New telephone

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Mrs A has a 'Blackberry'.  Apparently she is due an 'upgrade' and must choose another phone under her orange contract.  Other than being able to phone and text I am phone illiterate and so is she (despite the 'Blackberry').

What is a good phone to get as an upgrade?  What features does the future demand?

[Dez]

That depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to be able to browse the web with it, I'd suggest going down either the Android or iPhone route. iPhones will be more expensive.

There are newer Blackberries that have touchscreens, but my understanding is that their app market is more limited. Of course, it also depends on what the carrier is offering as good deals at the moment.

The best advice is probably to go and play with the phone before buying. Go into a phone shop and ask to play with the phone(s) you're interested in, then tell them you'll think about it then go and buy online. ;-)

[Manotea]

Or, if she is phone illiterate, consider keeping the old phone and taking a SIM only deal. Why buy a new phone if you don't need it?

[Greenbank]

Ask them for cash instead, or a credit on the account against future bills.

Mrs GB has an impossibly good old Vodafone contract (the sales people are always surprised at how good it is). One year she got £100 for not taking an upgrade on her 'phone (I recently gave her my old work Nokia after her ancient Nokia was dropped by Mini-GB). Given that her call plan is £10 a month it meant almost an entire year of free calls (within the limits).

She needed a Crackberry for her work and was due another upgrade on her personal 'phone. Being a long standing Vodafone customer, she got £40 towards her personal 'phone bill (so 4 months free) and got a Curve 9360 for nothing on a £26/month contract reduced to ~£21/month (discount for being an existing customer).