Good smartphones under €200

K.C

Looking for a reasonably priced smartphone. Best I've seen so far is HTC wildfire on meteor for €225 pre-pay.

Preferably will stick to prepay as I'm not a heavy phone user

Any others??

Thanks

dubrov

Smartphones have really moved on in the last year. They are like mini-laptops.

The desire is ok but a bit slow and I'd say you will be looking to upgrade it fairly soone..

The Galaxy S or HTC Desire are the phones to get. If I were you, I'd wait for these phones to drop in price or try and pick one up second hand on adverts. They should do you for a long while as they pretty much run everything smoothly now so you won't be found wanting for extra power

evostik

I bought a Samsung i5500 recently when I ported my phone over to Vodafone for €110. I think it's €130 if your already with Vodafone.

It ticks all the boxes for me: wi-fi, bluetooth, gps, sat nav, camera, music player, email, etc. The phone is really stylish too. Only negatives are the small 2.8" screen and the battery life when running gps. All in all I'd highly recommend it.

flutered

zte blade, there is a thread here on boards all about it, one has to go up north or get a friend in england to post it to you, £99 for the fone + top up credit between £10-£20, depends on the shop.

darrenw5094

San Francisco phone on the Orange network UK. £99 in UK Argus catalogue. Needs to be unlocked but you get this for about €130.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJZHQTr8ZpE

Tazz T

Yup. I got one this weekend. Piece of cake to unlock and flashed with Android 2.2. Unreal phone for the money. Nothing down south comes close for the cash.

davoxx

Tazz T wrote: »

Yup. I got one this weekend. Piece of cake to unlock and flashed with Android 2.2. Unreal phone for the money. Nothing down south comes close for the cash.

did you unlock it yourself?

Tazz T

Yeah, it's a cinch. Just head over to the ZTE Blade thread on the Android forum.

flutered

davoxx wrote: »

did you unlock it yourself?

there is a link to a free unlock on boards.ie.

Cool Mo D

What about the LG Optimus, and the Sony Xperia X8: all competent Android phones, about 100 euro, and available pay-as-you-go already from Irish networks.

mp3ireland2

Cheers for the heads up on this lads! Would never have known about it! Looks good value! Just reserved one in Argos in Newcastle, las one in the whole city in Argos! Must be because they’re down to £89.99 with £10 free credit there now.

Would never have been aware of it only for bargain alerts! Meeting my friend in Germany next week so I’ll get it off him then, a real covert international operation!

cython

Cool Mo D wrote: »

What about the LG Optimus, and the Sony Xperia X8: all competent Android phones, about 100 euro, and available pay-as-you-go already from Irish networks.

I wouldn't touch the X8 with a barge pole at this stage. Released (at least to the Irish market) when Android 2.2 was the latest/current version, Sony Ericsson have since said they will update it to 2.1, (which I gather they have done), and will not be supporting any later versions on it. Add to that the reviews I've heard suggesting the CPU is a bit underpowered, and I wouldn't call it too competent/good an option, I'm afraid.

54kroc

Is there an easy way to get the Orange San Francisco without going up north?

mp3ireland2

They seem pricey enough on ebay.... Amazon doesn't deliver mobile phones to Southern Ireland... that were the two options i tried.... It's a long drive from cork allright!

Twatter

cork45 wrote: »

Is there an easy way to get the Orange San Francisco without going up north?

If only there was someone here who lived close to the north.....
Was thinking of buying one or two and putting them up on ebay ireland (sealed box) the cost being just enough to cover my expenses of buying and posting them.(and bloody ebay/paypal fees) Don't think I'd unlock/debrand them or anything but I cannot recommend these phones highly enough (except maybe for battery life).
Alternatively if anyone wants me to buy them and trusts me enough to post them on let me know... if its not breaking any rules here! As said already there running out fast though... 2 in Downpatrick today that seems to be all!

mp3ireland2

If only I found out about these phones a month ago! Was seeing a girl from belfast so used to be up and down the whole time! could have bought a few and posted them around... have to go up at some stage to collect some stuff.. .but that could be a couple of months so ye'll prob have gotten them someway or other by then! I'd say the orange stores must have them in stock. Prob selling from argos quick as they're £10 cheper and come with £10 credit, so really ur saving £20 in argos (assuming your going to actually use it on the orange network!) There's def a niche in the market for somebody living near the border to open up an ebay shop selling them!

darrenw5094

I checked the Argus website yesterday and they are sold out. Have to travel up north i think. Hmmm..... a long 10 mins up the motorway.......it's killer sometimes.;)

ixtlan

cython wrote: »

I wouldn't touch the X8 with a barge pole at this stage. Released (at least to the Irish market) when Android 2.2 was the latest/current version, Sony Ericsson have since said they will update it to 2.1, (which I gather they have done), and will not be supporting any later versions on it. Add to that the reviews I've heard suggesting the CPU is a bit underpowered, and I wouldn't call it too competent/good an option, I'm afraid.

Since I have one I must comment as I think this a bit harsh.

Yes, it is stuck on Android 2.1 (there are indications that it might get hacked to 2.3 and beyond, but I would not depend on that).

The CPU is a bit underpowered when switching between app and the memory is very limited (so you end up deleting apps to install others).

On the other hand, it's very small, light and cheap... with Voda it's €90 for a number transfer, and you can get 12.50 off that with Fatcheese, so 77.50 potentially. And it works pretty good. I respect it for what it is. It certainly isn't the best, it's in the low segment of the market.

Ix

Twatter

More San Francisco phones in Argos Northern Ireland. Have white one reserved until tomorrow in newry if anyone wants reservation number

Jackobyte

For people talking about travelling up and then selling for enough to cover their costs, how much would it cost? I can't travel and I need a new phone very soon (next week or so) so potentially I might be interested.

Twatter

Don't know what the postage would be but got white one the other day. If you want it without the simcard etc
http://www.adverts.ie/479522