New phone, PAYG

The Black Oil

OK, trying to follow the outline in the sticky. I've had my current phone for a while and it's a bit battered at this stage, but still works fine. The power button will probably give in at some stage.

Currently on Vodafone PAYG, though realistically, it probably costs me less than €100 per year to run my phone as is. I'm interested in a smartphone, I've no real preference for one OS over another, though I can't really see myself spending several hundred euro on something high end, it would feel like a lot to carry around. I don't use facebook or twitter, though reading transport or council twitter pages is sometimes useful. I'd prefer radio tuner apps, Google Maps, Gmail, GPS and the like. Bluetooth is also a must, though it's fairly standard these days. 3G might also be useful, though I don't know if you'd get it given the details I've posted so far.

I was on holiday recently and the airline lost my main bag for 48 hours. Though having a smartphone wouldn't have made my bag turn up any quicker, it would have been useful to have some portable internet device. From reading around battery life seems to be an issue for some smartphones, even if you kill some of the functions you don't want.

I have some n00b questions and they should probably directed at the relevant operator as they relate to data usage and how that affects your credit, etc. E.g., with Skype. Also, with Android, for example...I'm a bit confused - are the OS updates contingent on Android providing them, or are they rolled out by the operator specific to your model of phone?

I was wondering about something like a Sony Ericsson X8 (or X10) or the HTC Wildfire. There's a long ish thread on boards on the former anyway.

Feedback is welcome.

0216bubbles

The sony ericson x8 is a gud phne for d mney.its got android.da only thng is when ur txtn i personaly find it difficult becuse of the layout. Da battery life is prety gud ovr al its a briliant phne. Da htc wildfire is ok i juz dnt like d layout of it i got bored of it quicky. The camera is vry gud n d wildfire. The quality of pics r gud. Da batery life is ok beter in d sony though. Hpe tis helps sum bit.

califano

Sounds like what you need is the first smartphone i bought the other day.

Meteor Samsung Galaxy Mini €99.99 on payg and seems to be one of the most affordable entry level smartphones at the moment. Im a smartphone newb and dont do facebook/twitter either but it seems user friendly, good wifi, easily add gmail account and good apps available like cabbage that you can use to send your free bank of meteor/02/Vodafone text messages from.

Review & spec 1

Review & spec 2

The Black Oil

Thanks for that. How do you find Meteor? I know each operator has its horror stories, though.