[SA Chris]

Ended up finding a good deal on a Galaxy SIII Mini on T Mobile with 9 months free, works out cheaper than 3's offer. Works out only a bit more than my Wildfire.

Thanks for the advice.

[AarenAce]

I will recommend you Galaxy S-III

[chris20]

I'm in the market for a cheap smart(ish) phone.  I'm not into playing games or watching films on a phone but the internet is handy and google maps for when I get lost.  I want sim free so I can get giffgaff, I've been looking at Samsung galaxy mini or Y or something unbranded like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008V5UCI6/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d1_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=06WW38WYYFN3N281H32N&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=358549767&pf_rd_i=468294

Anyone with any experiance or opinions on the specs between the models or any other suggestions?

[slackline]

My suggestion (as I've only one phone, a Samsung Galaxy SII,  that I've had a year and a half now and does everything I need) would be to get the best spec'ed phone you can afford (highest number of cores on the processor, highest frequency, largest internal storage) in a size that you are happy with (check phone shops for size and feel).

Consider second hand too, there are often good buys to be had as some people always want to be on the bleeding edge.

[tomtom]

expansys usually have a wide range of sim free phones, I know nothing about these, but they seem good spec for the ££ - someone who knows more about android phones may want to comment:

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

http://www.expansys.com/acer-liquid-gallant-duo-black-234432/

[SA Chris]

I know nothing about the specs, but the SIII mini is great so far. Also look at practicality of size before buying online. One of the lasses in our office bought something online (a Motorola?) and it looks like the Monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey.

[chris20]

Cheers for the advice, expansys looks like a good site and the Acers look good (and cheap!)

[tomtom]

Cheers for the advice, expansys looks like a good site and the Acers look good (and cheap!)

Check out the reviews on other sites... It's never going to be mega as they're cheap but worth finding out if they have any pitfalls...

[Jaspersharpe]

Could be like those cheap Android tablets which look like a Samsung until you actually try to use them. So yeah, always go with the reviews.

[tomtom]

Could be like those cheap Android tablets which look like a Samsung until you actually try to use them. So yeah, always go with the reviews.

Acers a pretty reputable brand - but you're right, all that glisters etc..

[Jaspersharpe]

Have had a quick look at various reviews (as the MiL is in the market for a cheap smartphone) and those Acer phones seem to be really decent for the price.

[T_B]

Daft question this probably. Since moving house, I no longer have mobile phone coverage in much of the house (irritating as my phone goes straight to answering machine). Other than borrowing various people's phones and checking how strong the signal is, is there a way of seeing which (if any?) network might be worth switching to? I'm on Orange and am just about out of contract...

Also, does anyone who has had both an iphone4s and iphone5 reckon there's much difference?

P.S. Orange's coverage checker reckons 'Very Good' for calls and internet http://studio.orange.co.uk/coveragechecker/

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Daft question this probably. Since moving house, I no longer have mobile phone coverage in much of the house (irritating as my phone goes straight to answering machine). Other than borrowing various people's phones and checking how strong the signal is, is there a way of seeing which (if any?) network might be worth switching to? I'm on Orange and am just about out of contract...

Also, does anyone who has had both an iphone4s and iphone5 reckon there's much difference?

P.S. Orange's coverage checker reckons 'Very Good' for calls and internet http://studio.orange.co.uk/coveragechecker/

You can do a pretty good guessimate using the various coverage checkers combined with this...
http://sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search

Frustratingly they no longer update the dataset but it's still pretty good (other than for the combined  Orange/T-Mobile network where they have taken out some duplicate masts)

Work out which masts are closest to you, if necessary using streetview to see where the lines of sight are. If you give me your postcode I'll work it out.

[tomtom]

I upgraded from a 4 to 5 and its a major change. Main differences are screen, weight (much much lighter) and speed (greater than twice a 4s iirc). But.... In the states 5's are now being discounted, a sure sign apple is due to launch something new in a few months.

But to answer your Q, the 5 is worth the extra over the 4s

[tomtom]

Oh, and EE (orange and T mobile) now share all masts and 3G..

[dave]

Oh, and EE (orange and T mobile) now share all masts and 3G..

And Virgin also use the Orange/Tmob/EE network - I recently changed phone and went with a Virgin sim-only rolling 30-day £7 deal.

[T_B]

Daft question this probably. Since moving house, I no longer have mobile phone coverage in much of the house (irritating as my phone goes straight to answering machine). Other than borrowing various people's phones and checking how strong the signal is, is there a way of seeing which (if any?) network might be worth switching to? I'm on Orange and am just about out of contract...

Also, does anyone who has had both an iphone4s and iphone5 reckon there's much difference?

P.S. Orange's coverage checker reckons 'Very Good' for calls and internet http://studio.orange.co.uk/coveragechecker/

You can do a pretty good guessimate using the various coverage checkers combined with this...
http://sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search

Frustratingly they no longer update the dataset but it's still pretty good (other than for the combined  Orange/T-Mobile network where they have taken out some duplicate masts)

Work out which masts are closest to you, if necessary using streetview to see where the lines of sight are. If you give me your postcode I'll work it out.

Ah, clever. Vodafone mast is much nearer than the Orange mast. Mother-in-law is on Vodafone and reckons she always has signal. Makes sense - thanks.

[nai]

I know nothing about the specs, but the SIII mini is great so far.

Is it still great? I'm about to buy one as my current phone's battery life is so poor.
Do you run Strava or Impetus or use GPS, these things kill mine, can't get more than a couple of hours life with them on.

[mrjonathanr]

I have one (S3mini) and it seems good. Don't run too many fancy programmes - metronome's about it.

Battery life is poorish , typically 36 hrs I'd say, but can be recharged in the car if you have a usb port. For the price it does represent a good little gadget though, I'm happy enough with mine.

[slackline]

I'm about to buy one as my current phone's battery life is so poor.

Guessing its an iFern and you can't replace the battery?

[nai]

Wash your mouth out!  No, it's a Galaxy Ace so quite old and maybe just not up to running newer apps?

36 hours sounds ok, an improvement at least.  I might get 24 hours if it's just left on standby unused, more like 6 hours if using it quite a bit.  But the final straw came last week, from full charged I drove out to Ladybower, say 15 minutes + 10 faffing with bikes etc, enabled GPS and Strava and rode for 2:20 by which time the battery was down to 3%.

[slackline]

A new battery could be worth considering (you may be able to get ones with higher capacity) and if there is a firmware for Android 4.1.x (try SamMobile for stock Samsung ROMs) you may find it helps extend battery life as there are some power saving options like CPU scaling built-in.  Failing that a factory reset may help.

[sjw]

enabled GPS and Strava and rode for 2:20 by which time the battery was down to 3%.

Slightly off topic, but do you know that you can run Strava etc. in flight mode and the GPS data will still record? Makes a huge difference the battery life, although obviously you can't see the maps until you turn off flight mode.

[Bubba]

In my experience after about a year smartphone battery life takes a nosedive and it's time to replace them. You can usually source genuine batteries on ebay for reasonable money. 

[nai]

enabled GPS and Strava and rode for 2:20 by which time the battery was down to 3%.

Slightly off topic, but do you know that you can run Strava etc. in flight mode and the GPS data will still record? Makes a huge difference the battery life, although obviously you can't see the maps until you turn off flight mode.

That's worth knowing, cheers.