Samsung S3 - Best contracts?

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Watching this one with interest, just come to the end of my O2 contract and want a new toy! Contracts all seem a bit crap at the min though, anyone found a good one? I need 600 minutes and a decent amount of data, but all the good contracts give you one or the other :(

Best really is on 3, you get 2000/ultd/ultd for £34 a month. Can't get a signal in my house though, so its a bit pointless! Tried a vodafone sim and they seem alright, plus they are merging with O2 soon so signal should be fine. Best I can get after redemption is £29 a month for 900/ultd/1Gb, plus another £30 quidco. There has to be a better deal out there though!
 

Wolfenrook

Well-Known Forumite
Try to test 3 with a different handset Tek, as signal is VERY handset dependant. Heck I always got a weaker signal on my old Samsung none Android touch screen phone, but my Ace gets a fantastic signal. I always go 3, they give the best deals for data of any network from what I have seen, seeing themselves as a data network.

Ade
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Yeah, my GF says since swapping from the Milestone to a Galaxy Ace she's had much better reception on 3. It'd be useful for us both to be on the same network, most do a good same network package and most of our calls are to each other (I probably use less than 100 a month to other people). I suppose I could buy it, then send it back if the signal is still crap? No idea how DSR works with phones anymore, they used to say if you'd turned it on then you'd accepted it!
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Have you tried ringing O2 and threatening to leave now your contract is up and seeing if you can get a deal out of them that way. That always seems to work with Orange for me.
 

My Name is URL

Well-Known Forumite
The S3 does look a beast of a phone, but have you considered the HTC 1S?

I think because the S3 is being marketed very well on the back of the S2, and HTC have slipped from the heady days of the Desire... then the 1S isn't as sought after as the S3, yet is probably as good a phone (although I don't know the full specs of either).

Anyway to summarise, you may get the 1S cheaper and it nto be any / much worse than the S3.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Am a bit wary of HTC TBH, they are doing an apple lately. Built in battery and no micro SD card is a worrying direction to be heading for an android, great looking phone but my instinct is to stay away.
 

My Name is URL

Well-Known Forumite
Didn't realise about the battery and mem card thing - I agree, a bit crap.

I thought the S3 didn't have a memory card slot but just checked and it does have one so seems all good :)
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Yeah, it comes with 16Gb onboard but then you can expand with an SD. 32Gb and 64Gb versions also available, but for way more than the comparative cost of an SD card. Last one I looked at wanted an extra fiver a month, over 24 months, to go to the 32Gb version!

I am rather stubborn, the HTC One S could be the best phone in the world but I won't put up with being told what to do if there is an alternative!
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
There seem to be some questions regarding the ability of the One X and, to some extent, the One S when it comes to signal aquisition as well (shades of iPhone) at the moment.

I've had HTCs for the last few years and been very pleased with them but like you say tek, the move away from sd card is retrograde IMO even though you do get 25gb of Dropbox for nowt.

Samsung S3 seems to offer more flexibility in daily use, not to mention being a little more stylish.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
The sammy gives you a 50Gb dropbox as well, doesn't it? It also has NFC, should you ever find another S3 owner to test it with, along with the micro SD. I dunno, it just feels like HTC are trying to stop me putting stuff onto my device as easily. As stated many times on this forum I hates apples restrictive practices, so really can't support a company heading down the same route. I think HTC need a spanking in this round of phones to ensure they up their game again for the next one.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
There is a deal on Orange for 600/Ultd./1Gb for £28.50, without the redemption malarkey. Free phone too, and £50.50 topcashback making it £26.40 in reality.

Hmm, sod it. If I don't see a better deal within the hour I'm going for it!
 

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
Tried a vodafone sim and they seem alright, plus they are merging with O2 soon so signal should be fine.

Sorry to go off on a tangent but where did you hear about this and when is it happening? I ask because o2 have been a steaming pile of dog turd for me over the past 6 months and any improvement in signal quality would be appreciated.
 

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
Customers hate change and while this will lead to a cheaper and better network in three years, for O2 and Vodafone customers, there will be a period of transition very similar to that already experienced by customers of all the other UK networks.

I wonder if the transition has already started and that's why I'm getting crappy signal.
 
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