

Those who have the Desire love it to bits, the only downside being the battery life but that seems to be the case for many phones these days sadly.

Thanks everyone. Yes it's the camera and browsing that put me off the BB although texting is great. I think I'm leaning towards the Galaxy S. Grumpyoldbat, thanks for the comments re the different operating systems. I hadn't realised Samsung used so many.

But on the other hand, I like the Desire as well

That's the one I'd go for because of the probs with kies and the lack of camera flash on Galaxy S.

I suppose it depends on what you want in a phone but for me those flaws put me off.

All phones seem to have flaws though so it's hard to choose!

I think I've decided on the Desire Does anyone know if I can copy my contacts from the Virgin Mobile sim directly to the Vodafone Desire (which should be unlocked via Carphone Warehouse). I think I can do this with the Galaxy. If not, do I have to download the clunky Samsung software and back up via pc first?

Galaxy S arrived this morning,cracking phone.Anyone know what the M icon on the top left hand corner of the screen means?

Youve got Mail

Took me a while to work out you can slide down the top of the screen.

after a month of ownership i'm still an awe of this phone.... just found out yesterday you can rearrange or remove excess home screens as you see fit, and you can rearrange whole pages of apps too.