How to find a new mobile phone

For those who are looking for a new mobile phone, it can be very overwhelming.

Buying a mobile phone should be easy and simple. With the rise of smart phones, this is no longer the case.

I am looking for a new mobile phone, I have a 2 year old Samsung mobile phone which is unheard of. I do not want to spend more than 25 pounds a month but I would like to have at least 300 minutes and 500GB of data download. I will share with you my quest for the ideal mobile phone:

1) Vodafone
I started my mobile phone journey with Vodafone as I have been with them for over 10 years (although I have never received any loyalty points or benefits from being such a loyal customer)
.
I do not want to be on a 24 or 18 month contract. That is too long. I switched to a SIM only contract with Vodafone in November and my bills have not been more than 25 pounds. So what can I get with my money?

BlackBerry: BlackBerry Curve 8520, Curve 3G 9300,
HTC: the HTC Wildfire only
LG: LG Cookie,
There are a number of Nokia phones on PAYG
Nokia 6700 Slide, 7230, C1-01, C2-01, C3-01, C5-03.
I can get 6 Samsung phones , C330, Ch@t 335 E1150, E2550 and the Galaxy Mini. I can get just 2 Sony Ericsson phones, the Spiro and the X10Mini Pro.

All of the Vodafone phones are available on PAYG.

Mobile phone operators

(source – flickr.com/photos/marksunderland/4543099719/)

2) Orange
So the next place to look was Orange who with T-mobile should now have better network coverage than it had in the past. I love all the offers you can get with Orange, especially the 2 4 1 cinema tickets so I thought I have a look to see what offers they have on PAYG.

Alcatel: OT-223, OT-335, OT-606.
BlackBerry: Curve 8520 and the Curve 9300
HTC: HTC Wildfire, HTC 7 Mozart
LG: Cookie Lite T300, Town C300, Town GT350, Optimius Me, Optimus One,
Motorola: Flipout
Nokia: 1616, C1, C2, Nokia X3 Touch and Type, C3 Touch and Type,
Orange handsets: Lisbon, Miami, Rio, Tokyo, Rio II, San Francisco
Samsung: E1170, C3300K, Monte Slider E2550, Tocco Lite (my current phone), Tocco Icon S5260, Solid Immerse B2710, Monte S5620
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, Zylo, Xperia X8, Xperia X10 mini

Not a bad range I have to admit, the San Francisco has to be a good deal at just 99 pounds for an Android handset.

3) O2:
With my research done, I popped down the road to O2. Kingston is great, it has at least 2 stores for each network provider.

Alcatel: One Touch 355, One Touch 708
BlackBerry: Bold 9780, Curve 8520, Curve 9300, Pearl 9105, Torch 9800
Nokia: C1-01, C3, C3-01, C5, C7, E72, N8, X2, X6 8GB, 2220 Slide, 2720 Fold, 6700 Classic, 6700 Slide
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, Xperia X8, Xperia X10, X10 Mini Pro, Zylo
Samsung: Ch@t335, Diva Diamond, E1050, E1080, E1150, E2121B, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Europa, Galaxy Mini, Galaxy S, Libre, Monte Slide, Solid Immerse, Wave II, Wave 525, Wave 723
HTC: Desire S and HD7
LG: Al133, A140, Optimus Chat, Viewty Snap

4) TMobile:
Finally I came to Tmobile who with Orange should have the biggest network coverage in the UK under the Everything Everywhere brand.

Alcatel: OT-355
iPhone: iPhone4 16GB
BlackBerry: Curve 8520, Curve 9300
HTC: Wildfire
LG: GS101, GU230
Nokia: C1-01
Samsung: Ch@t 335, E1150i, Monte Slider, Zinnia E2121B
Sony Ericsson: Spiro, X8
T-Mobile:Pulse Mini, Unity, Vibe, Vairy Touch II, Zest

So all the network providers offer similar handsets. What I did find surprising was the HTC Desire was cheapest with Vodafone at 130 pounds.

I wanted to get a iPhone, but it works out as quite expensive. The only way I can get a free iPhone 3GS for free is if I pay 35 a month on a 24 month ontract or 40 pounds a month on a 18 month contract.. To get a iPhone 4 for free, you need to sing up to a 24 month contract giving you 1,200 mins, unlimited texts and 750B of internet on your phone.and pay 45 pounds a month. If you want only an 18 month contract, you have to pay 65 pounds a month but you will get 3,000 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data.

Conclusion:
Either cough up and commit to the 24 months, or …. go to ebay

Think I will go to ebay and get my HTC Desire unlocked – better screen resolution than the HTC Wildfire. If I can get a cheap iPhone, maybe I will do that – perhaps I should wait till the iPhone 5 has come out, but then my phone would be three years old. Nearly an antique.

2 thoughts on “How to find a new mobile phone

  1. Arie Westerduin

    This post would have been a great possibility for throwing in some affiliate links! 🙂

    –> On eBay you pay about £340 for a HTC Desire S. Which makes it about £340 / 18* = £18.88 a month (*to compare with an 18 month contract). However, this £18.88 a month comes without any minutes and internet of course, so if you only want to pay £25 pounds a month that would leave you little room for error (in which case a 18 month contract with a telcom might be a lot better 🙂
    So not sure if the best way forward is ebay in this case…

    Reply
    1. Jo Turnbull Post author

      Hi Arie,

      Thank you for your comment, I am not signed up with any affiliates.
      I think ebay works the best as well for me. I do not want to be tied into a contract and I have a good deal already with my SIM only plan, just need a new mobile phone.

      Reply

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