Mobile phone help

Tinytootz

Mini crazy cat lady
Heya.

Him indoors in angling for a new phone for his birthday, as he has a really old lord-knows-what one. He doesn't know he's getting one, so I can't ask straight up. He has hinted at wanting a Blackberry, but I have something against them, and haven't heard much positive about them. I have a Desire on contract which I love, but he is still on PAYG and wishes to remain on PAYG.

Unfortunately, I cannot really pay more than £100 for it, so the brand spanking new ones are out the window, and I've been scouring Ebay.

Ideally, I would like to get him a Desire or Wildfire or Torch, but they are above my means. Have been looking at Blackberry 9300, 9000 and 8520, all of which are around my budget. But then I got distracted by the Xperia x10 and the Tocco Lite!

So I guess I'm looking for any recommendations or pointers. It needs to have WiFi, a camera, ideally 3G but 2G isn't too much of an issue. He will mainly use it for texts, calls and probably facebook when within WiFi, as I'm sure it would cost a fortune on PAYG for that!
 
Are you sure that it is a good idea to get this for him as a surprise? Personally (and it is just my view) I would not want someone to get something like this for me without being involved in choosing it.

Instead, you could make a special card with pictures of phones on the front (cut up a Carphone Warehouse catalogue maybe, or get images from the web) and write inside "you choose". Then you could both look on ebay or wherever together, and he could get exactly what he wants.
 
I have to agree with Anna on this one. It is a lovely gesture, but if it was me, I'd prefer to pick out my own phone. That way he can pick exactly what he wants - if he get's it and it's rubbish at least you're not to blame :8855:

Have never really heard anything great about the Tocco Lite - a few friends used to have it and had a few problems with it. Also said they found it a bit boring. The Tocco Lite is quite an old phone now, too.

If he is looking for a BlackBerry then Carphone Warehouse are selling the Curve 8250 for £119.95 on PAYG. My dad has this BlackBerry and has never come accross any problems with it. It's a nice size and pretty lightweight. Carphone Warehouse describe it's "Top Features" as E-mail, Smartphone, Wi-Fi, Qwerty keyboard, Integrated Social Networking (msn, yahoo, etc) and BlackBerry Messenger. The phone has a camera, mp3 player and instant access to Facebook - it sounds like it fit's all of his "must haves".

They are also selling the BlackBerry Curve 3g for £149.95. Not really sure what the differences are between the two - they have the same features. I think the 3G is slightly more up-to-date than the 8250.

Never had any experience of HTC's before, but have heard good things about the Wildfire. Only £99.95 at Carphone Warehouse.

I think choosing a phone is quite difficult, it usually takes me a while to make up my mind - I'm quite fussy. Maybe you and you're OH could go phone shopping together, then he can choose his own phone, whilst you make sure he sticks to your budget :)

Good luck finding something xxx​
 
If he's looking at Blackberrys, why are you trying to get him something completely different? One of the biggest selling points of a BB is the qwerty keyboard.. My hubby has the BB Torch & loves it. He doesn't like 100% touch screen phones at all because they're just too fiddly. I would recommend looking at other qwerty phones if you're dead against a BB (Although it's not your phone!)

I'm with the others.. People want different things from their phones & he should have a play with each one to find which one suits him best. It's a nice idea but surely you'd want to get him something he will love, rather than something he might like?

ETA - Take a look on mobiles.co.uk - they tend to have some cheap handsets & talk to the people in the stores regarding their best PAYG tariffs. Also look online because the people in stores will push certain phones & networks to get the best commission. Don't forget to go through a cashback website (I use Quidco, I can send you an invite so you get extra cashback if you're interested) for some extra money saving :)
 
Hi,
It's a really nice idea to buy a mobile for him, but I think the others are right about him having some say on which one you get. Has he hinted at what makes he likes? Maybe you could ask him to have a look and see what sort of thing he would like.
I have an htc desire z, it's a brillient phone, but expensive to buy and costly to run on pay as you go.
Would he consider a contract?
x x
 
I've said to him about getting a contract, but he doesn't want one, so it's his call I guess! He's had a play with a blackberry in store, and likes them, so I've got the Blackberry 8520 from ebay, new and unlocked for £70. If he doesn't like it, at that price I can resell it and get him something else. I've already said to him does he want a phone for his birthday and he says no, he doesn't want anything (men). But when in shops, he always says he wants a Blackberry, so now he has one, winging its way to me as we speak.

If I was spending money on a new phone in store, then I would get him to choose it, as I can get a bit panicy spending money on ANYTHING over £100 for someone else. But for £70, if he doesn't like, we can sell it on then get another. And if he does opt for contract, we can still sell on.
 
Shame he doesn't want a contract as I find they're more cost effective, but I am thinking of my son and his 3000 texts a month lol
 
I know, I've tried to tell him how they are far more cost effective, but he doesn't want to be tied down, so I'll leave him to it! I'm sure once he sees how much an 'android' esque phone costs to use away from WiFi on PAYG, he will consider a contract :)
 
I'm sure he will be pleased with it, Just hope he will be the one paying the bill for wifi and calls!!!
£70 sounds like a good price for a new phone x x
 
Shame he doesn't want a contract as I find they're more cost effective, but I am thinking of my son and his 3000 texts a month lol


my son had over 3000 text in a month, it worked out at 120 texts a day, taking into account that his phone is turned off in school. I didnt realise that unlimited texts dont mean unlimited.

He is getting a new contract, he wants a blackberry so will be looking in O2 soon.
 
Some of the latest PAYG sims offer free data if you top up a certain amount each month.. That might be worth looking in to as BB has push email, you really need to be connected all of the time. I've got a contract atm with a BB Bold, I pay £35 a month for 1200 minutes, unlimited texts, 50 mms, BB email & 500mb data. I'm downgrading in August (12 months after taking contract out, it's a 24 month contract) to £10-£15 less! I just don't use it all. What a waste!
 
Back
Top