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Samsung Galaxy Mini
by Clarey112
I wanted an android phone on a contract and had my eye on the Samsung galaxy S2 for a while but didn't want to pay out for it and didn't really like how big it was. The shop advisor recommended the Samsung Galaxy Mini; I had a play around with it and really liked the style and size of it and was really happy that I could now download ... android games and apps for it. For the first 6 months I got on really well with the phone but after a bit of time it started playing up and being really slow, I had to remove loads of apps from the phone to get it to a normal speed again, it also started turning off for no reason and the battery life started to get really bad, obviously this is the case with most smartphones though and is something to be expected.
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Orange San Francisco Smartphone
by EmilyWrites
I'm still really annoyed with Orange over my experience with signing up to a 24 month contract to get their San Francisco smartphone. I looked at all the options in store before deciding that this phone would be right for my needs and agreed to pay £25 a month for two years in exchange for a certain amount of minutes, texts, data usage ... and this handset - which was supposed to be one of the better ones on the market at the time.
I really liked the phone when I first got it set up, it offered me lots of android applications like the ability to read Kindle books on my phone, play a spot of Angry Birds when I was bored and of course check my facebook and surf the web in general too. It had a neat, organised phone book that was easy to use and the text message and picture messaging facilities worked smoothly as well.
What most appealed to me initially was that the phone looked and felt like a sleek more expensive smart phone, on par with the more expensive Samsung rivals. The layout of the phone was smart, convenient and most importantly customisable. As with most (if not all) Android systems, I could swipe between multiple screens and keep my short cut icons where I wanted them. So for example I had one screen off to the right where I kept applications that my child could use, such as drawing apps, for when we were out and about waiting for something.
This is a touchscreen phone though, and that's really where my problems began. After a few months I noticed that there was a delay between me touching or swiping the screen and the phone responding. Unfortunately though this problem was intermittent, and of course both times I took it into the phone shop it worked fine! They suggested I try a factory reset, which was a huge inconvenience but worth a shot. I did this, and the phone seemed to respond a little better for a few weeks. But before long, the same problem recurred. At first it was just that the screen was slow to respond, but eventually I found it was freezing up altogether and I had to switch the phone off and on again to get it to work at all. Sadly by this point, the twelve months guarantee was up. The phone had become almost completely useless and I had no come back with Orange to get it fixed or replaced.
Worst still, I was still effectively paying for it as I was tied in to a 24 month contract. Of course Orange insisted that this was just the charge for my call plan. They told me to buy another handset myself or pay a huge get-out fee to cancel the contract early that wasn't worth doing. I had to go to Tesco and buy myself a £40 Orange Samsung Tocco and continue to pay the £25 a month contract fee for the duration of the year. To say I wasn't happy is an understatement since I couldn't even access the internet on my Tocco (despite the claims on the box and in the manual that I could).
On top of all that, even when the phone was working I found that my internet access was painfully restrictive. Facebook took ages to load on this phone and I gave up trying to upload photos to there from my phone. I found that google worked, but trying to select from the search results was a time consuming nightmare - not least because the links were so small and the touchscreen so poor at responding. I was paying for internet access that was ineffective, slow and painful. Thanks a bunch Orange!
Suffice to say I am now with Tesco mobile, using a better quality Samsung handset that I bought outright. I won't go back to Orange, I don't recommend this particular phone and I certainly won't be signing up for another 'free handset' contract in a hurry.
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BlackBerry Bold 9790
by slide_away_
General spec:
Dimensions: 110 x 60 x 11.4 mm
Weight: 107g
Keyboard: QWERTY
Size: 2.45 inches
Card slot: microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal: 8 GB storage, 768 MB RAM
GPRS: Yes
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
Bluetooth: Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
Camera: 5 MP
Video: Yes, VGA
OS: ... BlackBerry OS 7.0
Messaging: SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser: HTML
Radio: No
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support
Java: No
Battery: Up to 408 h (3G)
I had a Nokia touchscreen phone a few years ago which put me off touchscreen phones until I caved in and bought this, and I'm so glad I did! I upgraded to this after a contract with a Blackberry Curve 8250, because I wanted something a bit more modern and with more features. I would say that the price for what you get is the best thing about this phone since it is a new touchscreen model with 3G and a decent 5mp camera, and much less expensive than other models.
It is a less expensive version of the Blackberry Bold 9900, which has a similar spec but looks more impressive: however, I find the sleekness and design of this phone to be more preferable to the bulky design of the 9900. The material of the back of this phone is a big plus for me since I rarely use a case: i've had the phone for about half a year and it's shown no scratches and still looks brand new!
The touchscreen is easy to use and not too sensitive, a problem that drove me mad on my old Nokia phone, and the interface is simple and without fault. The battery life tends to last about 24 hours of decent usage and doesn't need charging everyday. The only drawbacks to this phone are the lock button, which doesn't seem to work (but that can be solved by using a password lock if you're worried) and the fact that sometimes it does freeze if overwhelmed, but that can be solved by resetting it. All in all, I'd say that this phone is well worth the money and holds its own against the more upmarket and higher range smartphones on the market.
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