Help Me Choose Between These Phones

Technique

I'm on Meteor Billpay and I've been offered an upgrade with the following phones:

Free: HTC Wildfire, Nokia C7, Samsung Galaxy Apollo, LG Optimus One
€20: sony ericsson xperia play
€50 - €80: Samsung Galaxy Ace, Sony Ericsson Experia Arc

Does anyone have any strong opinions on which of these I should go for (or avoid)?

I would use the internet mainly for email or occasional browsing (looking up football scores etc.) I'm not a heavy phone user, and my current 200min/200 texts plan does me fine. I'm not on Facebok etc., so I wouldn't be checking my phone every 5 minutes! A good camera would be an advantage, but not if the other features on the phone were crap. I would like a phone that's intuitive to use, and with a half decent battery life.

Thanks in advance for your help.

GreenWolfe

I have the HTC Wildfire and the Nokia C7, so I can give my experiences of those phones. Personally, I'd avoid the Wildfire. The camera is so-so, the screen is too low resolution, the hardware is underpowered and it will not be receiving any official updates beyond Android 2.2. As with most smartphones, you'll be lucky to get a day's battery life out of it. Out of this list of phones, the Wildfire is probably the worst Android choice, IMO.

The C7 is OK. The camera is good, but it's EDoF so if you use macro mode a lot (e.g take pictures of text/whiteboards/book pages) you can forget this one because it isn't capable of macro mode. The battery life is fine, I get 1.5 - 2 days out of my C7 depending on how I use it. The browser isn't great, but Opera Mobile & Mini fixes that issue for me. The screen is colourful and bright when I'm watching games or movies. It's capable of playing DIVX/XVID files - I find that 60% of the time my files are compatible. It supports USB OTG, so on long journeys I carry a flash drive with movies and stuff so I just plug that into the phone. Call quality is up to Nokia's usual standard, but the default QWERTY keyboard isn't great - this is fixable with Swype. Nokia Maps is fantastic, IMO. Free offline navigation has saved my arse more times than I'd like to count. I find the default email client is usable but not fantastic. As for the phone itself, it fits into a pocket nicely and it's just the right size for me.

The biggest issue here for the C7 is Symbian^3/Anna. I like it, but a lot of people find it non-intuitive compared to Android or iOS so I tend not to recommend it unless they've tried one extensively IRL.

stevendon

I'd go for the Nokia C7 if you would prefer a decent camera over apps, Facebook etc.

It has a decent battery life and the menu is easy to get around.

KrisW

Nokia C7 or Experia Arc in that lineup. The Arc has the best camera of that lot, C7 is the best all-rounder of the "free" pack. I don't like games much, and the Play's build quality doesn't inspire confidence, but if you do like gaming, it could be good.

The C7 is currently being replaced by the Nokia 701 (O2 have this as an exclusive right now) which gives a better processor, brighter screen and new version of the OS (Symbian "Belle") which is far smoother and simpler to use than any previous Symbian version. This new OS is also coming to C7 soon though, so if you get a good price on one, it's worth taking.

TechnoKid

I'd say Sony Xperia Arc is the best altogether.

Best Free: HTC Wildfire has a LOVELY User Interface not too sure about the others.

GreenWolfe

Seeing as the phone is going to be on contract (for quite a while I assume) I certainly wouldn't like any of the free Android phones on the list. All of the free Androids mentioned are roughly the same spec and are budget models. For example, I can barely use the latest Android Market update on my Wildfire as it is - a smartphone which can barely use an app store seems a bit disappointing imo. The only phone getting updated (officially and in the near future) in the free list is the C7, whereas afaik all of the free Androids are stuck on Froyo.

Come to think of it, judging from the past it would be safer to assume that none of the Androids here will get updated software.

Best Free: HTC Wildfire has a LOVELY User Interface not too sure about the others.

Meh. I don't like ever present "social media integration" and neither does the OP apparently. If you're willing to root your phone and install Android 2.3, that fixes some of the stock Android ugliness.

Nokia C7 or Experia Arc in that lineup. The Arc has the best camera of that lot, C7 is the best all-rounder of the "free" pack. I don't like games much, and the Play's build quality doesn't inspire confidence, but if you do like gaming, it could be good.

I agree completely with KrisW.

evolutionqy7

TechnoKid wrote: »

I'd say Sony Xperia Arc is the best altogether.

Best Free: HTC Wildfire has a LOVELY User Interface not too sure about the others.

I wouldn't go for the Original Wildfire. Wildfire S only.

SE Arc is probably the nicest one to go for.

Nokia C7 is a lovely phone as well. It got quite a nice update with Anna. making the thing freeze less and perform better and look nicer

Amoled screen is also great on it and nokia always have quite good camera's