New Phone

[NottinghamWhite]

Am looking at replacing my old mobile with something better but am lost in a sea of technology. I currently use a iPad & when out & about use a 3 dongle. What I'd like is a phone that I van browse the Internet on but with out costing a arm & a leg. Anyone know of any deals ? Do I go to Vodafone & cancel my contract in that's they will probably try & sort me out rather than lose me ?

[Deleted User 728]

You don't need a current smartphone, that's all.

Having had a pad I'm sure you like the size of the screen.
There are loads of 5" smartphones on the market, many of which you can buy for £100 or under.
I'm currently using a Chinese one made by Cubot. I've had three (sat on the other two !!) and none of them have cost me more than £60 brand new.

I am on a sim-only contract - you always get more for your money that way, rather than tying yourself down to an 18- or 24-month deal with a handset you might not get on with. I only have to give a month's notice too.

Anyway, besides all that, just check out Vodaphone's shop online if you're happy with them as a supplier.

You don't say what contract you're on ??

I would suggest you switch to sim-only with them - take a look at the tariffs - and just buy a new handset from their pay-as-you-go range.
Oh, and the best advice I can give you is to bypass the stores and go directly to their customer service line as you'll always get a better deal, especially if you say you've seen a better deal elsewhere. They have more budget to play with than the high street shops.

(I used to work for Orange, btw )

Having had a look just now, I'd suggest you do a comparison of these four models :

£49 : https://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/pay-as ... g/sku95327
£65 : https://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/pay-as ... 8/sku91707
£79 : https://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/pay-as ... g/sku95249
£109 : https://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/pay-as ... g/sku90342

Oh, and don't worry about getting an "own brand" phone as they're all good. Orange handsets were made by Samsung, I think. It'll be a similar set-up for Voda.

[NottinghamWhite]

Thanks appreciated. Vodafone have offered my a iPhone SE with unlimited calls, texts & IGB internet for £28 a month. Thought that seemed reasonable

[simon]

Good post from rigger there, SIM only is the way forward as your going to get bent over taking up a contract!

Like rigger I am also using a Chinese branded phone, The 4GB "Xiaomi note 4x" with 64GB, it ain't a super high end phone but it is a very very good mid range phone that will do everything you would need of it. It has a nice sharp 1080p display, it is snappy in use and gets regular updates. It will also take dual sim if required or SD card slot if you would prefer more storage over an extra sim.

Only thing the 4x is lacking is a fast charge option and NFC for contact-less payments. But is you charge your phone every night then that is not an issue as the 4x comes with a large 4100Mah battery that will last 2 days worth of browsing calling and texts etc.

If looking into Chinese phones just keep an eye out for something called 'Band 20' or sometimes listed as 'B20' What this means is that it works on the 800mhz band. (800mhz can help in rural areas as the frequency travels further than other bands) Three and a couple of others use this band so deffo worth having.

Also, careful with Xiaomi as they have a few different variants of their phones, some with mediatec cpu's and some with only 2 or 3GB of ram. 4GB of ram with Snapdragon is the way forward.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/International ... AT02tnymJA

The above link is for the international 'GLOBAL' version with 4GB of RAM using the superior snapdragon 625 CPU (better battery life than the mediatec cpu) and features Band 20. Great phone for the money, although if willing to wait a few weeks for delivery china the phone can be found on gearbest.com a little cheaper.

As for sim, whilst browsing https://www.hotukdeals.com/ a few months ago I found a 12 month sim only deal on three with 30gb of date, 600 mins of calls and unlimited texts for just £16 per month, so check out what deals you can find on there.

[simon]

https://www.hotukdeals.com/search?q=sim+only

[simon]

Thanks appreciated. Vodafone have offered my a iPhone SE with unlimited calls, texts & IGB internet for £28 a month. Thought that seemed reasonable

All depends on how much data you currently use, or how much you would like to be using over the course of that 24 month contract. for a lot of people it is quite easy to go over 1gb of data, if not now maybe a few months down the line you find you would like to start using your connection to listen or watch leeds games, stream a movie or 2.

[PockWhite]

NW maybe you should stick with your old one?
You know the one in the red box with 2 buttons marked 'A' & 'B' on it?

[NottinghamWhite]

Now have my iPhone anyone recommend any apps ?

[Selby White]

I use "Whats app" a lot for contacting mates.

Other than that just a few apps that I use myself usually travel ones for hotel bookings, also have Gourmet Society as am a member through my bank and its handy for searching for discounted restaurants when on my travels in the UK.

[NottinghamWhite]

Just downloaded what's app.