Best/Cheap Smartphone

[Bananalad]

Have a small budget for a smart phone here and wanted some advice on what to go for, these are the phones im looking at and wanted opinions from people who owned them..

Sony Xperia Tipo
HTC Wildfire S
BlackBerry Curve 9320

Thanks!

[RePT]

You can pickupthe basic iphone 3 for about £50?

[Oil-burner]

Personally id go for a used top end model over a new low end model.
From what ive heard id avoid blackberrys and htc's.

Whats your budget?

Another good thing with iphones as mentioned above is if you get anything above a 3gs (sold mine for 75 just before xmas) they still update to the latest operating software so they age really well.

[Willo]

I had the blackberry it was dire kept freezing up or just shutting down was rebooting it every other day

[Bananalad]

Id rather just go into a shop if i could :/ Budget isnt high as it was going to be used as a 2nd phone, only want it for whatsapp or viber..

[Oil-burner]

I honestly would reconsider mate, anything under 200 in a shop is gonna be pants!
Id say 70-80 on a 3gs would be your best bet, either that or a samsung galaxy, I know you can get galaxy minis pretty cheap now.

[Willo]

What's your round about price that would help mate

[Eeyore]

I have had an orange san francisco £89 and an orange san francisco 2 £99!

both are budget phones that come with android 2.1 and 2.3 respectively. However I have installed android 4.0 on the SF2 and ive just installed jelly bean on the SF2! They are brilliant budget phones if youre not looking for lightning fast performance. Good for bbc news, browsing, facebook and everything you need from a phone!

[Bananalad]

100-120 is my budget Im honestly not into my phones at all, as long as it will send a text, make a call and use either of the two apps i mentioned above ill be happy

[Oil-burner]

My mum has a nokia n8 for sale mate thinkin about it, always been in a case with screen protector etc, think she wants about £60 for it?
Inbox me if your interested

[Eeyore]

100-120 is my budget Im honestly not into my phones at all, as long as it will send a text, make a call and use either of the two apps i mentioned above ill be happy

im running whatsapp right now and its fine. definitely give the SF2 a look. under £100 and the possibility of jelly bean is epic! My mate had one and had problems with it but if youre alright at computers you can put a different version of android on. Android 4.1 took under 5 minutes to install

[Curt]

Have a scout on eBay for a HTC Desire S or similar (not Wildfire...) should be within budget and are good phones. I may sell mine as it's only a back up but undecided yet. Just stick your budget in, have a browse and see what comes up. Then have a Google before taking the plunge .

That'd be my vote anyway, or a Samsung Galaxy.

[lolsteve]

Another vote for the san fransico, got it for £99 couple of years back. Upgraded to 2.3 Cyanogen mod, very fast and does what most other phones do. Camera is lacking a bit though

[Eeyore]

Another vote for the san fransico, got it for £99 couple of years back. Upgraded to 2.3 Cyanogen mod, very fast and does what most other phones do. Camera is lacking a bit though

i enjoyed the SF1 much more. Once youve put a different ROM on the SF2 its better. Especially the 2.3 fish and chips. Camera works on both front and back facing Ill probably go back to it soon. The jelly bean on it has a few bugs and the battery life is a it less. Also annoyingly i cant get used to the keyboard D: little things though! the phone itself is brilliant! Communitry behind these phones is epic. Also ive dropped mine a few times and only a scratch!

[Bananalad]

What would be wrong with the sony xpiria tipo? I know everything is cheap for a reason i was just curious, thanks for all the advice above

What is jelly bean sam

[Willo]

It's an operating system on android phones I think

[Bananalad]

Ah i see, well here is a review on the sony http://www.siliconrepublic.com/digital-l...peria-tipo

Basically it hasnt a good camera and a few other problems that dont really bother me to be honest, does it seem like a fair review?

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Im 20 years old, few years ago i was into my phones and technology, now i come back and im faced with an operating system called ice cream sandwich?? Who came up with these names??? And is it any good?

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Last post before i go to sleep Will someone let me know if i buy that sony will it run that app? Ive no interest in any others, dont care about screen or camera quality or battery life..

[sweeney1987]

wouldnt get a sony, friend had one found it slow.
i got a samsung galaxy s2 second hand for 130, got another one for 150, great phone and will run all apps, good camera and great all around phone.
id recommend getting one second hand lad, or possibly even an s1 if budget isnt that high.

P.s. whats app is only free for 5 months now???
also any android phone will run those apps, think of android as windows and ice cream sandwich as 8, jellybean as 7 etc(could be wrong way around by latest version but you get idea)

[WiNgNuTz]

I'll be honest, I haven't read all the replies to this thread, but ill say this:

Don't knock HTC, but DO NOT - UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES - get a wildfire. They are horrendous handsets, and everyone I know that's had one hated it. My sensation xe may well be for sale in a couple of months, never had a problem with it. *awaits Mr lobb to pipe up about his sensations*

[mjcook1984]

the best android phone bang for buck is probably the current nexus 4 top specs £239 for 8gb £279 for 16gb which isn't bad considering specs are on par with the galaxy s3 which probably cost £500 new. just a shame they sold out so quick and LG have said there not making any more, But as you stated its out your budget range. but as stated above a second hand galaxy s2 would fit in your budget and still has decent specs

[Toms306]

I've had a wilfire s for over a year now...no problems at all lol! What's supposed to so bad with them?

Mine gets used several hours a day for WiFi. And takes all the pics I need, gets covered in oil and car crap on a regular basis, gets regularly squashed and leant on in my pocket and still works perfectly

The only thing I'm not keen on is the battery life, but it's not broken, its been the same since new.

[Bananalad]

wouldnt get a sony, friend had one found it slow.
i got a samsung galaxy s2 second hand for 130, got another one for 150, great phone and will run all apps, good camera and great all around phone.
id recommend getting one second hand lad, or possibly even an s1 if budget isnt that high.

P.s. whats app is only free for 5 months now???
also any android phone will run those apps, think of android as windows and ice cream sandwich as 8, jellybean as 7 etc(could be wrong way around by latest version but you get idea)

Effort of looking and buying a second hand phone Thanks for explaining that it makes sense now!

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I've had a wilfire s for over a year now...no problems at all lol! What's supposed to so bad with them?

Mine gets used several hours a day for WiFi. And takes all the pics I need, gets covered in oil and car crap on a regular basis, gets regularly squashed and leant on in my pocket and still works perfectly

The only thing I'm not keen on is the battery life, but it's not broken, its been the same since new.

Thanks tom thats the sort of review i wanted As long as it does the couple of things i want id be happy, At the moment i have a nokia asha something something and everyone says its a terrible phone but it does what i want it too! Now i just want one app, only ONE So buying a smart phone..

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I'll be honest, I haven't read all the replies to this thread, but ill say this:

Don't knock HTC, but DO NOT - UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES - get a wildfire. They are horrendous handsets, and everyone I know that's had one hated it. My sensation xe may well be for sale in a couple of months, never had a problem with it. *awaits Mr lobb to pipe up about his sensations*

Thats good advice thank you!

[WiNgNuTz]

I've had a wilfire s for over a year now...no problems at all lol! What's supposed to so bad with them?

Mine gets used several hours a day for WiFi. And takes all the pics I need, gets covered in oil and car crap on a regular basis, gets regularly squashed and leant on in my pocket and still works perfectly

The only thing I'm not keen on is the battery life, but it's not broken, its been the same since new.

Must be the luck of the draw then, my gf had one, had nothing but issues with the firmware, constantly ran slow, and at its worst, she had to restart the phone every time she wanted to send a text or make a phone call. My ex-neighbour also had one, and had similar problems.

Having said that though, on the subject of the sensations, Darren apparently has had nothing but trouble with his, but mines been fine. Had to replace it about 10 months ago because I busted the screen, but otherwise I've had no problems. I'm due my upgrade in may though, so need to start researching what I'm gonna get next.

[Toms306]

I've had a wilfire s for over a year now...no problems at all lol! What's supposed to so bad with them?

Mine gets used several hours a day for WiFi. And takes all the pics I need, gets covered in oil and car crap on a regular basis, gets regularly squashed and leant on in my pocket and still works perfectly

The only thing I'm not keen on is the battery life, but it's not broken, its been the same since new.

Must be the luck of the draw then, my gf had one, had nothing but issues with the firmware, constantly ran slow, and at its worst, she had to restart the phone every time she wanted to send a text or make a phone call. My ex-neighbour also had one, and had similar problems.

Having said that though, on the subject of the sensations, Darren apparently has had nothing but trouble with his, but mines been fine. Had to replace it about 10 months ago because I busted the screen, but otherwise I've had no problems. I'm due my upgrade in may though, so need to start researching what I'm gonna get next.

My Mum has a Desire (I think, its bigger than mine anyway) that runs slow and keeps crashing/reebooting lol.

Dont think I've rebooted mine in 6 months lol.

[Bananalad]

Anyone have a htc desire x?

[Eeyore]

Ok android operating systems. For each one they release it goes up by one letter....


4.0 = ice cream sandwich (ICS)
4.1 = jelly bean

They are fairly similar. Dont go for anything older than android 2.3 and youll be doing well. As I said before. The orange san francisco is a great phone for £99 and remember you get warranty with that too in case it goes wrong.

[4WayDiablo]

Ok android operating systems. For each one they release it goes up by one letter....


4.0 = ice cream sandwich (ICS)
4.1 = jelly bean

They are fairly similar. Dont go for anything older than android 2.3 and youll be doing well. As I said before. The orange san francisco is a great phone for £99 and remember you get warranty with that too in case it goes wrong.

Cupcake
Donut
Eclair
Froyo
Gingerbread
Honeycomb
Ice cream sandwich
Jelly bean

Next is rumoured to be "Key lime pie"

They're also all named after deseserts and as said they go in alphabetical order



And mate has an iPhone 4s for 200. Mint in box

[Bananalad]

Thanks for clearing that up sam, that phone isnt available here i dont think :/ Might go for that htc desire x! Seeing as im getting a phone on bill pay now my budget has stretched, there is the list if anyone wants to have a quick look through it and see what you would recommend thanks!
https://store.meteor.ie/phones/bill-pay-phones/

[Eeyore]

ahhh gay. I can find the page for it here but I cant find a buy button for my life! They must have dropped them for the EE thing.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/s...e-in-black

[Bananalad]

Think im going for a samsung galaxy s 3 or the htc desire x..