Can anyone recommend the best? So far looked at the HTC Wildfire, Samsung Wave II and the Samsung Galaxy Y but they are either out of stock everywhere or I find bad reviews. It's just really for my dad for xmas, a 'starter' smartphone to give him something to occupy his time (mum is desperate for something to occupy his time!!!)

What about the Orange San Francisco? That was getting good reviews on release - I seem to recall that spec-wise it wasn't far off the Wildfire.

You could also go second hand - I've seen Desires for £120ish.

Latest Galaxy from Samsung the Galaxy Y £99 Carphone warehouse......A lot of reviews are by people who have the top phones and find the cheaper ones lacking. It should be fine for a new or light user.

Orange Monte Carlo is £119. Better in every respect compared to those you mention but at the moment it can't be unlocked if that is a problem. (Well you need to wait three months before Orange will give you the code).

galaxy mini. underv£100 on orsnge

Worth just pointing out that the Samsung Wave II runs Samsung's own OS bada, not Android.

If you don't mind buying second hand you could pick up the SE X10 Mini for around that price. If you're willing to up your budget a little bit you can buy them brand new for around £150. My mum has one and it suits her needs perfectly as a light user.

Samsung Galaxy Europa aavailable on PAYG in Carphone for £49

I've got one on a contract - good starter Android phone although the screen is a little small

Mine runs on Android 2.2 which I believe ironed out all of the problems. Don't know if they are still being sold with 2.1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Gala..._sim_sbs_ce_18

This is a shade over £100 but looks pretty good.

SIM free too so you can use it on any network.

Full Specs here: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i5800_galaxy_3-3395.php

san francisco a decent phone. can pick them up on ebay now cheap with 2.3 installed

sorry to hijack the thread but i'm looking at getting something in a similat price range, maybe more to cover things like the Wildfire s and Galaxy Ace..but this will be my first smartphone experience so i'm wondering would those phones (or any for that matter) be easy enough to use and get into for a smartphone/andriod beginner?

Ordered the Orange Monte Carlo, screen size will be ideal for him and great reviews

Only if they are scratched or faulty, otherwise expect to pay the same or more than they were selling for at the start of the year.

I've been looking for a decent one on eBay for a bargain price for a while.

I am sure he will love it, the Monte Carlo is often overlooked but it can't be beaten at that price. I have had a play with one and it is pretty snappy. If there was agree unlock I would get Mrs finbaar one to replace her San Francisco which is starting to look underpowered.

You may want to change the stock Orange theme and wallpaper that is installed as it is very gloomy. But put a bright background on it and install Fancy Widget, Go Launcher and Go Keyboard and it will look much better. If you have a look at Modaco.com there is a pretty decent community offeering support. Now I am not suggesting custom ROMs but there is some good info such as a link to where you can down load a hacked version of Flash 10.3 that runs on Arm 6 devices like the OMC and OSF and allows videos etc. to run on websites.

I sold my one 11 month old OSF on ebay for 95 quid in September. It was the AMOLED version and was running 2.3 but part of the rubber coating had rubbed off below the back button. I only paid 100 quid new, that's a value retention even the iPhone can't match.