What smartphone shall I get?

Mine's a Motorola which I bought separately from the Virgin sim card (contract £9 monthly). Very reliable and not as bulky as the bigger Samsung Android phones. I've spotted this model in Tesco on a very reasonable contract.

Yes. The photos thing does tempt me a bit.

Me? ^ 'With it'^?
That'll be the day I'm a technophobe.
I felt the same but when ancient Nokia expired I thought I'd try one and I have to say that I like it. Especially when I can take photos and send them without the palaver of loading them onto the laptop etc because you can attach them to a text as well.

I think people only feel they have to have I-phones because it makes them seem cool and "with it"! I don't believe there is often any real need.

(Hard hat on)

Mine's a cheapie Huawei, on contract for £11.20 a month. It was an upgrade from my Nokia basic phone and a cheaper contract.
It's simple to use, I only wanted phone to text, make calls, access internet, camera and if I can master it, anyone can
It's capable of much more but I don't need bells and whistles.

I can't see the point of I-phones. I take my I-pad Mini on holiday. It's got a camera. i have got a camera. Why would I need a contract phone? £30 on my pay as you go lasts for ages!

Son tries to get me to have one. The only reason he comes up with is, so he can track me down if he loses me in a foreign city.

I too am thinking of upgrading from my old steam driven phone! All my jeans are NYDJ, which have rather small shallow pockets, so I have been looking at size. The smallest seems to be the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, and priced quite reasonably. I cut out a piece of card in the dimensions and it fits. I shall only be using it for the odd phone call, texts, email and photos, continuing with my pay as you go £10 monthly freedom freebie.
Does anybody have one of these, and what do you think of it? My tablet is a Samsung, so I am hoping it will be similar to use, as I am a bit of a technonumpty

I have a Sony Experia M2 and am not that impressed with the camera, but it has 4G and the battery life is good.

I have Sony Xperia Z3. Its camera is really great.

I must have done that already, without knowing! x

Yes J52. You do have to get the phone enabled to use it overseas, but that's just a matter of ringing up your provider. It doesn't cost anything extra to do that, although charges apply when you use it that will be additional to your plan - that's how mine works with EE anyway.
And remember to turn data roaming off

Don't understand the issue of travelling with I Phone. All my family have IPhones, travel the world, and use them with no problems. x

Agree if you have an ipad then def go for an iphone as you're half way there with knowing the operating system etc. If you just want something cheap and cheerful that allows you to access the Internet, then the Vodafone Smart 4 mini at £40 on PAYG is a good start. Both dd's bought these for dgc when they went to NY at Christmas as a security measure against them getting lost. (Fortunately they didn't!)

Our son bought me an I phone for Christmas I am still battling to understand it.
Still cannot decide which provider to go with on a pay as you go as most are just for 30 days 1GB and if you do not use the £10 you loose the money.

I did find out this week that the I phone cannot be unlocked without paying about £20 but some can be unlocked without paying.
So if you travel don't buy an I phone.

This is important if you want to travel in other countries because you need to change the Sim.

I believe Virgin offer a service which is a contract at £7 a month that can be cancelled at a months notice. This may be the company I go with as it appears to be the cheaper of a very expensive market if you don't use your phone much.

My old phone is a pay as you go and I put £10 on and it lasts for ages as I don't use it much.
When we went to Phone Warehouse they said this type of pay as you go is like gold and he didn't know of any providers who offer this service and I should keep this phone.

There is a FREE booklet which WHICH can send you on Smart phone usage which may be helpful.

I also said that I didn't want the bigger phone when I had an iPhone 5 but now I have a 6 and love it. That little bigger screen makes a lot of difference to what I can do on it, I can read emails easily for instance. So whatever phone you get then get one with as large a dream side you feel comfortable with.

Equally, if you have an Android tablet, choose an Android phone - they talk to each other.

Gagagran if you have an I pad then I would definitely go for an I phone. I'm not suggesting latest model but a 5 as someone said earlier, as it syncs with your I pad.

I heard what I thought was a cat crying somewhere in the house - I don't have a cat. I searched the whole damn place, in cupboards , under beds, everywhere.

Eventually realised it was the phone. I can set the ringtone on my mobile to different tunes for different people, so I allocated the cat tone to a couple of people who had cats, then forgot about it for a week or more.

Being a bad sort of Gran I've found some apps that endlessly amuse the GSs- a Fart app and also a cat miaouw one. Very stupid I fully admit. My ring tone is of a cat miaowing which caused pandemonium in the hairdressers when it went off in my bag when DD phoned me. Unexpected fun from a phone!

I have a Motorola from Tesco mobile. £12.50 a month. Good customer service. I can't remember how many minutes and texts, but certainly more than I need as I've never exceeded my limit. Good camera. Android.

Does everything I need, calendar, clock, alarm, calculator, maps, etc, And several things I haven't got round to trying yet.

I've also an I phone 5. I don't care for version 6. I got a really good deal at £20 per month with 4G and loads of free phone and data use.
C**phone warehouse. They have a system where they key in you requirements and expectation of cost, then up pops the choices.

As a rival comparisons site would say 'simples'. x

I agree with Pittcity's advice to go into a phone shop and ask for advice.
I have an iPhone 5 now - they seem to be slightly out of fashion but I love it.
My contract is £25 a month for unlimited calls, texts and 2G data. The latter is so worth it, as when I'm away I can browse the Internet, go on FB and GN to my heart's content without worrying that I'm going to go over my limit and incur extra charges.
I wouldn't have too many preconceived ideas about what your use will be limited to. I've found that I've gradually increased the things I use it for.
I use the calendar function, which if you put in the location of your destination, it automatically links to google maps so if you get lost(as we did last night) you can go straight to the map and it will show you the way.
Last week in London we used it to plot how to get from A to B either by walking or public transport. It will tell you of things of interest/places to eat near to where you are.
I've got lots of music on my phone and DD gave me a docking station so I can listen to the music anywhere in the house.
The address book is useful too. The camera is very good.
I've used FaceTime to attend a book group meeting, one time when I had had a sudden summons to DS to help out, and I couldn't get to Book group in person.
I use the 'notes' app to make interminable lists of just about everything.
There's a lot more I haven't tackled yet.
Have fun

I like my Nokia Lumia 635. It took a bit of getting used to but worth it to me. The man in the phone shop said it was a Marmite ' thing. Love it or hate it! It runs on windows which helped me. I would suggest you get a phone cover /case btw -most of the youngsters in the family have broken theirs by sitting on them or squashing them in some way. That's all sorts of smartphone not just ones like mine. I got an uncool bright colour so I can spot it easily in my bag.

I've just got the Nokia Lumia 520 and find it easy to use. (Carphone Warehouse £7.50 a month contract)

I did have Samsung Galaxy and didn't get on with it at all.

I use my smartphone as another way of accessing everything I have on my laptop using Wi-Fi or mobile data. Calls, texts and photos are a secondary function really.

I would go into a phone shop and tell them what you envisage using the phone for and how much you wish to spend. They should be able to offer you something suitable.

It is not worth paying for hours of calls or unlimited texts and data if you are not going to use them. Nor is it economical to pay for a tiny allowance if you are going to regulary exceed it.