best deal/phone combo for someone unconcerned about manufacturer

Emperor Tomato Ketchup

I got an iphone from 3 about 3 years back so I am out of the main contract. I am assuming that this dovetails to a monthly rollover as this is what has happened with previous phone contracts.

My iphone started wiping contacts and then got very slightly damp (it was in a zipped jacket of a new, high tech waterproof jacket so possibly only condensation) and stopped charging and is now an ibrick.

I am looking at a decent new phone. Not wedded to any maker. The flamewars on the user comments on review sites like phonearena.com seem mad to me.

Device Specs
Decent speed, reliability and battery is all good. Specifically the things I want are decent music sound and storage. My iphone was 32gig and even still I was always swapping old and new music. I have itunes but am not tied to it as I don’t use it to play music at home. I have a lot (2k albums) of MP3s ripped

The other thing is I want a good camera, especially at night/clubs/gigs. I like to take only a single device when out.

My shortlist is roughly:
HTC One M8 – meant to have good sound and good speakers. Camera seems a bit poor but might be adequate for me.

iphone 5 – seems good on all fronts and familiarity is helpful. But not essential.

Sony Xperia – seems to do very well on camera and sound, though speakers not so good. Apparently very rugged and waterproof with good battery life.

Contract Specs
I use data and 1-200 texts per month but not a lot of voice time. I am in the UK around 5 or more times a year and my old three contract gave me Three At Home for my data and voice minutes which is definitely useful.

It’d be nice to get decent coverage in west Wicklow up the mountains where my dad is but I don’t know if anyone else would be better than three.

I would really like advice on how to approach the companies to get a good deal. I’m not clear on my bill situation as my phone is dead I can’t access my bill texts. As I mentioned I assume I’m out of contract after three years. Paying around €40 p/m. given the phones I suggested gives an idea of my budget.

I’ve tried three’s phone line and while the computer assured me an upgrade the human never came on the line.

I’ve always found phone shops confusing and pressurised. First two times I got a phone or changed provider I had a sense “they saw me coming”. Had a good idea of what I wanted last time which helped but even then I wasn’t quite clear on everything (I thought the texts were also at home).
Thanks

Francie Barrett

The Sony and the HTC have support for SD cards, so rather than pay Apple an extra €200 for a 128GB version, you can pop in a €50 128GB SD card. You also have the possibiliy of just swapping for another card if you're music collection is larger than 128GB.

The HTC One camera isn't great, but it does have great speakers. The reverse is true for the Sony.

You could consider the Samsung Galaxy S5. It has one of the best cameras going on any device, it has support for SD card's and it has a very decent speaker (maybe not quite as good as the HTC One). Overall, it'd be a better proposition, unless having a great speaker was critical to you.

Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Thanks. Looking at lower prices and the expandable memory makes the non iphone very tempting. I am liable to give them a go.

Camera effectiveness in low light/night is important. My iphone 4 had a LOT of trouble with failing to focus at gigs and so on. but its not clear what phone if any is best. Looking at reviews on phonearena and trustedreviews gives different impressions of how well phone cameras perform at night. One rated the iphone as very high for this another not so much.

Francie Barrett

Emperor Tomato Ketchup wrote: »

Thanks. Looking at lower prices and the expandable memory makes the non iphone very tempting. I am liable to give them a go.

Camera effectiveness in low light/night is important. My iphone 4 had a LOT of trouble with failing to focus at gigs and so on. but its not clear what phone if any is best. Looking at reviews on phonearena and trustedreviews gives different impressions of how well phone cameras perform at night. One rated the iphone as very high for this another not so much.

Out of the HTC One, the SGS5 and the Xperia, the Samsung is regarded as the best low light camera out of that lot. These days though, camera technology has gotten so good, that the difference between all the flagships is less pronounced than previously.

Thecageyone

If you take a lot of pic's at gigs, I'd suggest not even worrying about the camera on the phones, get yourself a good compact. ANY compact camera will outshine ANY camera phone by a long ways, even the €100 mark compacts.

I went for the HTC M8 because the camera was the least important factor to me, it seemed the best all-rounder besides.