Mobile Phone thread - please include links to good deals

[Nu-Eclipse]

Where's the best place to buy handsets offline these days? Note 4's out next week and I want one!

Amazon usually stock Samsung handsets SIM-free (and by extension, many of their Marketplace traders who are Fulfilled by Amazon). If not them, you could do worse than Carphone Warehouse.

[Shozuki]

Amazon usually stock Samsung handsets SIM-free (and by extension, many of their Marketplace traders who are Fulfilled by Amazon). If not them, you could do worse than Carphone Warehouse.

Ooh nice, Didn't realise I could go the Amazon route! Carphone Warehouse usually only have contract stock when new handsets launch.....

[VR46]

Expansys maybe, they always come up on HotUKDeals, not sure about their new release prices though

http://www.expansys.com/samsung-galaxy-note-4-black-265496/

[speedlolita]

Decided I'm gonna keep my Galaxy Note and get a giffgaff sim. Have had no phone usage the last few days as Vodafone appear to have killed my SIM. Bet I don't have any joy getting the PAC code...

My Note does need a new camera module which I may just get. A quick strip down shows that it is an accessible module so not issues there. Might be a more underlying problem though, not sure.

[usman]

Interested to see the interest in the Z3

Is it a worthwhile upgrade from a Z Ultra?

Love the Ultra, but lack of flash and the 16GB memory are issues

[teddymeow]

Interested to see the interest in the Z3

Is it a worthwhile upgrade from a Z Ultra?

Love the Ultra, but lack of flash and the 16GB memory are issues

Really liking my Z3. Fast, easy to use, fantastic screen.

Upgradeable internal memory too. 16Gb then MicroSD.

[charlesr]

Just downgraded my phone to Cyanogen 4.3.
4.4 was killing the battery and even though it's supposed to be stable on my phone, I was getting regular resets, mainly during Strava sessions which is a massive no-no for me.

4.3 seems to have a much smaller footprint too.

[VR46]

Interested to see the interest in the Z3

Is it a worthwhile upgrade from a Z Ultra?

Love the Ultra, but lack of flash and the 16GB memory are issues

Ultra owner here too, why not just add a 16GB or 32GB Micro SD card? I tried a 64GB card but had no end of problems so went back to a 32GB card.
Lack of flash is a pain but I take 90% of pics outside during the day so knew it wouldn't be a problem for me personally.

There are rumours of a Ultra 2 with a 6.2" screen but don't know how genuine they are.

[wakka]

Phablet fans - where does it end?!

How big would be too big for you personally?

[VR46]

The Ultra is the limit, well I say that, the square shape of the phone doesn't help, if it had smoother rounded corners and smaller bezels top and bottom I'm sure something around 6.75" would be about the limit for me.

[usman]

Really liking my Z3. Fast, easy to use, fantastic screen.

Upgradeable internal memory too. 16Gb then MicroSD.

Thanks for that Teddymeow. The Z3 is definitely getting raves as a killer flagship

The Z Ultra has hat as well, but the KitKat update has killed the ability to transfer apps to SD....16 GB internal storage just isn't enough anymore.

I see there's a T-Mobile only variant that has 32GB...maybe I'll wait for that to come down in price a bit.

[usman]

Ultra owner here too, why not just add a 16GB or 32GB Micro SD card? I tried a 64GB card but had no end of problems so went back to a 32GB card.
Lack of flash is a pain but I take 90% of pics outside during the day so knew it wouldn't be a problem for me personally.

There are rumours of a Ultra 2 with a 6.2" screen but don't know how genuine they are.

Are you on KitKat? Android's locked out the ability to transfer apps to SD now. I know I can store media on the SD but even just for apps, 16 GB is not enough....

Yeah I agree, the lack of flash is not a big deal for me either.

I would be surprised if Sony does come out with an Ultra 2...they tend to kill off their less successful niche products after just one cycle....two at the most. The Ultra has technically had 2 with the LTE variant release and they dropped its rice very quickly...I think it'll go the way of the Vaio P. I hope I am wrong though.

Wakka and Vr46: the Z Ultra is so thin i doesn't feel awkward at all. So long as you have decent pockets/no hipster skinny jeans/no massive thighs, itll fit reasonably enough in pocket. And as for making calls, to me it's more natural having a phone that goes the length of your face (like home phones we use or cordless phones).

The phone-less Z Ultra released in Japan on the oher hand was such a dumb idea by any measure, but Sony do a lot of dumb things. That albatross-round-neck Ericsson partnership lasted more than a decade after all....

[wakka]

I know the phablets now are comfortable to use for most - but how big is too big?

[bash]

Im so pissed the new Nexus 6 is now a phablet. Looks like they're keeping the old N5 without a hardware refresh which is what I was hoping for. Even the new Moto X is too big for my liking. A 5" screen with a tiny footprint is the sweet spot for me, anything bigger is just a pain to keep getting in and out of your pockets ffs. Cant understand why Google made this decision, surely it wont sell as well as the N5 did (which wasnt a hot seller by any means but still . . . . ) at least Apple gave their customers a choice between 2 sizes.

[wakka]

Yeah, too big for me*. Wub my N5 but I've only had it a year so wasn't planning an upgrade till 2016 or thereabouts.



*I said that about 5" phones a couple of years ago, so doubtless I'll get used to the brave new world of 80" smartphones sooner or later :P