Recommend a reliable PAYG phone?

[Mr Pig]

makes me wonder if there is one where good battery life and a good camera quality are combined, but without reliability issues.

I told you, Sony Ericson. link Everone I know who has one of these really likes it. Not the coolest looking phone but it works. We have three Sony phones in the house and they've all been good.

Or this one, the K791a, has a good 3.2Mp camera, my son has one link

 

[bonj2]

the sony ericsson W810i is alright, I had one for a bit. Only problem with it is it's got a propietary headphone socket so if you want to use your own headphones you have a really long wire.

Other option might be look on ebay for a second hand N95 - I believe the N96 is out soon or is already out (but hasn't been for long if it is) so some N95's should be going cheap. not brilliant battery life but it can do pretty much ANYTHING, the camera's very good and has standard (i.e. non proprietary) headphone and usb sockets. in fact the only time the camera was not as good as my casio exilim was indoor closeup photos of people (a camera which has incidentally been stone dead anyway since I accidentally chargedit on 12V rather than 6

 

[bonj2]

another tip - a possible way to get a bargain on ebay is look for one locked to a network that you want to go on (or don't mind going on). there should be numerous of those for sale, and they can'tpossibly fetch as much as an unlocked one.

 

[beanzontoast]

Had a go with my daughter's Samsung G600 last night, but looks like a Sony Ericsson may be the way to go. My son is a firm follower of their phones. The 800i is one I'm looking at. A few people have mentioned battery life as an issue, but that seems quite a common 'mention' amongst newer phones.

 

[Mr Pig]

We got my son's phone from a place on line, it was a good bit cheaper. I'll check what the place was called when I get home.

Most phones can be unlocked for a tenner but do check as some can't.

 

[marinyork]

Only problem with SE is "left hand pad" syndrome that and breaking joysticks that I've had on both of mine and all my mates have had the same problem. The k800i is an old premium phone. It's very chunky though.

 

[Mr Pig]

Yes, the joysticks they use on some Sony phones can jam up. I think it's just dirt build up though so you can clean them out. The mad thing is that they use the same chassis underneath but fit different controls to different phones. The W810i and K750i are near identical under the skin but the joysticks and buttons are different. The K750i is actually better value as the music player, camera etc are just as good as the ones on the W800i, just that poorer headphones are supplied and the software is different. The W800i joystick doesn't seem to jam up though, it's a one-piece pad.

You need to really compare the Sony phones to Nokia ones at the price to grasp the difference. The Nokia 6300 is a phone with a poor afterthought camera stuck on. The Sony K800i is a digital camera with a decent phone built in! Even the W810i/K750i has a flash and other features that make picture quality a lot better. You can even use the flash as a torch or set it to flash S.O.S. !

The daft charging/headphone connector block on the Sony phones is a pain though, I don't know why they did that. You can get an adapter but it still seems obtuse.

 

[marinyork]

Yes, the joysticks they use on some Sony phones can jam up. I think it's just dirt build up though so you can clean them out. The mad thing is that they use the same chassis underneath but fit different controls to different phones. The W810i and K750i are near identical under the skin but the joysticks and buttons are different. The K750i is actually better value as the music player, camera etc are just as good as the ones on the W800i, just that poorer headphones are supplied and the software is different. The W800i joystick doesn't seem to jam up though, it's a one-piece pad.

You need to really compare the Sony phones to Nokia ones at the price to grasp the difference. The Nokia 6300 is a phone with a poor afterthought camera stuck on. The Sony K800i is a digital camera with a decent phone built in! Even the W810i/K750i has a flash and other features that make picture quality a lot better. You can even use the flash as a torch or set it to flash S.O.S. !

I've had two sony ericssons that have had the joysticks and pads play up. One or both (where they have joysticks) has also played up on mates phones:- k800, k810, 850, w580, w880.

You need to really compare the Sony phones to Nokia ones at the price to grasp the difference. The Nokia 6300 is a phone with a poor afterthought camera stuck on. The Sony K800i is a digital camera with a decent phone built in! Even the W810i/K750i has a flash and other features that make picture quality a lot better. You can even use the flash as a torch or set it to flash S.O.S.!

The 6300 is a crap phone in the sense that it was always overpriced and I've already said this. No the nokias I'm comparing to are the one I have and it's big brother. They are a lot cheaper than any of the dated sony ericsson stuff. For me the nokias win hands down on price. If you want to shell out serious money for dated technology that was formerly premium phones the SE models win out. I've already said some of the SE ones were miles ahead of their time, having been an owner of the k750i. Great phone for the time, what with how the market works it's not possible to get at an appropriate price unless one has a mate selling it second hand who only ever used it lightly and is in perfect condition. The k750i's camera features are nothing special compared to similarly priced phones today.