UKC

I've just come to the end of a phone contract and I think this time I'm going to properly upgrade rather than just taking whatever phone I can get for free and whatever contract's nearest what I had before.

Want to pay £30-£40 a month for unlimited internet and unlimited (or at least 500) texts a month, and some free calls, with no one off charge (or whatever ever I can recoup by selling my Nokia 6300i, which on Banana Green is £34).

I'm thinking along the lines of the iphone, as I definitely want a better internet interface than I have now (bigger screen, able to upload photos to facebook etc), and music would be useful too so I can listen to music on my motorbike.

O2 pay as you go costs for the iphone are as follows: http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/paymonth.html The only way I can meet my requirements is with a 24 month contract, paying £34.26 a month, which gives 600 minutes, 500 messages and unlimited internet.

I'm currently with T-mobile, and they appear to offer similar type phones, although I don't know how good/bad/comparable they are. It looks like there's the G2 touch (5MP camera instead of the 2 of the iphone), and for £36.50 a month (18 month contract) you get 800 minutes, unlimited texts and umlimited internet, which is slighly more allowance for slightly more money, and ties you up for less time. http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/phones/pay-monthly/t-mobile/g2... , but I've not heard of the phone (although that's not surprising).

I'll consider any network as long as I can keep my number. I'm so behind on phones I think it's probably easier to just buy the iphone as all sorts of people keep talking about it so I can count on it being okay (as opposed to my current one which has all sorts of bugs), but thought I might as well consult UKC first to see if there's some kind of class of internet/music/multi function phones that I can get my head round.

Thanks.

In reply to Fidget:
I got my iphone 8 gig 3g free on an 18 month contract, it is a refurbished one which is why it didn't cost 100 notes.

In generaly it's pretty good, defianately not perfect but hard not to like overall.

I've seen quite a few with smashed screens, way more than any other phone out there. Mines not insured but if I brake it I'll just go back to using my old phone for the rest of the contract.

Not sure I'd get an iphone again or not, certainly not if I break this one (as I've never broken any other phones)

Also they don't function in cold weather apparently.

In reply to Fidget:
ps if you do get one definately buy a case of some description I've droped mine twice and am fairly sure the case has helped protect it. Other people without a case I know have only had to drop it once on a hard surface and bye bye iphone!

In reply to CurlyStevo: My brother's got his iPhone in a fancy shockproof case. Protects the phone really well but it makes voice calls from the handset an echoey unintelligable mess. I've got a screen protector on mine and it's holding up pretty well.

In reply to Fidget:

Why not go with a SIM only contract which are often much better deals and buy whatever phone you want which isn't locked to a network?

You might like to consider Nokia 5800 or for somewhat more money N86.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

I don't mind if it's not perfect, just so long as it allows me to add words to the dictionary without forgetting them, and doesn't occasionally forget who I sent my last texts to! I've put up with that for 18 months and enough is enough :-/

In reply to Horse:

Just cos when I start relaxing criteria there's so many options I don't even know where to start! Got to start with some kind of idea what you want.

In reply to Fidget: Very nearly got an iphone......but after plenty of fiddling ended up getting an HTC Touch. Looks the same & works the same.....apart from operating on Windows! Works perfectly.....the bonus being it takes memory cards whereas iphone doesnt. Free on Orange with unlimited texts, orange maps & loads of web time!

In reply to Fidget:

The G2 Touch is just a re-badged "HTC Hero" phone (look online for reviews)
I have one and like it. It's occasionally a bit slow when moving around the desktops and the camera is crap (but I tend to use a point and shoot or my SLR, so photos aren't a priority) but other than that its good (oh and I can't find a way of getting a £ symbol in either the email or sms apps.)

In reply to Fidget:

See

http://shop.o2.co.uk/simplicity-12

You can get quite a bit for £20 and then think about what you want from a phone to narrow the choice.

In reply to Fidget:

I think the perceived wisdom on here is to find a phone you like from your supplier then tell them you are leaving them to go somewhere else. They then try to keep you by offering you the phone you want for less money or more minutes and then it is haggling over contract length.

It is like buying car insurance, they try to beat the quote you have elsewhere, it is back to the bartering in the market scene but with a big company.

Several threads on this subject;
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/info/search.php?forum=0&dates=1&na...

In reply to sutty:
only 02 provide iphone and they won't haggle on it.

In reply to Fidget:


Since getting an iphone, I couldn't imagine using anything else.

It made me think the next computer I get will be a Mac

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Not strictly true, as you can get iphone on T-Mobile on a 'hush hush' deal and O2 will lose there 'exclusive' contract in about four weeks, after which I'm sure they will haggle

In reply to Fidget: From both My Dad and Fiance having an iPhone, they are brill, i have an iTouch that is an iPhone - the phone bit, and it works great.

i am looking at a Blackberry for my next phone, just the basic model and i can get 18 month, 600 min, 500 text and unlimited net. all on O2 or Orange, also if you go through E2Save you can get a free game console or laptop.... how i got my Wii and Wii fit last year!!!

If you get the iPhone go for this case though.
http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4-/9351497/SwitchEasy-Capsule-Rebel-Case...
Whole range of colours avaliable!

In reply to CurlyStevo:

That is i believe soon to change.... but not on the 3GS


http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/07/21/236966/apple-to-open-ipho...

In reply to trevor simpson:

Ditto.

In reply to Fidget:

check out the HTC Magic and HTC Hero. Both awesome phones, and the Hero has multi-touch too, so a true iPhone contender.

In reply to Fidget:

Thanks everyone, some good replies so far, gives me some suitable stuff to look up.

In reply to sutty:

You've got to know what you want before you haggle.


That's the bit I'm trying to do and asking for advice on, not the next step.

In reply to Tony Naylor:
I'll add my name to that list; brilliant interface, slick apps...everything you need.

In reply to Horse:

It says internet costs up to 98p per day, that ends up quite expensive (i.e. almost another £30 on top of the £20, taking me over budget - then there's the phone cost to add on).

In reply to Fidget:

No, you select the unlimited web bolt on from the drop down menu and pay nothing extra.

The comparable monthly contract with the phone included would be around £35 over 18 months so you have £270 to spend on a phone.

The SIM only thing works best if you a) have a phone you want to keep or b) buy a good phone and have a rolling 1 month contract so you can change every now and then when a better deal on SIM only comes around.

O2 are keen to get all on iphone before October when Orange get the iphone 3g (not the 3gs).

In reply to Fidget: I've got a Nokia E71 on 3 (http://threestore.three.co.uk/priceplans.aspx?phonecode=NOE71G3DSL) I'm paying £20/month for 'unlimited text' + 'unlimited' broadband + 200 mins, but can't find that offer on their website now.

Keyboard works really well for sending e-mail (takes a little bit of getting used to) web browser seems to work OK also.

In reply to Fidget:

I have the iPhone 3gs, it's good on it's own but put it near my laptop which is connected to my o2 broadband and it doesn't let me access my windows mail, which is an o2 email address... It's like they are fighting one another to get my emails through, if I take my iPhone off site it allows emails to come through and yes o2 are aware of this problem as is Apple.... New software to fix the problem is on it's way...