Mobile phone upgrade advice for a Wrinkly.

Dave in Wales

Dave in Wales

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I'm trying to sort out my wife's Xmas prezzy this year before December the 24th.

She is 68 amd I'm 69, our knowledge of mobiles could be written in upper-case on a grain of rice and still leave room the Magna Carta, again in upper-case.

We each have, at the moment, a basic Nokia 2630, calls and texts in and out, and to be honest that is really all we need.

Buying prezzies for each other at our age is extremely difficult, our son has a Blackberry and I've seen her gazing at it with envy.
Also the "girls" at the WI tend to have more up to date phones.

Question.....what the heck, out of all that is available, should I get, it seems like a mine field. :shrug:

Requirements...

Blackberry......I think :thinking:

Orange network, we are with them now, I'd prefer to stick with them for simplicity.

Pay as you go.

Internet access would be nice if possible, but not if it's going to cost an-arm-and-a-leg.
Question.....Can you log into your browser on a mobile, surf the net and send emails as you woud at home with a PC, and is it expensive £'s/min.

Another question....Is it worth buying it now or waiting till nearer Xmas.
Also how does one switch from the old mobile to the new one, is it just a case of switching the SIM card over.

No doubt there are 101 answers to my problem, any advice greatly received.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp....!

Dave
 
Dave in Wales said:
I'm trying to sort out my wife's Xmas prezzy this year before December the 24th.

She is 68 amd I'm 69, our knowledge of mobiles could be written in upper-case on a grain of rice and still leave room the Magna Carta, again in upper-case.

We each have, at the moment, a basic Nokia 2630, calls and texts in and out, and to be honest that is really all we need.

Buying prezzies for each other at our age is extremely difficult, our son has a Blackberry and I've seen her gazing at it with envy.
Also the "girls" at the WI tend to have more up to date phones.

Question.....what the heck, out of all that is available, should I get, it seems like a mine field. :shrug:

Requirements...

Blackberry......I think :thinking:

Orange network, we are with them now, I'd prefer to stick with them for simplicity.

Pay as you go.

Internet access would be nice if possible, but not if it's going to cost an-arm-and-a-leg.
Question.....Can you log into your browser on a mobile, surf the net and send emails as you woud at home with a PC, and is it expensive £'s/min.

Another question....Is it worth buying it now or waiting till nearer Xmas.
Also how does one switch from the old mobile to the new one, is it just a case of switching the SIM card over.

No doubt there are 101 answers to my problem, any advice greatly received.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp....!

Dave
Click to expand...

cant really comment on blackberry as ive never had one but the blackberry curve is a popular one

cant comment on connecting to the net due to never owning one

id get it now prices always rise near christmas

providing blackberry do not use the mini sim it will be a straight swap but the bloke in the shop will be able to tell you

to be honest me and my wife dont bother with presents we give each other money if we do anything lol
 
Blackberry mobiles are available on PAYG. And they have a built in browser and instant email. I think you need to pay an extra few quid a month for the Blackberry services to work. Less than a tenner from memory. I'd look on their website, I've been here so long I can't remember.
 
Trying to keep it simple...Do you (or Mrs Dave) miss having access to a computer when out and about? Do you miss having facebook or the forum or emails etc. when out?

If yes then you might want to upgrade to a smartphone. They are small portable computers that also do phone calls. Text messages are presented nicer and are easier to type and they have 'apps' that do clever things.

If all you want is the extra functions but don't need to take it travelling then you might find a tablet (like an ipad or samsung tab etc.) a better fit than upgrading the phone. It will do the computer type functions of a smart phone but bigger and easier to read... but it won't make calls.

I know little about Blackberry phones but thought they were more geared up for business use with emphasis on email etc rather than amusement.

Think about what you want to do and post back :)

Having typed that I'm wondering if you have already considered a tablet and just want phone suggestions. Sorry if I'm off base...
 
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My mum has a thing about blackberries. She's 80. She'd never use one but I think it's just the look of them...

Touchscreen phone? Some of the samsung ones are quite cheap (£100 or so)

If you want a qwerty style keypad then I think the HTC cha cha cha has one and it's not expensive.

Most modern smartphones have wifi access which is cheaper than normal 3g data if you are somewhere that has wifi you can use for free. Normally data will be charged by the MB and it can be expensive if it is mobile data.

Cheapest data supplier is giffgaff with their £10 goodybag (will be £12 a month from November) It's payg and you could easily move your numbers from orange to them. That plan is unlimited texts, 250 mins calls (free between giffgaff phones though) and unlimited data. They're on the o2 network so any unlocked or o2 branded phone. Some tesco ones are also ok but not all of them are.
 
RobertP said:
I know little about Blackberry phones but thought they were more geared up for business use with emphasis on email etc rather than amusement.
Click to expand...

That was the case up until the original Blackberry Pearl many years ago.
 
You want advice? Here's some.

It's not an "upgrade". You are not a business class passenger flying the world, you simply have a mobile contract and they want you to sign another one.

Keep the above in mind, know that you have the upper hand, and take things from there.
 
Hello

Not going to try and say which phone but if your are happy with Orange and have been with them for some time you would almost certainly find the orange shop would set everything up for you (Free) while in the shop including your wifes contact numbers and web access.

The problem is you would need your wifes phone with you and her number would be only in use on the new phone.

Also orange used to give a small credit toward a new phone each time you topped up so if you go orange ask if you have discount from the new phone.

The other parts depend very much on how much you would like to pay and as others say will your wife use e mail or the web if not any extra cost would be small, if you would use the web a fair bit you may find it cheaper to switch network for a provider who gives at least a 200mb per month.

I am with giffgaff and you would get 1gb of data for a tenner they are a good service as it is part of O2 the only downside is you have to do everything your self so i would consider carefully before you did that.

Best of Luck :)

Allan
 
in the smart phone world there are basically 3 types ( 4 if you want to count the new breed of windows smart phones )
android, blackberry and iphone
android are twiddler's delights and start at a very reasonable 60 quid'ish
blackberry phones seem to be a bit of a trend at the moment but carry a 5 quid a month premium for their BBS
the iphone is just expensive but out of the 3 i would say is the easiest to use and also the hardest to see (everything on screen is too damned small especially text )

i can't really advise you which phone to purchase we all have our favourites you would be far better going into a phone shop orange is as good as any and seeing whats on offer but do not purchase on the day it will give you time to have a think
 
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