Android offers consumers a huge
choice of handsets for all needs. We show you how to pick a winner
Big screens, super small, colorful Amoded
display, great cameras, 4G, NFC and on any budget, Android smartphones are
packed with the latest technology in every shape and size imaginable, but you
can’t have it all ways. Getting the right mix of features is essential, but
walking into your local high-street store is bound to cause confusion.
Everything from screen size and the quality
of the camera, right down to the speed of the processor changes with every
handset. And the manufacturers such as Samsung are intent on releasing in
excess of 10 different handsets at any given time, you can be forgiven for being
confused.
We’ve listed all of the major buying
decisions, in a bid to break down the barriers to getting the right handset for
you. What’s more, we’ve even explained which carriers and operators are right
for you, so you can sign up to a contract safe in the knowledge that you’re
making the right decision.
It’s
not just about picking the perfect phone – you need to choose the network and
deal that suits you best, too
Once you’ve decided on the phone that ticks
all your boxes, it’s time to wade through the quagmire of finding the best
deals and offers. The first step is to absolutely, unconditionally set your
heart on a particular model and not accept any alternatives – that way you’ll
be able to compare prices fairy and directly.
From here there are three options:
contract, sim-free or pay-as-you-go. Contract offers the very latest shiny new
handsets for free, but you have to sign up to pay monthly payments over a fixed
period – usually 18 or 24 months. Sim-free and pay-as-you-go options both
require upfront payment for the handset itself, and these can often be
ridiculously pricey for the latest models, but the advantage is that you’re not
tied into an expensive contract.
Sim - free and easy
Sim-free phones aren’t tied to any
particular operator, so you can swap sim cards without having to unlock the
phone. Pay-as-you-go phones are locked to a specific operator, but these phones
are generally a little cheaper than their sim-free equivalents.
It’s definitely worth looking at what
you’re going to be using the phone for and totting up how much you think you’ll
be spending per month before you enter a contract or pick up a pay as you-go
phone. A $240 pay-as-you-go handset may look like a good deal, for example, but
if you’re topping up $15 a month over two years, you’re pretty much spending
the same in total as you would on an $27-a-month 24-month contract, but you
would be getting a much better smartphone in the case of the latter.
Contractual obligations
Contract customers are entitled to a phone
upgrade when their contract period expires – in the case of O2, you can upgrade
a month before the contract’s over, but Orange will give you up to three
months. Even if you’re on a pay-as-you-go or sim-only contract, you might still
be able to get an upgrade or discount on a new phone with the same provider –
an additional benefit here is that you don’t have to go through the rigmarole
of moving your mobile number to a new provider.
Before you upgrade, though, it’s worth
doing a search for the handset you’d like on a site such as www.uswitch.com/mobiles. Here you’ll
be able to find the phone’s model and filter contracts based on the number of
texts or minutes you get for free. Once you’ve found your ideal mobile on any network,
give your provider a call and see whether they’ll match it. You’ll often find
that they’ll accommodate your requests – and maybe chuck something extra in –
to keep you on as a customer.
We’d recommend using the internet to find
the best deals, and then haggling over the phone if necessary. High street
shops can seem more tempting because you’re able to walk out with the phone
right there and then, but steer clear of contracts offering free games consoles
or TV’s – often you’ll be getting a lower-spec mobile phone at a high cost that
would cover the cost of the freebie anyway.
Running
on both tablets and smartphones, Android is the world’s most popular mobile OS
What is Android?
First released in 2008, Google’s Android
operating system has gone on to become the most popular in the world, and it’s
not hard to see why. From its inception, it’s been intended to be a truly open
platform, modifiable by users and free for handset manufacturers to install on
their phones. It’s moved on from mobile phones, too, and it’s so versatile that
you’ll now find it powering everything from smart televisions to digital
cameras.
Android’s latest incarnation, dubbed Ice
Cream Sandwich, is the best yet. It powers both smartphones and tablets, and it
brings with it innovative features such as Face Unlock, which recognizes the
user’s face and unlock the phone, and mobile data monitoring so you never
exceed your allocated megabytes.
Another of Android’s advantages is its
extreme levels of customization. As well as numerous apps which improve the way
your phone operates, you can also root the phone and install completely new –
and often improved – versions of the Android operating system on it. It’s a
fairly painless process, and there’s a huge internet community to hold your hand
as you delve into the world of custom ROMs.
Three
Website: www.three.co.uk
Price: $23/ month
Three touts itself as the UK’s fastest growing mobile network, and its sim-only deal packs 600 free minutes and 3,000 free
texts a month for $23. But the real boon here is its all-you-can-eat data,
which means that you can browse the web, watch YouTube videos and stream music
while you’re on the go.
GiffGaff
Website: www.giffgaff.com
Price: $15/ month
Piggybacking the O2 network, GiffGaff is a
sim-only provider, which means it doesn’t have the overheads associated with
stocking and distributing handsets. The result is that its cheapest deal
includes 250 minutes and unlimited internet for just $15 a month – and you can
call other GiffGaff mobiles completely free.
Orange
Website: www.orange.co.uk
Price: $11/ month
Orange’s sim-only
deal is the cheapest available at the time of writing. For your mere $11 a
month, you get 150 minutes, 500 texts and 250MB of data, which makes it ideal
for light to medium mobile users, or perhaps as a smartphone for the kids, when
you don’t want them costing you a fortune every month.
