Hello experts!

You've probably been asked similar questions before, but this one is quite specific.

I'm looking to buy a new phone. I'd like a smart phone on T-Mobile. They are currently offering the following phones, each with 6 months free internet:

-LG Optimus Me £109: https://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-...timus-me-payg/

-Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 £109: https://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-...peria-x8-payg/

-BlackBerry Curve 8520 £129: https://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-...rve-8520-payg/

-HTC Wildfire £149: https://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-...wildfire-payg/

Which one would you recommend? Or would you recommend something else? I really cannot afford anything more than £150.

My requirements are quite basic: internet access (T-mobile offer the first 6 months free, and then a 6 month booster for £20. Is that good?), Facebook access, apps, emails, etc. I'm not fussed by gaming or anything fancy.

I would like to stay with t-Mobile, but if there are other decent offers about........?

I'm favouring the BB at the moment, but the HTC Wildfire comes with good reviews.

Be aware that the BB is not a 3G phone although it does have WiFi. It's actually quite an old model at the end of it's retail life.

A-ha.

Do these smartphones have free updates for their OS? I'd be looking at keeping the phone for a couple of years.....

Unless you absolutely need BBM (Blackberry Messenger), avoid the Blackberry like the plague. The 8520 is hideously slow, complicated and has a rubbish screen.
The Wildfire is pretty good, but it's worth the extra 40 quid for the Wildfire S, much better screen res and faster processor.

I'd have to agree with Bagsbunny even though I'm speaking as a Bold 9780 owner. Unless you need BBM, don't bother with a BB even though I wouldn't swap mine for any other phone currently available

The 8250 has BB5 and it's painful compared to BB6 or BB7.

Don't buy the old HTC Wildfire the screen was a mistake and very poor. HTC replaced it with the HTC Wildfire S

After much deliberation over what to do when my contract with Orange was up, I decided to buy a relatively inexpensive PAYG smartphone (I killed my iPhone at the start of last month) and go down to a £10/month 30-day rolling contract (from £30/month), to basically wait and see what the next 6 months or so bring in terms of new phones.

Anyway, I opted for the Orange San Francisco for £109 from Argos. But don't let the name fool you: it's incredibly easy to debrand and unlock it to any network. And once that's done (i.e. all the Orange bloatware is consigned to the virtual dustbin), it's a really good, fast phone for the money.

So if you're prepared to give up 30mins-hour (tops) to go through the debranding process and Gingerbread installation, I'd highly recommend it.

Another vote for the Wildfire S if you can stretch to it.
More internal memory, slimmer, better talktime, better camera than the X8

HTC Wildfire is even cheaper now:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/silv...s-co-uk/945883

Thanks for the tips and advice!

The HTC is a good looking bit of kit. I may be able to stretch to the Wildfire S.....

I can recommend the Orange San Francisco as well as a great cheap phone. Free to unlock and easy to modify if you want (there is a step by step guide at MoDaCo.com) I have seen it for £80, bargain.

However if you are considering the HTC Wildfire S then stop. This costs £180. For that money you can get a Huawei U8800 / Ideos X5. It has a bigger screen (3.8" compared to 3.2", with higher resolution 480x800 compared to 320 x 400 and a faster better processor). It can be got SIM free and unlocked from CPW or here:

http://www.superetrader.co.uk/huawei...e-p-13818.html

It is running android 2.2 with an upgrade soon to 2.3 and is a MUCH better phone than any of the other options here and would be ideal to keep for two years,

That Huawei X5 looks good spec-wise and compares with higher end Androids but some reviews are less than favourable:

http://www.knowyourmobile.com/smartp...x5_review.html

Huawei are a big company in China and are recently moving into our markets. Lesser known in the Android market too, so you may be taking more of a gamble with them!?

I have an original Wildfire and I really cannot see any problem with the screen quality.

Phones4U do unlocked ones at well under £150. I paid £129 for mine but prices do vary.

I should add that the camera does excellent quality photos too.

Whilst I would tend to suggest most people avoid BB unless they have a specific requirement, I've been using an 8520 for works mail for a few months, and its a pretty good bit of kit.

Its never been slow, the menus are ridiculously easy to use, and the screen is bright and vibrant. And its running BB 4.6, not even on v5.

If you find a BB 8520 complicated, do you have problems with basic tasks like blinking or breathing?

I know you said payg, but take a look at the Samsung Omnia 7 on T-Mobile. You can get it free on a £15 month contract. So that works out to £180 over the year and of course gets you 300 minutes, 300 texts and 500MB data every month.

Depending on how much you spend on credit every month, that could work out a lot cheaper than payg and the phone is better than any yo've listed.

I rarely put in more than £5 a month in credit

The reviews of these 'cheap' smartphones mostly suggest that loading tims/flash players are a problem when on the net, but I don't see this as an issue for me. I do not intend to looking at websites with bells and whistles on- I just want the comfort of knowing I have access to the net when I'm out and about. My serious web surfing is to be done on the laptop at home.

To me the best pay as you go smart phone is the LG Viewty Snap GM360.

I brought one yesterday in black (also available in Purple although not at my store) at my local Tesco were I work. They were selling it for £69.97 but I got the LG Viewty Snap GM360 for 55,48 as I had £7.50 worth of club card vouchers and my 10% staff discount.

The LG Viewty Snap GM360 has an excellent 5 megapixel auto focus camera that also has an LED flash and uses a Schneider Kreuznach lens.

The LG also has a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can use your favourite pair of headphones.

There is also an FM radio and a MP3 player and you can recored video.

The LG does not have 3G or Wi-Fi which I did not need so if you want to go on to the Internet or use wap services then you are reliant on EDGE speeds.

In the very short time that I have had the LG Viewty Snap GM360 I am very pleased with it and I can highly recommend it.

If you do decide to buy the LG Viewty Snap GM360 then I would recommend that you buy it on the Tesco Mobile network who share with 02.

I have been on Tesco mobile for years and I have never had any problems with them and there coverage is excellent.

Here are some links for the LG Viewty Snap GM360.

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.901-8720.aspx

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.901-8734.aspx

http://phone-shop.tesco.com/tesco-mobile/

http://www.lg.com/uk/mobile-phones/a...ones-GM360.jsp

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&pq=lg...w=1674&bih=862

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...nap+GM360&aq=f

If you must have a pay as you go smart phone on T-Mobile then here is a link to the LG Viewty Snap GM360 on T-Mobile pay as you go.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-a...ewty-snap-payg

And here is a case on play.com which I am probably going to buy from my LG Viewty Snap GM360.

http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4...rlrefer=search

There is also the LG Cookie Gig KM570 which is also available on both Tesco Mobile and T-Mobile but the camera does not have a flash.

And the LG Optimus GT540 which is also available on both Tesco Mobile and T-Mobile only has a 3 megapixel camera and once again no flash.

And the LG Optimus Me P350 only has a 3 megapixel camera and no flash. But it does have Wi-Fi and 3G.

I hope that all this helps you. And good luck finding the right pay as you go smart phone that is right for you.

And please post back on here once you have decided what phone you are going to buy.

Sorry double post. My post has gone one to this thread but when I go in to the Mobile Phone section on this site and then click on the thread my post does not appear under neath Gary Sparrows post.

Sorry to go off topic but I just wanted to try and help Gary Spsrrow find a pay as you go smart phone that is right for him.

Another vote for the Orange San Francisco. As mentioned, it can very easily be unlocked for free so you can use any SIM. It seems to float around the £90-£100 mark depending on what deals are on.

The only real downside is the camera, which is poor, otherwise this trashes every other sub £100 and many sub £200 phones.

+1

It's turned me into a rom junkie. So easy to customise and stonking value

I picked up the Wildfire S on saturday from phones4u it was £129.99 + £15 topup on a 3 sim.The phone is sim free tho no network branding or software just vanilla android 2.3.
So £145 for rhe Wildfire S sim free

No need to be rude and sarcastic, it's just my opinion-though to be clear, when I said "Slow", I was thinking of the time it takes to boot up, not in opening its applications, which I admit it does very well. However, I stick by my allegation that they are complicated. But then I'm used to Android and Apple Smartphones. Furthermore, I don't like the small and low-res screens on BB. Again, this is perhaps coloured by my rotten eyesight and the fact I'm used to the lovely clarity of my HTC Desire. But still, opinions eh?

Sorry, was having a bad day ....

Bootup time isn't really that important, its not something you tend to do too often - my 8520 has been running for a couple of months with no reboots.

Its definitely not complicated though - simple, easily understood menus, clearly defined controls. Sure, its not got a huge high res screen, but its clear, easily read, and having a separate keyboard it doesn't actually *need* a larger screen the same way that touch screen devices do.

I'm thinking of getting the Wildfire S.

Not really vanilla 2.3 as it has HTC Sense skin - which many people like. You have definitely done the right thing getting one unbranded as that way you will get any updates as soon as HTC release them.