I need help buying my first smartphone please.

Pazma

I haven't even had a mobile for months but I do use the text feature of my home phone, this last couple of months I've had some shocking bills so I think it's about time I got a mobile again.

I'd like an MP3 player in the phone and to be able to access the internet, facebook, twitter etc. . .
I'd like a touchscreen, buttons are old school now. lol
I'd like a decent sized screen, I've tried friends phones that were difficult to hit the right icon on screen because they were too close together.
Video playback is a big bonus. xvid etc. . .
I'd prefer o2 as operator but that's not too important if someone else is cheaper.
Definitely I'll want prepay.
Price up to around €150 would be best.

I'll be buying in/around Portlaoise, Laois, so if anyone knows any deals in the area that would be great.

Thanks in advance for any help, I know little to nothing about smartphones so I wouldn't trust myself to pick a good one instore.

Cheapphones

I'm a big fan of the Androids myself, and seem to give a lot better value for money than iphones price wise.. You'll pick up something along the lines of the HTC Explorer for about €149/159. Or if you go a little bit more Samsung Galaxy Ace for about €219.99 Sim Free. There a nice looking phone and don't give too much trouble in my opinion anyway.

You'll get Wifi, all the apps you could ever want, wifi, video playback, mp3 player.. etc etc..

I'm sure there will be a few Apple Iphone heads out there, but seriously who wants to fork out that kinda money for a phone sim free or on Pay As You Go??

EoghanIRL

Pazma wrote: »

I haven't even had a mobile for months but I do use the text feature of my home phone, this last couple of months I've had some shocking bills so I think it's about time I got a mobile again.

I'd like an MP3 player in the phone and to be able to access the internet, facebook, twitter etc. . .
I'd like a touchscreen, buttons are old school now. lol
I'd like a decent sized screen, I've tried friends phones that were difficult to hit the right icon on screen because they were too close together.
Video playback is a big bonus. xvid etc. . .
I'd prefer o2 as operator but that's not too important if someone else is cheaper.
Definitely I'll want prepay.
Price up to around €150 would be best.

I'll be buying in/around Portlaoise, Laois, so if anyone knows any deals in the area that would be great.

Thanks in advance for any help, I know little to nothing about smartphones so I wouldn't trust myself to pick a good one instore.

I personally think its hard to find a very good phone for 150 euro. My friend bought this phone recently http://www.o2online.ie/o2/shop/phones/htc-wildfire-s/139/ I used it once or twice. It's good enough. Decent sized screen, can easily surf the web and use apps like you tube etc. it is also exactly 150 and on 02 network. I would personally go to 3 however. I have an iPhone with 3 and for 20 a month with any phone you get free texts anynetwork, unlimited 3G Internet, free weekend calls anynetwork plus landline and 10 euro free credit. It is much better than 02 in my opinion.

EoghanIRL

Cheapphones wrote: »

I'm a big fan of the Androids myself, and seem to give a lot better value for money than iphones price wise.. You'll pick up something along the lines of the HTC Explorer for about €149/159. Or if you go a little bit more Samsung Galaxy Ace for about €219.99 Sim Free. There a nice looking phone and don't give too much trouble in my opinion anyway.

You'll get Wifi, all the apps you could ever want, wifi, video playback, mp3 player.. etc etc..

I'm sure there will be a few Apple Iphone heads out there, but seriously who wants to fork out that kinda money for a phone sim free or on Pay As You Go??

Got my iPhone in America unlocked for 340 euros brand new from apple store. It was worth the extra litre bit in my opinion.im not being an apple head however. I've also had a few android phones that are also good. That Samsung ace looks like a good deal for the price though

Cheapphones

EoghanIRL wrote: »

I personally think its hard to find a very good phone for 150 euro. My friend bought this phone recently http://www.o2online.ie/o2/shop/phones/htc-wildfire-s/139/ I used it once or twice. It's good enough. Decent sized screen, can easily surf the web and use apps like you tube etc. it is also exactly 150 and on 02 network. I would personally go to 3 however. I have an iPhone with 3 and for 20 a month with any phone you get free texts anynetwork, unlimited 3G Internet, free weekend calls anynetwork plus landline and 10 euro free credit. It is much better than 02 in my opinion.

Wildfire phone has poor signal, nice phone for features etc etc..

I'd agree with the 3 network offer been very good. It depends how you use your phone mostly? What numbers are you ringing most often? What networks are they on? Are you more of a texter or caller.. etc etc..

I think Meteors €30 Offer with unlimited calls is great as well if you talk a lot!!

EoghanIRL

Cheapphones wrote: »

EoghanIRL wrote: »

I personally think its hard to find a very good phone for 150 euro. My friend bought this phone recently http://www.o2online.ie/o2/shop/phones/htc-wildfire-s/139/ I used it once or twice. It's good enough. Decent sized screen, can easily surf the web and use apps like you tube etc. it is also exactly 150 and on 02 network. I would personally go to 3 however. I have an iPhone with 3 and for 20 a month with any phone you get free texts anynetwork, unlimited 3G Internet, free weekend calls anynetwork plus landline and 10 euro free credit. It is much better than 02 in my opinion.

Wildfire phone has poor signal, nice phone for features etc etc..

I'd agree with the 3 network offer been very good. It depends how you use your phone mostly? What numbers are you ringing most often? What networks are they on? Are you more of a texter or caller.. etc etc..

I think Meteors €30 Offer with unlimited calls is great as well if you talk a lot!!

For the 20 on 3 you can get unlimited calls instead of texts if you want. Or you can just add them for 5 euro. Ive had 3 for just under a year and I find there coverage good, and I live in the country side

In my opinion the best value phone available at the moment is the Huawei Ascend G300. Only vodafone have it at the moment, but it would be worth buying it as prepay on vodafone and then getting it unlocked, if you want to be on a different network. There is a great thread about it here:
There is some great info on the G300 on that thread on the best way to get the phone cheaper

in order to get the €20 off, you need to port a number to Vodafone.

Get a free sim from Tesco (or any other SP excl VF) & use the number on that sim as the port number.

When the phone arrives it will come with a VF sim which you can discard or give to someone else.

Get the G300 unlocked via Ebay for about €7-10.

Total cost of phone €110 plus unlocking fee.

If you were to stay on vodafone there would be no need to unlock the phone from the vodafone network.

Pazma

Deleted User wrote: »

In my opinion the best value phone available at the moment is the Huawei Ascend G300. Only vodafone have it at the moment, but it would be worth buying it as prepay on vodafone and then getting it unlocked, if you want to be on a different network. There is a great thread about it here:
There is some great info on the G300 on that thread on the best way to get the phone cheaper


If you were to stay on vodafone there would be no need to unlock the phone from the vodafone network.

I think we have a winner! That's a great phone for the price, better than I expected to get, thank you.
I'll probably have it unlocked, most or all (not sure) of my mates are on O2, they get free texts and stuff too. But I'll check around for the right package. Thanks again! And thanks EoghanIRL I'll definitely check out 3, they sound very good.

blinkey 101

Tip stay away from htc sensation phone ,its dreadful to say the least.

I was an iPhone/Nokia user And decided to give htc a bash ,major mistake after 2 weeks I want my iPhone back .

Of all the phones I ever had this has got to be the biggest pile of steaming sh ite
Ever . I have had nothing but problems with this phone htc sensation my arse .

Problems / known problems .

Screen shot problem with home button .

Random powering off .

Battery is muck .

Volume is utter rubbish can't hear the phone ringing .

Playing music ?on it forget it ,

speaker is scutter !

Wifi dropping endless times .

I have it two weeks and have reset phone twice :mad:

The list is endless .....

Sorry bout the rant but just want to let people know the truth about this phone .


AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE !!!

MJ23

Samsung S2. Very easy to use, big screen, but not too big. Excellent apps. Good Battery. Excellent camera. 16gig with room for sd card.
It's the best phone I've had, better than iphone.
Whatever you do, don't get a Nokia. I've had a c7 and n8 and would never go back. The app store is brutal.

Cheapphones

MJ23 wrote: »

Samsung S2. Very easy to use, big screen, but not too big. Excellent apps. Good Battery. Excellent camera. 16gig with room for sd card.
It's the best phone I've had, better than iphone.
Whatever you do, don't get a Nokia. I've had a c7 and n8 and would never go back. The app store is brutal.

The Sony Ericsson Arc S is a brill phone too.. Loved the HD Video Quality when you recorded, pity it got nicked I'd still be using it.. Can get them for €279.99 nowadays sim free.. Still as good as what is out there..

BostonB

O2 seems to have a gap between 100 and 200. I've had so many problems with Sony's I don't want another. O2 are selling the old ACE which won't get ICS. The Xperia U doesn't have a memory card slot and the HTV One V is a single core its also a nearly 300! Ideally the Samsung ACE 2 is the best phone around 100~200. The Huawei Ascend G300 seems like s good budget phone, better spec than the wildfire C and S etc.

sullzz

Deffo the galaxy s2 , i started with the origional iphone then the 3g, 3gs then the iphone 4 , i eventually decided to try android , i dont think id be going back to apple any time soon , apple have too many restrictions compared to android , i got the galaxy s2 in place of the iphone 4 and found it much better especially the option to use a sd card or to connect a usb stick via a host cable , i upgraded to a galaxy nexus and didnt like it so i swapped back to the s2 , i dont think ill be changing until something a lot better comes out , the s3 in my opinion does not justify upgrading to