Mobile phone advice

cpedw · Post by **cpedw** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 5:02 pm

I need help. I've owned a mobile phone for several years and I have mastered calling, receiving calls, getting voicemails and even texting in both directions. But it seems that mobile phones have developed significantly without me evolving with them.

Is there much point in an iphone or other type of Smartphone for an old Luddite like me who lives and sails mainly in Argyll and thereabouts where there's no 3g coverage at all. When sailing, we have used a laptop and Vodafone dongle for email and weather moderately satisfactorily. We now have a GPS dongle and Cmap charts on the laptop for navigation, so nothing whatsoever can go wrong...can go wrong...can go wrong on that front.

The mobile phone mentioned above is getting unreliable and need replacing. It's PAYG from 3 but I think O2 gets much better coverage round Argyll so that's my focus. The big question remains, how smart should my new phone be?

Thanks,
Derek

aquaplane · Post by **aquaplane** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 5:16 pm

You seem to be at the same level of technology as I am. I have an O2 PAYG mobile which cost £20 or maybe £25. I stuck with Nokia as I know how to use them, this is a 1661.

I have wondered about getting something a bit flasher but my kids always seem to be out of power with their all singing all dancing smart phones, I don't think that's so smart.

ubergeekian · Post by **ubergeekian** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 8:21 pm

cpedw wrote: Is there much point in an iphone or other type of Smartphone for an old Luddite like me who lives and sails mainly in Argyll and thereabouts where there's no 3g coverage at all.

If you have a laptop and dongle, probably not.

The mobile phone mentioned above is getting unreliable and need replacing. It's PAYG from 3 but I think O2 gets much better coverage round Argyll so that's my focus. The big question remains, how smart should my new phone be?

I have a Samsung Galaxy S Android phone - a bit old now, as these things go, but I should get an upgrade soon. On the boat I use it only as a wifi hotspot ("tethering") for which I used to use a dongle. Otherwise I have a dead cheap, very simply PAYG Nokia which lives on the boat. It's a Tesco Mobile one, and seems to get good signals ... which bears out what you wrote, because Tesco Mobile uses the O2 network.
My wife just bought a new Nokia 100 for fifteen quid, unlocked, from Tesco. It's very simple and works very well.

wully · Post by **wully** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:17 pm

Get an iPhone - not brilliant as a phone mind you...

Load up Navionics and Boatie apps ,stick it in a waterproof bag and yer good to go

Arghiro · Post by **Arghiro** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:06 pm

Stand-by for a severe culture shock! iPhones are just grossly over priced to cover their marketing costs. as suggested get a decent smartphone using Android, it will have the same apps (application programmes) as the iPhone, but most of them are free while Apple charge for theirs!

Make sure it has GPS for the maps & nav applications & prepare to have your mind blown away by what it can do. As mentioned, you will need a spare battery & 12v & 240v chargers cos they do use a lot of juice, especially with on-line access, GPS, WiFi & video in use!

These things are very sophisticated but quite pricey, I have a £15 pm contract that offers more data, calls & texts than I ever use & free upgrades of my phone every 18months- 2years.

wully · Post by **wully** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:27 pm

quality costs...

Post by **Nick** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:01 pm

Arghiro wrote:These things are very sophisticated but quite pricey, I have a £15 pm contract that offers more data, calls & texts than I ever use & free upgrades of my phone every 18months- 2years.

Sounds very reasonable. Do share please . . .

ubergeekian · Post by **ubergeekian** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:35 pm

Nick wrote: Sounds very reasonable. Do share please . . .

Almost two years ago I decided to move from 3 to T-Mobile to get a Galaxy S for £30/month + £49 rather than £35/month + £99. By the time 3's retention department had stopped pleading with me, I was down to £25/month, nothing up front.

Upgrade time comes along this summer. I wonder what I can screw them down to for a Galaxy SIII.

Arghiro · Post by **Arghiro** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:05 pm

Nick wrote:
Arghiro wrote:These things are very sophisticated but quite pricey, I have a £15 pm contract that offers more data, calls & texts than I ever use & free upgrades of my phone every 18months- 2years.
Sounds very reasonable. Do share please . . .

I have been with 3 mobile for some years, but I have (or had until I stumbled & sat down in surf with it) an HTC Wildfire S on a contract with 500 texts (I use as many as 10-20pm) plus 300 mins (I think, I've never exceeded it) and 10Gb of data. I think the data might be an add on (fiver extra) and my monthly payment is just under 20 squid inc VAT. It's a 2 year contract & I still have about 12 months to go before my next upgrade so I have borrowed an old G1 Android as a temporary expedient.

I was well impressed with the Wildfire until I drowned it.

claymore · Post by **claymore** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 6:46 pm

I have an iphone with Orange
Complete cack.

Dear heart has a very old nokia with vodaphone
Brilliant and Ive never seen her get a bill of more than £12 per month

I hardly use mine and cannot get below £35
Complete cack.

Arghiro · Post by **Arghiro** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:13 pm

claymore wrote:I have an iphone with Orange
Complete cack.

Dear heart has a very old nokia with vodaphone
Brilliant and Ive never seen her get a bill of more than £12 per month

I hardly use mine and cannot get below £35
Complete cack.

Your bill probably includes £30pm payment to cover the cost of the "free" phone. Either that or you have loads of apps running in background mode accessing data all day long. If the latter, you should be able to download an "app Killer" that enables you to force background apps off if no longer required to be active.

cpedw · Post by **cpedw** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 1:56 pm

Well thanks for all the replies; I understood a few of them.

Update: Jane and I went shopping for my new phone last week. After much browsing (physical and web) Jane upgraded her Vodafone to a Samsung android thing. I swapped 3 PAYG for O2 with a _downgrade_ to a phone that doesn't even have a camera, all for £15.99. It's got a battery that runs for ever (almost) and a much improved signal. It makes calls and does texts. It knows all my favourite phone numbers and it knows when Jane's birthday is. I'm happy as the proverbial swine in the sewage.

Derek

Fingal · Post by **Fingal** » Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:45 pm

Don't drop it in the sea. Don't ask me where I learned this advice.

Arghiro · Post by **Arghiro** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:42 pm

I can confirm that that is a good idea, err, to NOT drop it in the sea I mean. Also do not sit down in surf, however accidentally, with one in your pocket.

Alan_D · Post by **Alan_D** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:56 pm

Arghiro wrote:I can confirm that that is a good idea, err, to NOT drop it in the sea I mean. Also do not sit down in surf, however accidentally, with one in your pocket.

Have youse folk not heard of waterproof cases for mobile phones? Since I got one of those I haven't fallen in the water at all.

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