Budget smartphone

boffin54321

Can anyone recommend a budget smartphone? Is the Orange San Francisco still the best value for money? thanks.

Kristopherus

There's better value than the Blade around. At the moment the Blade is £99 from Orange in the UK. Here Three have the Samsung Galaxy Europa for €39:)( £82 in UK). The Europa has the same processor as the Blade and has Android 2.2 pre-installed. And it is easy to unlock. The screen is a little on the small side, but IMHO it is a great starter smartphone.

donmeister

Had the Orange San Francisco, great phone it was, just lacking the horsepower for flash and a crap camera but other than that its spot on, only €100. Fantatic value

If you want a little more grunt there is the Acer Liquid Metal over on Expansys for €170 delivered. Has nearly the same specs as the Htc Desire Z, and can be overlclocked to 1.5ghz. Be warned though my experiences with Expansys have been pretty terrible so thread carefully if buying from them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqK0vLIsHuM

Then another step up is the Sony Xperia Play, just bought one this week. Im loving it! Great camera 5mp, and HD video recording plus PSP controls, flash etc.
Currently €225-ish on Amazon. Ordered last Tuesday night and came Thursday morning, god I love Amazon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snvrJcK4b34

Zonda999

As for the Europa, there have been reports of some people getting just awful battery life, know someone who got it for €39 on three and the battery seems just dreadful. Not sure if its an issue with the 2.2 upgrade or something because my sister got an Europa on meteor last xmas and the battery life is fine, 2 days without issue

If you dont want the hassle of getting a San Francisco, i'd recommend having a look at the Samsung Galaxy Mini, available for about 100€ on all the networks. Had a play with one there yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by it, seemed nippy enough and the screen was fine

Otherwise, the San Francisco is still a very solid choice, plenty customisation options there for it. You could also have a look at the Orange Monte Carlo(The ZTE Skate, in drag. Available for less than 200€ afaik, quicker chip than the San Francisco(800vs 600MHz) and a great big 4.3" screen. Review here

Kristopherus

Tesco have the Galaxy Mini on offer at €89.99 at the mo. And their tarriffs are not half bad either, especially their new Pay Monthly plans.

pickarooney

Which of the Europa, Galaxy Mini and Blade has the best camera?

choons

I just ordered a Huawei Gaga from tesco for €59

Looks decent:
Android 2.2
3.2mp camera
Wifi

Has anyone ever used this phone? I just needed a basic smart phone to keep me going for a few months.

Have a look at the Vodafone Smart as well, similar spec and price.

loyatemu

pickarooney wrote: »

Which of the Europa, Galaxy Mini and Blade has the best camera?

camera on the blade is terrible, borderline unusable.

Kristopherus

pickarooney wrote: »

Which of the Europa, Galaxy Mini and Blade has the best camera?

Blade has a 3.2mp, Galaxy Mini 3.0mp & Europa has 2.0mp. Not great by any means and no flash on the Blade. Those lower end smartphones as well as the "bargains" from China all suffer from poorish cameras.

Zonda999

Kristopherus wrote: »

Blade has a 3.2mp, Galaxy Mini 3.0mp & Europa has 2.0mp. Not great by any means and no flash on the Blade. Those lower end smartphones as well as the "bargains" from China all suffer from poorish cameras.

Yep and from my experience the camera's in lower end Samsung phones ain't no great shakes

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/samsung-galaxy-mini-930909/review?artc_pg=6

Sound like the Galaxy Mini may have the "best" camera of the three..

G S R

Kristopherus wrote: »

There's better value than the Blade around. At the moment the Blade is £99 from Orange in the UK. Here Three have the Samsung Galaxy Europa for €39:)( £82 in UK). The Europa has the same processor as the Blade and has Android 2.2 pre-installed. And it is easy to unlock. The screen is a little on the small side, but IMHO it is a great starter smartphone.

I've had both of these phones previously. The Blade is by far the better phone in my opinion. Even though both have the same processor, I thought the Blade ran smoother. I've the Europa at the moment, and although it was cheap as chips and easy to install a custom rom, I just don't like it at all and will probably get a new Blade in the next few months, or even one of the new Orange ZTEs that are now on sale for about €150ish.

pickarooney

I think I should maybe look into non-smart phones with cameras then. Something like the LG Renoir...

justsomebloke

Be careful of getting any of the new orange android devices cause afaik they can't be unlocked.

Between the blade and the galaxy mini I would go for the blade. The mini really is a pile of crap if it isn't rooted and updated to 2.3, stock keyboards are woeful and battery is crap to boot

rhapsodyinblue

Hello Choons, how's your Huawei gaga going? Was thinking of buying it, but am wondering, if the 'keyboard' may be too small for my fingers.

choons wrote: »

I just ordered a Huawei Gaga from tesco for €59

Looks decent:
Android 2.2
3.2mp camera
Wifi

Has anyone ever used this phone? I just needed a basic smart phone to keep me going for a few months.

Have a look at the Vodafone Smart as well, similar spec and price.

Tar.Aldarion

Think the europa @39e has been amazing so far, great stuff for that price. Old thread I know

ED E

Europa is very good value for money from the one I have experience of.