First time smart phone 4G needed

What ever you do don't get a Huawei when my last contract ended I decided to ditch my Samsung for one of them with the addition of a tablet as well , never again give me a Samsung any day of the week

I bought my Samsung from Carphone Warehouse on offer, £120. And I use 1pMobile for all calls texts internet etc. It costs 1p minute for everything so long as you use a minimum of £10 every 4 months. I usually turn my mobile data off when out unless I particularly want to use it for something. Because of WhatsApp and messenger, I rarely use texts (which cost 1p each I find it enough for me but I do have wifi in the house that I use instead of using my data.

i had a pay as you go nokia which was very basic and wanted to be able to download apps.
so I went to the o2 shop about six years ago and decided on a samsung on a two year contract. I have unlimited calls, texts and downloads.
i'm now on my third samsung, a galaxy 8, and am very pleased with it. so much so that I might not upgrade it in October when the contract comes to a close.
if I do have a new phone then it'll be the samsung galaxy 9 which came out a year or so ago. I don't see any point in having the top of the range galaxy 10 just yet though so won't go for that one.
you can do so much with a smartphone - i've got quite a few apps on mine. I bank online, I send and receive emails, I control my heating with my hive app too. there are so many apps - one of my favourites is a "storm app" which shows the weather where you are - when it's raining or snowing that is!
samsung appear to be the most popular make of phone, my daughter and two grandaughters also have samsungs having upgraded from their previous ones.
good luck - i'm sure you'll be able to find your way through the maze and end up with something which will make your life easier.
oh, I also make and receive calls on my smartphone!!

I’ve been with 02 since my first mobile phone in the late Nineties! Initially, I had PAYG but am now on a contract which suits me as I travel a lot, here and in France. The best part of being with 02 is the knowledgeable support that’s offered in their high street stores. This is particularly useful if you upgrade to a newer phone when they’ll move all your data, inc photos across.

I also bought a Samsung from Tesco. Very pleased so far. Contract costing 12.50 per month. They are there to sort problems out also if anything goes wrong. I've been with them for a few years now.

I am a fan of the iPhone and " inherited " an iPhone 5e from my daughter when she upgraded. I pay £10 a month to Plusnet for unlimited calls, texts and data. I love my iPhone as it synchronises to my iPad so my diary is always up to date.

My son has a new Samsung and I had a play on his this weekend and found it rather clumsy and not as intuitive as my iPhone.

I've had a sim only deal (called a goody bag) from a company called giffgaff for seven years.

£5 buys 500MB data, 150 mins and 500 texts. Calls to other giffgaff users are free.

They also have packages at £7.50, 10, 12, 15, 20 and £25 as well as a data calculator to find the plan that suits you. Plus an online community of knowledgeable users to answer any queries not addressed on the website - though I've never needed to use them!

i bought my iphone 6 refurbished from amazon. The first one had a fault but was exchanged with no trouble at all. It’s like new. I pay £9.50 a month to BT on my house phone/broadband package. I’ve always preferred to own my phone and then searching for cheapest supplier of service.

Have a look at the Which survey or Tech Radar for recommendations. There are some questions- will you want to have a memory card to expand the memory for photos and some apps? Some phones don't have the option - some Samsungs and I think Apple phones.
Also with the Samsung ranges they do different specs- eg I have a Galaxy a5 ( lower spec than the S5) whereas my son has a J5, which is lower spec again. I have had mine 3 years and purchased it SIM free.
Also be careful with coverage. I live in an area where the 02 coverage is not very good ( so exludes tesco and Giff Gaff) Vodafone is really poor but EE is great ( Virgin and Plus net come into play).
When I was at work I had to divert the work phone to my phone to get calls and messages when on call.
Also make sure you use your home Wifi when you are at home - don't use your mobile data if you don't have to as going over the limit is expensive, so make sure it is easy to turn data on and off.

The only drawback I found to changing to a smart phone is that it will need charging every day. My old steam-driven Samsung kept its charge for 2-3 months!

Mine's also a Samsung from Tesco. I bought it as a pay as you go to begin with, but after a couple of weeks went on to a contract, which worked out cheaper at just £7.50 a month with more than enough free texts and calls.

I have found young GC to be a great asset when acquiring a phone, mine got me up and running picked apps and set up WhatsApp with her. I got in a mess with my email account on phone and tablet and after five minutes she had it sorted and restored to original settings.

Why do you want a smart phone, what is it you want it to do? Smart phones come with all sorts of apps and you can pay anything up to a £1,000 for one. The more data you use then the more it will cost per month to run. So you do need to think carefully about the best deal for you.
I have a sim only Samsung J3 which is quite basic, a nice phone to handle, only cost me £159 after shopping around on the internet, sends and receives texts, acts as a phone, can send emails and has access to the internet amongst other things but that is my main usage.

For this on a sim only deal I pay £6.50 a month to BT - a special offer as we also have BT Broadband. I get unlimited phone calls, unlimited texts and only 1GB of data as I don't use very much. I could, of course pay a bit more and upgrade to get more mobile data.
Have you got a young person you can take into one of the mobile shops with you to get a better idea of what you need and handle the phone. Carphone warehouse are quite good but don't forget whichever shop you go in you don't have to buy from them.

O2 shop and I have just upgraded to the Samsung 10. Been with Samsung for about 6 years now. To be honest mobile phones take you through set up instructions on screen when you set it up so it's not difficult. O2 do sim only and good deals

I prefer Samsung tho have tried other makes, Carphone Warehouse is a good place to start, they will advise on best tariff and best deals and you can get sim only deals from most companies. I have this as i usually buy the phone I want from eBay. that way I don't have a £30 or £40 monthly payment, mine is about £15. I use my mobile for everything, calls, messages, calendar, diary, camera, photo album, emails, dictionary, encyclopedia, finding answers to questions/problems.

I agree JackyB. My cousin bought a Samsung and had real problems trying to use it. I’m pretty techno savvy, but I found it difficult. My iPhone is so easy to use. I’d go with Grampie’s suggestion. You’ll be very happy with that model and will get to grips with it really quickly.

I have always had Samsung. Contract with Tesco at moment. Love my galaxy 8. Brilliant camera. Phone is fairly simple to use.

I don't understand why everyone recommends Samsung. I have never had anything from Samsung that works/functions as it should - be it kitchen equipment, TV, or phone.

We bought new phones and a SIM only deal from 3 shop about 6years ago . The staff gave us a 20minute lesson on how to use them and told us pop back if you have any problems, have been back a few times and on top of their help SIM only deal costs us £5each a month to quote my GS result

Another Tesco fan here. I have a Samsung and they were so helpful in moving the card etc over from my old phone. The monthly charge was only £10 and I've never had to pay more as the minutes, text and data allowance is more than enough for me. I've recently taken on a grandson's contract and it was added on as a family perk so another £5. And you get Tesco points as well!

I would suggest I phone very simple to use and they call it idiot proof as it’s very self explanatory. I bought mine from the Apple store if you have one near by. They no everything there is to know about there products and they do hour long
training onsite for free to get you started I went on the basic one just to show me the workings nothing fancy just easy to use.

Tesco PAYG iPhone 5se.

Beautifully made, just the right size, durable and likely to last another few years.

Plus the operating system, email, Apps and their updates are wonderfully intuitive.

Yes- I agree- Tesco were excellent & did not talk down to me but advised me very well.

I would recommend Samsung too. I had a Sony one before and couldn't get on with it at all, but the Samsung was really easy, mine is a Samsung Galaxy A3.

I have a Wiley Fox swift phone which was bought for me as a gift by my son. It's a British made smart phone and does everything I need. I have a TV, home phone and mobile package which DH took out, so I don't know the details.