What Mobile Phone are You Packing?

[Rob McCow]

There are literally millions of mobile phones on the market, from I-Phones to Google Androids. But what phone are you using? Are you on contract or Pay As You Go? Do you know any particular mobile bargains?

Myself, I have a blue Nokia 3100 that I run on Pay As You Go. I don't know how old it is, but when the time and date reset it goes back to 01-01-2004 as default.

It was a complete bargain - someone gave it to me second hand! But it doesn't do anything exciting, at least not now that Snake 2 fails to impress the masses.

[Anthony Williams]

I have a 3 Skypephone, which is possibly the worst thing on the market.

I bought it, because it has Skype built in, which seemed like a GREAT idea to me at the time. However, the number of bugs that it has are just incredible - the fact that it periodically decides to delete all my numbers, that if I keep too many text messages, every time I receive one, I receive it about eight times (and I'm not exaggerating). Every time I use it for the internet I get an error.

Then, there's the fact that 3 is a pretty piss-poor network... constant signal problems, poor customer service.

Frankly, if I weren't moving to the States, I'd be dropping 3 and getting a better phone.

Ant x

[Captain Tancredi]

I have a Samsung (or a Chelsea Phone as I keep thinking of it)- couldn't tell you what model but I bought it about 18 months ago with £10 credit and (I checked today) still have a £5.26 balance on it!

[Si Hunt]

I have an iPhone, I bought it when I started my new job as a treat. It does me proud on the train - it's constant entertainment, as I can write and check e-mails and surf Digital Spy and Planet Skaro on the move. In fact it fills up every second of 'lost' time in my life, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, if I find myself bored or stuck in a queue I can whip it out for some fun.

It's not perfect - one gets spoiled with anything - and I wish you could multi-task, for example downloading tweets or Facebook while surfing - and I'm in a bit of a quandry about what to do when my contract runs out in February. There's a brand new iPhone 4 on the block, but someone has advised me to stick with the old model for another year on a dirt-low tarriff until the next one comes out, as apparently they lock you in to a 3 year contract or something so my iPhone 4 could be obselete in a year and I'll be stuck with it for another 2! What to do?

It costs me £30 a month which is probably a bargain for something I use approximately every two minutes of my waking life. That's only like 3 DVD's or a night out a month, even ignoring any fees I'd have with another mobile.

Si.

[Perry Vale]

I've got the iPhone 3GS. Love it, for the same reasons as Si, above.

My contract runs out in a week or two, and I am going to hold off on an iPhone 4, not really much there for me to upgrade for. I can go on to a rolling one month contract (at £20 a month), or get locked in to a 12 month contract at £15 a month. Think I may go for the latter, as am currently paying £35 a month.

[cyberchris35]

I am on a Sony Erricsson W595 and it does me well it's got a good music player on it and I am happy with it.

[Dirk Gently]

I have a Motorola Razr V3 which I've had for about 5 years, on a P.A.Y.G from Orange.
It takes calls, makes calls, takes poor quality pic's & I can play golf* on it if I'm bored. That's about all I need it for.






*Computer golf, not actual golf....that would be silly.

[Darren]

I have a Nokia 5800 on Vodafone PAYG.

[Lissa]

I have an iPhone 4. I love it. It's my second best friend. I got a 3G the day it came out and have never looked back.

It's not perfect - one gets spoiled with anything - and I wish you could multi-task, for example downloading tweets or Facebook while surfing - and I'm in a bit of a quandry about what to do when my contract runs out in February. There's a brand new iPhone 4 on the block, but someone has advised me to stick with the old model for another year on a dirt-low tarriff until the next one comes out, as apparently they lock you in to a 3 year contract or something so my iPhone 4 could be obselete in a year and I'll be stuck with it for another 2! What to do?

Assuming you have a 3GS you can install iOS 4 which includes multi-tasking. It doesn't work so well on the 3G but the 3GS is more than able to handle it.

New iPhones generally - as in it's happened every year so far - come out at the end of June/July each year. If your contract expires in February just stick with them until the 5 comes out and get that. It'll almost certainly be awesome.

And I've never heard of anyone locking you into a 3 year contract. 2 years for a smartphone like the iPhone is normal and that's no big deal because they come out each year so you're never more than 1 model behind.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I'm bucking the iPhone trend (no surprise).

I have the Blackberry wannabe the Nokia E63 ...



Much like a lot of people with smartphones I love this to bits. I usually was someone who hated mobiles, but this one and me really get on together.

Love that it has a keyboard - I can write a lot of wordy stuff on it, and useful for making notes in meetings. I have it on 2degrees, so usually NZ$20 on pay-as-you-go lasts me about 6-8 weeks, so it's very cheap to run. 2degrees are also without doubt the best phone company I've ever been with - and you get 100 free texts just for topping up with a voucher!

But like many have said - it really adds some fun to my train journeys, keeps me up to date with email and Facebook. Nothing hugely flash regarding apps - although Snaptu, Nimbuzz, Skype and Opera are must-have's.

So very positive experience - makes me want to buy a Nokia as my next phone. Best of all it reminds me of a pocket Hitch-Hikers Guide!

[duncan]

My son has just got a new Blackberry so he gave me his Samsung Genio and I am using that. It's not worth having a contract as I am such a light user as most of my calls are made on the company mobile. I'm on ASDA pay as you go as there call tarriff is very cheap. But the problem with that is the lack of internet access which turns the Genio into a basic phone.