Contemplating Life Post iPhone - Advice Sought
 

Well, after three years of super happy iPhone ownership, I'm now contemplating life post iPhone. So what's changed? Well, there's been a convergence of two things in the UK market:

- Excellent phones available to buy outright at reasonable prices (thinking phones like the Lumias, the Nexus and so on)

- Great "bring your own phone" SIM only contracts where even the cheapest £10 per month contract gives more minutes, data and SMS messages than I need.

In short, I'm growing a little miserly and can no longer afford the cost savings (assuming they are as real as they look).

I'm quite comfortable with Android (I have a Wildfire S that keeps running out of memory) and I remain curious about the new Nokia Windows phones. What does worry me is memory. This is never a problem with my 32GB 3GS but I notice my Wildfire S is low on "internal memory" and that causes problem.

Is this going to be a problem with all Android phones going forward or was I just a fool to expect too much from one of the cheapest?

Now, I don't need the greatest phone out there. I have no desire to watch feature length HD movies on a phone screen. So, I suspect the latest Galaxy is overkill to me. However, having music while on the go is important to me (I suspect I will miss the iPod and iTunes built into the iPhone). I'm use Facebook quite a lot but there are no bad options in that respect.

With all this in mind, what would our assembled experts recommend for Internaut's next phone?

Oh, and bearing in mind where I am (i.e. here), my next phone must be a great travel companion. The savings I'm eyeing probably mean an extra self funded foreign trip next year.

The last time one of my Android devices was low on memory was 2008. Still, I'd stay clear of the low budget bottom of the barrel devices, those won't make you happy one bit.

In your big long spiel you've not given a reason why you are abandoning your iPhone. Evidently something wasn't right. Yet you're not saying what that not right thing is. Evidently you still want a smartphone.

Here you go:

Those are the bullet points (all two of them) from my post (the operative word of bullet point is of course "point").

Very much agreed. The emergency Wildfire S I bought to stick my business SIM in is fine for email on the move, social networking and a couple of extra apps, but otherwise limited. If I go Android, I'll be looking at one of the mid-high end HTCs (or the Nexus).

Get the Galaxy Nexus. Great phone, pentaband, no carrier crapware (not sure if that is as a big an issue in the UK), first updates to Android and probably the longest life until it is obsolete.

Current sim only contracts over here in the UK are amazingly good value. I just signed the other half up for a 12month sim only on 3, for £10pm she gets 300mins, 3000 texts, 1GB data and I got £120 cashback, a steal at that price!

The mid ranged Android phones are much of a muchness, I'm not a huge Android fan, if i had to leave my iPhone it'd be to a Lumia 800 Win Phone, but the One-X and Galaxy S3 have been making be really think about switching!

I am unclear, is your iPhone sim locked? If not, why not just get one of the paygo Sims? Ifit islocked, will your provider unlock at the end of your contract ?

I also just dropped my iPhone for an android device and the items I miss most of all have to do with iTunes and music. I am almost ready to go buy an iPod so I don't have to deal with the crappy music player options.

Well I have just been contemplating the future as my iPhone 4 contract runs out in 2 months. I moved to the 4 from the 3 and have been happy and still am that I can get all I need from the iphone4. At the end of earlier contracts I have been keen to try an upgrade, but not this time!!

So my decision is to keep the phone and switch to a sim only deal. The O2 On and On deal looks pretty good at the moment, 12 months sim only for £26 I think.

If you are being miserly, keep the phone if you are happy with it and get a cheaper sim only deal to suit your usage.

Not sure what your handset pricing is like over there, but last week I was in the UK and picked up a 3 network prepaid microsim for my HTC One S and it was fantastic. Unlimited data (10Gig cap according to the guy at Carphone Warehouse) 300 UK minutes and 3000 UK texts. For me, that would have been more than enough for a full month. I tethered it with my tablet and laptop for even more value. 15 pounds w/ VAT.

Coverage was decent, but I'm not familiar with the status quo in the UK. I would certainly recommend checking out the One S.

I found it amazing that mobile plans are one of the few true bargains in the UK.

I don't miss my iPhone one little bit.

Apparently the Lumia 610 is a rather decent bit of "budget" kit, and pretty well priced as well. If it was around 2 months ago I would almost certainly have grabbed it instead of the 800...

Several EU countries have competitive markets.

Apparently not the same kind of regulatory capture.

Can I ask where the cash-back deal is and if there are restrictions? This seems like a completely free, one year contract...too good to be true?

tb

Buy from 3 via Quidco's portal. I've used them for the past few years on O2 bringing my sim onlys down to about £6pm. The 3 deal is only on for a day or so longer (end of the month I think). It's £120 on any 3 sim only (12 month) over £10pm. Absolute bargain!

Thanks!

would this work with a uk-routed vpn connection (since I'm not currently in UK...)?

tb

Provided you're having it delivered and billed to the UK I shouldn't see there being any problem with or without a VPN, I've bought stuff to be delivered at home whilst traveling and it's always tracked!

Thanks all for your help. Getting where I wanted was a bit of a ride. Here's what I learned when I did a bit more research and when I went into an Orange shop here in the UK:

- Firstly, going down to a lower tariff on Orange would have meant extending my contract anyway
- Second, even on the lowest monthly tariff, there is always a fairly significant network subsidy (as in worthwhile)
- Surprisingly (bearing in mind they can do pretty much what they want), Orange take into account your spend with them and place you into an investment category.

Upshot? At the Orange shop, they quoted me (from the paper price list) £300 for a Samsung Galaxy S3 on a far lower tariff (still a good £200 less than buying it SIM free). I went for this.

Orange's sales system then talked them down to £50 for the handset. It really is nice having a computer fight your corner.

Clearly, my stock will not be so high with them next time I do another upgrade.

So:

- Samsung Galaxy S3 - £50
- £15.50 per month contract gives me 50 minutes, 250mb of data, unlimited text messages and BT Hotspots in the UK
- All more than I've used in any one month in the last 12 months (bearing in mind we don't pay to receive calls in the UK).

Key feature to me in all this? I can buy myself out of my contract at any time without even going into my discretionary saving account.