[Duma]

Prob no good for dave, as its a bit bigger than the iphone, but when google wouldn't sell me a nexus 4, I did a bit more research and got an LG 4X HD:

£285 of ebay - 16Gb internal, supports micro SD to 64Gb, removable/replaceable battery, 1.5Ghz quad core, etc etc.
It is apparently the phone the nexus 4 was based on, and unlike that, you can actually buy it now. Downsides - it's perhaps a little bigger than ideal (same as S3, Nexus 4, One X) and the screen isn't quite as pretty as the S3 or iphone5 (having said that it's pretty bloody good). Its ICS, and no word on when LG might update, and though you could do this yourself, LG's skin is pretty nice.

Basically, given the battery and memory, I'm pretty pleased that I didn't get a nexus 4.

[dave]

The other thing is it'd be good to avoid another 2 year contract, as it seems most phones get annoying or the battery is fucked at bang on 18months.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

I'm amazed how anyone finds anything decent on less than a 2 year contract, maybe I don't look hard enough.

[tomtom]

There seems to be very little for less than24 months now... hence my move to rolling pay monthly etc..

Dave, considered getting a blower with a replacement battery (if the 24 month thing is log)?

[slackline]

I'd say its almost essential to have a couple of spare batteries for a smart phone these days.  Avoids having to find places to charge, although I always keep a USB cable in the car and a dock on my desk at work.

Contracts generally suck IMO.

[Duma]

I'm amazed how anyone finds anything decent on less than a 2 year contract, maybe I don't look hard enough.

why I bought mine sim free, and got a cheap 12month sim only contract (worked out about £120 than the best equivalent contract I could find, and that was 2 years)

I'd say its almost essential to have a couple of spare batteries for a smart phone these days.  Avoids having to find places to charge, although I always keep a USB cable in the car and a dock on my desk at work.
Contracts generally suck IMO.

Careful re batteries, a lot of the new phones you can't remove/replace these.

[Paul B]

The other thing is it'd be good to avoid another 2 year contract, as it seems most phones get annoying or the battery is fucked at bang on 18months.

it is a bit annoying isn't it? The main problem I'm having is every time an app updates it gets bigger. My internal storage unfortunately, does not. 3 months left and then I'll look at GifGaf the only problem with that is the 'hidden' cost of buying a decent smartphone seems like money poorly spent. when confronted with a ~£300 price tag.

[slackline]

Went through this thought process last year and decided to shell out around £400 notes for the SII.  If I were to sell it today I'd be looking at getting around £150 from recycling web-sites for a quick and easy sell, probably a bit more if I auctioned it privately.  Paired with a £10/month (300mins/3000texts/'Unlimited' net/extra calls to others on 3) I think it works out cheaper than the ~£30/month on a two year contract for the HTC Hero I had from T-Mobile (ie. £720 spread over two years for only slightly more generous minutes/texts which I never used anyway).  The only downside is that Three don't have very generous roaming whilst abroad, but with the proliferation of free Wifi spots these days its not really a problem and I don't mind not being connected to t'net whilst abroad.

Obviously the return on selling the phone decreases over time.

[dave]

Looks like I could get a decent 12mth sim-only contract on jus d'orange. Thats a lot more appealing than my current 24month shit. Would just need to find a blower of a suitable price upfront.

So couple of Qs:
-anywhere people go for reliable second hand blowers, other than taking a punt on ebay?
-should I end up with an iphone locked to a network, how easy is it to unlock them yourself?

[dave]

Also, the only think I miss from my old shit nokia symbian smartphone was the dedicated hardware camera button on the side, so you could whip it out of your pocket, hold the button and without having to fuck around with anything on screen it was straight into camera mode - so much better than entirely soft camera controls. Not sure if any current models of non-nokoia phones have this, but if they do I'm all ears.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

-should I end up with an iphone locked to a network, how easy is it to unlock them yourself?

Meant to be pretty easy, think a lot of shops/websites will do it for a small charge. Thinks it's just a code on most handsets nowdays.

Not sure if any current models of non-nokoia phones have this, but if they do I'm all ears.

Yes some do, some of the latest Sonys (Xperia S) but they will be £££ at the mo, not sure about older ones.

[cheque]

Also, the only think I miss from my old shit nokia symbian smartphone was the dedicated hardware camera button on the side, so you could whip it out of your pocket, hold the button and without having to fuck around with anything on screen it was straight into camera mode - so much better than entirely soft camera controls. Not sure if any current models of non-nokoia phones have this, but if they do I'm all ears.

I just got a BlackBerry 9320 which has this. I think you can assign it to other stuff as well but the default is for the camera.

It doesn't have a touchscreen though.

[slackline]

Or you could get an App to customise your buttons

[Jaspersharpe]

Yeah get with the programme dave, all decent Android phones are fully customisable. Don't have a dedicated shutter button? Just fucking make one!

[dave]

You've got to have a physical button to customise in the first place.

I'm not looking at blackberries, mot being a company exec or a 12 year old.

[cofe]

it's fast on iPhone: one quick swipe on lock screen, then use external button as shutter.

[Jim]

my HD2 is well over 2 years old and still going fine. I charge it most nights and never run out of battery. Got a sim only contract from O2 and bought the phone from ebay second hand.
Question is: do I want a 50" screen on a phone that can wipe my arse and make me a brew for 50 million quid or just a half decent one that I can pick up second hand around the £150 mark that can do everything that I want but is a little slower and with a decent size screen that actually fits in my pocket

[slackline]

Question is: do I want a 50" screen on a phone that can wipe my arse

You may jest...

[dave]

it's fast on iPhone: one quick swipe on lock screen, then use external button as shutter.

what, the home button on the face of the phone, or something else on the side?

[tomtom]

No idea whether these are any good, but its cheap (£135), fairly large screen and running ICS (andriod 4.0 from what i understand!) No fancy dual core processor etc.. but you pays yer £££

http://www.expansys.com/acer-liquid-glow-cats-eye-black-234412/

Decent review...

http://www.wired.co.uk/reviews/mobile-phones/2012-10/acer-liquid-glow

Never used one mind.. I'd get yersen down to the Crapphonewhorehouse and have a fondle of the goods, see what you like then get it online sim free

[Jaspersharpe]

These threads always seem end up "get an S3".

Just listened to the Brighton comeback on my S2 using the Firefox app to access "seagulls player". Apparently impossible on iPhone.

I'm no tech geek and I want things to just work. So it's Samsung/android/don't be cheap but don't get ripped off.

[cofe]

it's fast on iPhone: one quick swipe on lock screen, then use external button as shutter.

what, the home button on the face of the phone, or something else on the side?

one of the volume buttons

[dave]

Checked out a S3 from someone at work - didn't like it - too big a pocket footprint, and yet feels so thin I recon I could snap it pretty easy. Bearing in mind I managed to gouge out a deep scratch in the gorillaglass of my current phone by doing fuck-all to it.

it's fast on iPhone: one quick swipe on lock screen, then use external button as shutter.

what, the home button on the face of the phone, or something else on the side?

one of the volume buttons

Wicked. So it makes the photos louder? Even better.

[Paul B]

A slight hi-jack  but has anyone paid for an unlock code? I'd wrongly assumed that unrevoked led to my phone being sim-unlocked and I've just finished a 2 year contract with T-mobile, ideally I'd like to just stick a giffgaff sim into my existing phone for a few months.

[Lund]

A slight hi-jack  but has anyone paid for an unlock code? I'd wrongly assumed that unrevoked led to my phone being sim-unlocked and I've just finished a 2 year contract with T-mobile, ideally I'd like to just stick a giffgaff sim into my existing phone for a few months.

You seen this?  http://giffgaff.com/unlock