Which Smart Phone? From a rather confused noob

close2u

• I'm living in the past.
  Never had a smart phone.
  I'm using a 10 year old Motorola and my wife a Nokia of similar age.
  I got my wife an iphone for her birthday, 2-year contract.
  But she tactfully said it was more than her needs.
  So suggests I take the iphone and get her something less whizz-bang on a pay-as-you-go deal.
  So, I'm now trying to research which modest-priced smart phone to buy.
  
  Criterion:
  SIM free
  Low usage ... some calls, some texts.
  User-friendly.
  Not tiny in size, not massive either, but a decent clear-to-view screen.
  Low on data, not massive storage needed, able to turn off data when not in a free Wi-Fi zone.
  A decent camera would be very welcome.
  
  I have found these at Argos.
  I have a £20 Argos voucher too
  
  SIM free
  
  Samsung Galaxy Fame £85
  LG L5 II £80
  Moto E = £90
  Nokia Lumia 630 £100
  Samsung Galaxy S3 mini £120
  Nokia Lumia 635 £130
  HTC Desire 310 £130
  Moto G = £150
  
  
  Any help and constructive advice would be gratefully received.
  
  

spark240

Luckily , you haven't listed it...but don't get a sony Z series, it's the worst phone I had in years.

stickyfiddle

The Lumia range is good - my Mum's just got a 630 after being happy with her old 610. The 635 is the same phone but with 4G, so either is a good starter into smartphones. Go for the 630 if you're not paying for 4G otherwise there's no benefit to the 635

bobblehat

Moto G fantastic spec and great price.

I would recommend Tesco you can buy one for £125.

I also have the Samsung S3 that I use for work and that's also pretty good but for similar money the Moto G is much better..

    

ICBM

Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.

My wife and daughter have them, both were more or less smartphone novices and find them simple, reliable and yet with enough good stuff that they soon became like everyone else and permanently attached to their phones! It also has good battery life which you didn't mention but is important. So good we're going to get another one for the next daughter this year.

You'll like the iPhone too, that was my first smartphone and it's also simple and intuitive but powerful.

strumjoughlamps

3 of those phones have belonged to my daugher

in order

Galaxy Fame, not too bad if you are a tortoise, struggles to do anything normal.

S3 Mini, similar looking but a major upgrade to the Fame, snappier and can handle normal, don't push it too hard though.

Moto G, in a different class to other budget Android phones, more in the mid range class, solid build, great screen, lovely and quick, you will not be disappointed.

you have a couple of Microsoft phones in the running, my wife likes windows phones and can honestly say that the past 4 odd years of her having them they have always been good; do not compare on paper spec as they read as underpowered compared to Android phones, but running a different OS is where windows shine, you dont get none of the clunkiness you might get from Android..

so your first job really is to work out which OS you might prefer.

close2u

strumjoughlamps said:

you have a couple of Microsoft phones in the running, ...

so your first job really is to work out which OS you might prefer.

I hadn't really taken note of that ... I have no idea about the different OS and therefore no preference.

Might a Windows phone be a little more 'user-friendly' and intuitive for a PC user?

Do they differ greatly for general use?

If so, how?

boogieman

Mrs B had a Galaxy Mini and hated it. She said the text interface is very clunky and completely unintuitive so if you do lots of texting I'd avoid it. My daughter has one of the Lumias and loves it

markblack

Nexus 5 is the best phone I've had. Made me break from iPhones and never looked back.

http://www.google.co.uk/nexus/5/

The 6 is coming soon, something to bear in mind.

sinbaadi

Moto G is a great phone for the money.  

The only thing which lets it down a bit is the stills camera, but it's fine for snapping pics to look at on the phone itself.  It's only really when you get them onto a big screen that the quality (or lack thereof) becomes apparent.

equalsql

I picked up a Moto E at the start on the month from Argos. It's my first smart-phone and I have to say I'm really impressed with it. Looking at the competition it definitely came out on top in its price-group.  My mate at work was so impressed that he went out yesterday to our local branch and bought one for himself.   They take a micro-sim, so I just cut my original sim down to size using a cutting template that I downloaded from google images.  Easy peasy.

ThePrettyDamned

The lumias are winners. Pick the one with best battery life

Does everything you need it to, and it has Nokia music - which is excellent, and Nokia maps, which is also excellent. It's miles better than Google maps for satnav work.

I have a nexus 4. When my contract is up, I'm getting a low range lumia - I don't need a powerful phone. I'd rather a powerful tablet.

crunchman

Think the Moto G doesn't come with as much pre-installed rubbish as some of the other Android phones.  My HTC came with Twitter and all kinds of other stuff I don't want.  You can't uninstall it without rooting the phone. The Windows ones may be better like that as well.

dogload

I've got a Sony Z2 and really like it. That's after a year of saying I'd never have another Sony, having used an Xperia T for the previous 12 months.

LooseMoose

In that list the Moto G is the only one I'd touch.  It's running a decent-ish version of Android, the camera isn't too crap and it's fairly well built.  My wife has a Lumia and the app selections are awful, that may not really be an issue for you but the camera isn't good either.

In my own opinion most android phones are pretty shat (I've tried them regularly and just hate them, sorry but I do).  Many are filled with cack that you won't use.

My vote would be for a second hand iPhone

roundthebend

We have 2 standard Moto G in the house and I just bought the Moto G 4G version. My youngest son is going to be getting one for Xmas. That's how good these are. £125 from Amazon, SIM free.

BigMonka

One of the downsides of the better smartphones is that they're big. The moto g is noticeably bigger than the moto e and the 2nd generation Moto G (which has been out a couple of months even though most places are still selling the 1st gen instead) has a 5" screen so is really quite huge. The 2nd gen does have a much better phone than the original though, whcih was the main complaint in the 1st gen reviews.

close2u

Just to add / detail some of the criterion:

My wife has an ipad air - so is well served in terms of 'computing power' in a portable form.

The mobile phone would be for (a small amount of) texting (from home & out) and phoning whilst out.

She does read and send emails and does access Facebook. She may do this - again when she hasn't got the ipad with her - but not much.

Plus she may take some photos where having her digital camera / ipad is not convenient or they are not at hand.

She is unlikely to listen to music on it - we have a small ipod that she seldom uses.

She doesn't drive so satnav / maps etc are not important.

We have never used apps so don't know whether or not they will become things we will ever want / need / use.

EricTheWeary

LooseMoose said:

In that list the Moto G is the only one I'd touch.  It's running a decent-ish version of Android, the camera isn't too crap and it's fairly well built.  My wife has a Lumia and the app selections are awful, that may not really be an issue for you but the camera isn't good either.

In my own opinion most android phones are pretty shat (I've tried them regularly and just hate them, sorry but I do).  Many are filled with cack that you won't use.

My vote would be for a second hand iPhone

an older refurb iPhone would be similar price to some of these, worth checking on groupon amongst other places.

JAYJO

Ive just got the Nokia Lumia 630 from Virgin Media. 24 month contract. £5 month for first 6 then £10. Phone replaces my previous Samsung Galaxy y(Same contract) and is much better. I can drag and drop from my wmp which is ideal for me. There are others to choose from if you have a look at Virgin Mobiles.

holnrew

Moto G is good quality, but don't accidentally throw it into the floor. I'm getting a replacement after a year.