Vodafone Smart 858 Android 2.2 Phone €59

eamon234

Spotted this in the Vodafone shop today and picked one up for my daughter. Have to say it really is a cracking phone for the money.
OK so the screen resolution isn't the best and it's not the fastest handset in the world but for sheer features alone this is great value IMO.

Android 2.2
Capacitive touchscreen
Wifi
A-GPS
Bluetooth
FM Radio

The touchscreen isn't half bad it's pretty responsive.
Also pleasantly surprised to find a 1gb micro SD card inside.
Downloaded Angry Birds to try it out it's pretty playable.

You can get it for €39.99 if you switch to Vodafone which is amazing value.

Sasquatch76

My mate picked one up the other day too, and is pretty happy with it.

It's his first smart phone, so he doesn't have anything to compare it with. It is only a 2 megapixel camera and as you say, the resolution is pretty small, and the processor isn't the fastest, but for only €60, it's very hard to fault!

Made for Vodafone by Huawei I think.

thesandeman

Have never used a touch screen as Im happy with my trusty W995 but was thinking about getting this.
Does anyone know if it has a Flash Player ie: can I watch other stuff besides YouTube as in RTE Player, At The Races videos etc.?
I dont know anything about Android so dont get too technical.
Thanks in advance :-)

chrislad

With the OS, you can run flash. With the specifications, I'd be surprised if it ran well at all.

Random

thread moved to android forum.

zacseph

Think I might grab one of these online - how is it anyone that has it? I don't expect it to be lightning fast, but does it freeze/lag when writing messages or anything?
Besides that, I'm trying to decide if i want white or black... I didn't think it would be that big an issue, but I actually can't decide!! :eek:

54kroc

eamon234 wrote: »

You can get it for €39.99 if you switch to Vodafone which is amazing value.

You can't go wrong at that money, well worth picking one up to test it out.

thesandeman

Cant find a review anywhere yet, just the announcement of it being launched.
If anyone finds one can you post a link?
All the pre-launch stuff reckoned it would be priced around 90euro.

eamon234

No flash.
Plays Youtube clips but framerate is low haven't had a chance to run standalone video but I wouldn't be expecting too much given the resolution and processor power.
Whatever way you look at it this is the cheapest Android phone around. It's got Wifi and A-GPS the touch screen is responsive and there's plenty of features for the price. General performance is fine for most features. As usual people will expect too much, but as an iPhone owner I'm in awe of what this little phone can do for crap candybar money.

seanybiker

For the price it looks like an excellent phone.

yosser hughes

seanybiker wrote: »

For the price it looks like an excellent phone.

Looks like it's sold out.According to the website. Anyone from Vodafone know when you are getting more in?

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

yosser hughes

It seems to be available again now

5500

Anyone know if its simfree or heard of any possibility of root ect with it?

54kroc

5500 wrote: »

Anyone know if its simfree or heard of any possibility of root ect with it?

Have a look on Modaco, there might be a thread about it there.

Richard Dower

Cheers, just ordered this....i had last years 3Pay Smartfone, Huawei U7510 which i thought was a great little phone for €80....but that Voda at 40 quid is a steal! + Anroid 2.2/wi-fi etc.

eamon234 wrote: »

Spotted this in the Vodafone shop today and picked one up for my daughter. Have to say it really is a cracking phone for the money.
OK so the screen resolution isn't the best and it's not the fastest handset in the world but for sheer features alone this is great value IMO.

Android 2.2
Capacitive touchscreen
Wifi
A-GPS
Bluetooth
FM Radio

The touchscreen isn't half bad it's pretty responsive.
Also pleasantly surprised to find a 1gb micro SD card inside.
Downloaded Angry Birds to try it out it's pretty playable.

You can get it for €39.99 if you switch to Vodafone which is amazing value.

Jackobyte

cork45 wrote: »

Have a look on Modaco, there might be a thread about it there.

Modaco link. Apparently, its a rebranded Huawei U8160

nowuckenfurries

Got 2 (1 for a present for daughter, waiting on 2nd one for me to arrive)

You can save even more money (EUR 12.50) if you buy through bethrify.ie

I got mine for EUR 39.99 & when I get EUR 12.50 Back from Bethrifty the phone will have cost me EUR 27.49... Bargain!!!

Richard Dower

^ git!...shoulda thought about Thrifty!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4I4aoiT2w

Richard Dower

Got it today....awesome little phone!...first time Android user, snazzy interface, loads of toys to play with....love it!

Timmaay

Great little phone, nice screen, android 2.2 is good, its a far far better offering then its replacement, the vodafone joy (845), which had a rubbish touchscreen and would crash non stop.

I used fatcheese to get the 12.50, Hmm any way of using both bethrifty and fatcheese? . Even still, at 27.50 its stupidly good value!

witnessmenow

I just bought this this evening online as a through away phone.

Apparently there is €20 cash back on fatcheese :eek:

Even the blurb for vodafone mentions the vodafone smart

Vodafone Ireland
Thinking of switching to Vodafone? Keep your current Irish mobile number when switching to a Pay as you go phone and you can get the Vodafone Smart black for only €19.99 after your €20 saving with FatCheese!

Its not showing in my fatcheese account yet though (even as pending)....

White one is sold out btw

ronano

really tempted by this

anyone know if it can be unlocked for any network

how would this compare to the Orange San Francisco / Zte Blade? screen is not as good obviously but the processor seems similar?

parsi

I had the Blade and I have the Smart - the Blade was faster and more customisable in terms of roms and of course was a doddle to unlock for free.

kkelly77

Can someone on a bill pay plan purchase this handset and use their SIM in it?

eamon234

kkelly77 wrote: »

Can someone on a bill pay plan purchase this handset and use their SIM in it?

Yes you can use any Vodafone sim

eamon234

ronano wrote: »

really tempted by this

anyone know if it can be unlocked for any network

It can be unlocked online for about a tenner:

http://www.dc-unlocker.com/buy/user_prices

(No. 6 on the list)

zacseph

Hi all...
sorry to meander off topic a bit, but just a side question on this for anyone else who's bought one - do you know if there's a way to disable the long text function? (more than 160 characters sending as an MMS instead of 2+ text messages...)

Thanks :cool:

TM

Haven't noticed/didn't realise that this happens!

Any use? All suggest Handcent SMS as a solution...

http://androidforums.com/sony-ericsson-xperia-x10/306052-texts-turning-into-mms.html
http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s/212728-text-messages-being-converted-mms.html
http://androidforums.com/samsung-acclaim/154186-long-texts.html

Amalgam

zacseph, TM. Don't forget Cabbage. I presume at least one of you is a Vodafone customer..

boards.ie megathread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055165333

Website: http://www.cabbagetexter.com/index.php

TM

Thanks. I use Cabbage alright but don't always have a wireless/data connection so sometimes have to use "normal" SMS.

paulhealy1991

the review seems pretty decent for this phone. anyone have any experience with the battery life of these phones. would you see 2 days with it with normal use? also i presume the 20 euro from fatcheese is for both for new numbers and people switching to vodafone? thanks

MadDogGreener

paulhealy1991 wrote: »

i presume the 20 euro from fatcheese is for both for new numbers and people switching to vodafone? thanks

The cashback details seem to be changing daily. Currently it says this:

€22.50 cashback on Vodafone Prepaid new connection
Please note: Cashback for prepaid new connection will reduce to €12.50 on 27 June
€12.50 cashback on Vodafone Prepaid Upgrade

paulhealy1991

went ahead with it. think the cashback applys to switching alright. will post next week regarding battery life but have heard it can be quiet poor. maybe some apps just need to be switched off.

x0l0x

Is the phone locked to vodafone network only or is it possible to use any other mobile carrier's sim ?

TM

It's locked to Vodafone so without unlocking you can't use another operator's SIM (unless you port your number obviously). I've been using it for almost a week now and allowing for the fact that I DO have quite a few apps installed and some additional apps/services running as a matter of course (albeit with wifi, GPS and 3G data only switched on when needed) I'm seeing about a day's life out of the battery. On the other hand other (higher end) smart phone users that I've spoken to seem blasé about (or resigned to?) charging their phones VERY regularly so I'm not sure what the norm is here and a lot depends on usage profile, apps/services etc.

x0l0x

TM wrote: »

It's locked to Vodafone so without unlocking you can't use another operator's SIM (unless you port your number obviously). I've been using it for almost a week now and allowing for the fact that I DO have quite a few apps installed and some additional apps/services running as a matter of course (albeit with wifi, GPS and 3G data only switched on when needed) I'm seeing about a day's life out of the battery. On the other hand other (higher end) smart phone users that I've spoken to seem blasé about (or resigned to?) charging their phones VERY regularly so I'm not sure what the norm is here and a lot depends on usage profile, apps/services etc.

Thank you for your reply, but do you know if there is a way to unlock it ? ...

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

TM

This link complements the previous post/answer:

http://www.dc-unlocker.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4667

culsoh

Hoping to get this for my OH - to introduce them to an Android touchscreen phone without spending too much money incase they don't like it (a truck driving farmer!) or would I better to get the Samsung Mini?

ralphie

I got this phone on monday and I downloaded the Newstalk app and the Today FM app.The apps play the live streams perfectly but when I try to play the archive or the podcasts it wont play them and the phone froze on a couple of occasions.I uninstalled both apps and reinstalled them but it made no difference.I also did a factory data reset on the phone.
These apps worked fine on the phone via wi-fi before I put the sim in.Now wont work with sim or wi-fi.
These apps are working perfectly for me on a San Francisco.

seanybiker

Just ordered it for me father. All he wants it for is the talking cat app. He loves it haha.

mgbgt1978

Over on consumer issues (bargain alerts) people are now saying that that vodafone at home customers are being offered this phone for free....page 15.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056300249

kkelly77

Apologies for the thread hijack, but has anyone found a screen protector for this handset? Tried the usual places but no where I've found has one for this particular Huawei model.

kkelly77

kkelly77 wrote: »

Apologies for the thread hijack, but has anyone found a screen protector for this handset? Tried the usual places but no where I've found has one for this particular Huawei model.

To answer my own question, I bought 6x for £1.49 on eBay.

I was searching for Huawei U8160. When I entered Vodafone 858 instead, I got plenty of results :rolleyes:

Eoin_Sheehy

chrislad wrote: »

With the OS, you can run flash. With the specifications, I'd be surprised if it ran well at all.

You can't not unless it's ARM 8 processor (I think) as my phone (LG GT540) runs Android 2.3 and can't run flash

_Whimsical_

A question about unlocking ...

I'm having trouble with the first step unlocking the phone. After I press down the home key, the volume button and the power bottom I get a message saying "unpacking failed".
Theres no hanging egg timer. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong ?

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured it out.

deiseach

eamon234 wrote: »

No flash.
Plays Youtube clips but framerate is low haven't had a chance to run standalone video but I wouldn't be expecting too much given the resolution and processor power.
Whatever way you look at it this is the cheapest Android phone around. It's got Wifi and A-GPS the touch screen is responsive and there's plenty of features for the price. General performance is fine for most features. As usual people will expect too much, but as an iPhone owner I'm in awe of what this little phone can do for crap candybar money.

I bought this myself based on the idea that an iPhone user thought so highly of it and am delighted with it. Lots of gizmos for very little money. Thanks!

thesandeman

If anyone has a chance can somebody go onto the Boylesports App and check if forecasts can be done on it.
That part of the App doesnt work on my W995.
Thanks :-)

andrewire

Can you use Skype with this phone?