Cheap PAYG Android phone £39.99

[Scope]

QUESTION TIME ( Phone xpert required )

Do I go for this phone, available at Argos for £79 quid, as it looks like T Mobile have exhausted supply at the £39 quid stock or go for the HTC Wildfire at an offered price of £129 from a supplier. Can someone who has a thorough knowledge of phones please advise me on this one. Phone to be used more for apps, gadgetry etc. than actually making calls.

[Fonefixer]

Phone Expert Answer

Scope: If youre considering paying £79, have a look here: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/SAMSUNG-I5800-GALAXY-APOLLO/PPAY

The Galaxy Apollo is a better handset IMHO and will have an official update to Froyo within the next month/six weeks for end-users (I already have the Froyo update on my servers at work but can't be arsed to tell anyone I have it. People who send their handsets in for service are suprised to find Froyo loaded on it when they get it back!).

One other advantage is that most of the handsets supplied by CPW are unlocked / generic - i.e. no operator branding. All you need to do is buy the handset on the cheapest subsidy and put your sim in it. If you are unsure, go to your local CPW store and buy one, look at its box and make sure no network name is mentioned on the imei label. They may try and charge you more in store - if this is the case, buy it online and choose "collect from store" - that way you can check it is a generic one before accepting it and get it for £79. I have not seen a non-generic one of these come out of a CPW store yet.

Regarding the HTC, if you want to fork out the extra dosh you can do, but you wont get much more for your money.

[Scope]

@ Fonefixer
Thank you very much for the time spent in your advice, I think I may go for the Apollo, I personally like the quality of Samsung.

[Warpedflash]

I walked down to my local t-mobile shop and got one of these for family/friends use when they go out and don't want to take their normal (and a lot more costly) phone. Works great after a bit of tweaking to remove all the T mobile junk.

[Fonefixer]

You been fiddling with things again, Warpedflash?

[Charlie]

@ Scope

I just got the Apollo today - just got it on charge - I too like Samsung gadgets

[Fonefixer]

Charlie: Was it £79 in store (plus the credit) and is it a generic handset?

[Charlie]

Charlie: Was it £79 in store (plus the credit) and is it a generic handset?

Yes unbranded, unlocked handset- £79.95 for phone with £10 top up on orange or £89.95 with NO top up on Vodafone (as this would be an upgrade for me as I have a PAYG Vodafone handset already - bought from CPW)

So either way - it was going to be £89.95 in total for me.

[Fonefixer]

Ok- Just checking

[andrewW]

Works great after a bit of tweaking to remove all the T mobile junk.

Just out of interest, how and what T M junk did you remove?