Way back when rumours started circulating about the first iPhone, I was preparing my wallet, whatever the price, for this amazing new piece of tech. My enthusiasm first waned when I heard that I wouldn't be able to use it to tether my laptop when away from home. This was huge for me. Something I could do with my Nokia E71 and something that I needed, and which I would've needed yet another bit of tech to achieve if I switched to an iPhone.
Even when the Nokia broke, I didn't switch to iPhone, I decided to go Android. The only requirements I had were email and tethering. Most of the time I have an iPad with me at the very least, because I'm always editing or reading proofs when on the go. So as long as I can use the phone to get the iPad or notebook online I'm fine.
The tethering issue with iPhone had by this time gone away, but I found that living so long without an iPhone and now owning an iPad, and with Android supplying an alternative, that the need for one had diminished.
But what's it really like to live with a bottom of the line phone when everyone around you has an iPhone? Not too bad, to be honest. Yes, it would be nice to have a decent camera on the phone for those opportunity shots, but a DSLR is little more than the price of an iPhone outright, and a compact isn't that much of a bother to carry.
It would also be nice to be able to install more apps: I have BBC news, Guardian news, Twitter, Kindle, and that, apart from pre-installed apps like email and web browser, is all the inbuilt memory allows (even using an SD card). But this doesn't worry me since, once again, I have plenty of apps on the iPad and they are far more the type of apps - text editors, word processor, vector, art, photo editing - that I need and want. And which are more functional at the larger size.
I'm also a PAYG kind of guy, because I can't help calculating how much monthly contracts actually cost over the entire term - and hence being taken aback every time.
This phone is on 3 mobile PAYG, which has very generous amounts of free data, texts and 3-to-3 calls for very little. And I'm really pleased with the network (but this isn't a plug for 3, so I'll stop there).
Would I buy bottom of the line again? Probably, yes, and with the new Galaxy Mini having increased storage and more memory, better screen, etc., I'd be able to install a few more apps and have a slightly better reading experience.
And I'd say to people, 'don't be scared off these phones by tech reviews that tell you how awful the screen is, or how small the keyboard buttons are'. The phone works, it even plays Angry Birds if that's what you want. You can use Google drive and docs (or the text editor) to write notes, and Kindle or Google books for casual reading. Going large and buying the top end just isn't always necessary, especially if you have a supplementary tablet device.
Even when the Nokia broke, I didn't switch to iPhone, I decided to go Android. The only requirements I had were email and tethering. Most of the time I have an iPad with me at the very least, because I'm always editing or reading proofs when on the go. So as long as I can use the phone to get the iPad or notebook online I'm fine.
The tethering issue with iPhone had by this time gone away, but I found that living so long without an iPhone and now owning an iPad, and with Android supplying an alternative, that the need for one had diminished.
But what's it really like to live with a bottom of the line phone when everyone around you has an iPhone? Not too bad, to be honest. Yes, it would be nice to have a decent camera on the phone for those opportunity shots, but a DSLR is little more than the price of an iPhone outright, and a compact isn't that much of a bother to carry.
It would also be nice to be able to install more apps: I have BBC news, Guardian news, Twitter, Kindle, and that, apart from pre-installed apps like email and web browser, is all the inbuilt memory allows (even using an SD card). But this doesn't worry me since, once again, I have plenty of apps on the iPad and they are far more the type of apps - text editors, word processor, vector, art, photo editing - that I need and want. And which are more functional at the larger size.
I'm also a PAYG kind of guy, because I can't help calculating how much monthly contracts actually cost over the entire term - and hence being taken aback every time.
This phone is on 3 mobile PAYG, which has very generous amounts of free data, texts and 3-to-3 calls for very little. And I'm really pleased with the network (but this isn't a plug for 3, so I'll stop there).
Would I buy bottom of the line again? Probably, yes, and with the new Galaxy Mini having increased storage and more memory, better screen, etc., I'd be able to install a few more apps and have a slightly better reading experience.
And I'd say to people, 'don't be scared off these phones by tech reviews that tell you how awful the screen is, or how small the keyboard buttons are'. The phone works, it even plays Angry Birds if that's what you want. You can use Google drive and docs (or the text editor) to write notes, and Kindle or Google books for casual reading. Going large and buying the top end just isn't always necessary, especially if you have a supplementary tablet device.
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