Need some phone recommendations...

panda516

So I've had a Sony Ericsson w810 for a while now, but over the last month or so it's gradually dying (freezing every hour or so, getting confused with who msgs in the inbox have actually arrived in from...), so it's pretty much "bunched" and an upgrade is needed.

I'm a pay as you go customer with meteor, and would probably like to keep it that way but if a billpay phone was the best option it wouldn't be 100% out of the question.

I'd never use the phone as a music player and camera use would be pretty limited too. I like to use go online sporadically though and so 3g and good app compatibility is a requirement. Also needless to say a decent battery and reliable stable operation is a must.

In terms of going online, is it better to go with a bundle or just stick to the meteor 99c a day option, i imagine i'd be using the web every 2nd or 3rd day for checking news, feeds, email, facebook etc

So the budget is max 180 or so, and so looking at the meteor upgrade options, the obvious choices are the S.E. C510, the S.E. C902 and then perhaps the S.E. w702 or Nokia 6300?

Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated!

Breezer

Forget the 6300 if you want 3G or apps. As a phone for calls and texts it's lovely, but it runs the S40 operating system rather than S60, which isn't compatible with a lot of apps. The web browser on it is also rubbish.

I don't know much about Sony Ericssons, but have you considered the Nokia E51? Lovely phone, along similar lines to the 6300, but running S60, with 3G. I upgraded to it from a 6300 a year ago and I love it. It's going pretty cheap these days on bill pay (I got it for €60 from O2 a year ago on their cheapest contract option), or it's €170 as a Meteor PAYG upgrade.

As regards data bundles, I think 3 are the only network offering them on prepay. Meteor Billpay Lite with a 250MB data bundle (€20 a month in total) would give you 60 any network minutes, free Meteor to Meteor texts, and the contract would only be 30 days long. You could then use a free app called Cabbage to send 300 webtexts a month direct from the phone, which would cover you for the other networks. You'd have to buy the phone Sim free, but there's some new E51s available on eBay for around the €150 mark at the moment. I'd be on this plan myself if I hadn't had a major row with Meteor last year (I normally wouldn't recommend them, but you seem to be a happy customer).

O2 have a similar offering for €22.50 a month including 50 any network minutes, 50 any network texts, and 250MB of data. Or you could go with 3 on pay as you go and spend €10 a month on 1GB of data, and get €10 free for calls and texts for the first 7 months.

panda516

Thanks Breezer, some really interesting comments there, must check up on the E51. The guy in the shop last week tried to push more-so for the SE C510 when i told him of my budget/requirements, as he said the sony app compatability was better than Nokia, so that's one of the reasons I was kinda leaning toward the S.E. phones... But in fairness he could just have been told to try get rid of more S.E.s or something!

The fact the E51 has wifi and doesn't place any real importance on music or cameras is good though!

The billpay lite option looks interesting too, and if it supports Cabbage then that would be an interesting proposition.