Hi guys, any suggestions on how to get an HTC Desire without paying through the nose? I've got 5 months until I can upgrade but I can't wait any longer to get rid of this crappy BlackBerry. I'm now thinking that I need to find a comparable mobile phone, perhaps less known/hyped, definitely less moola. Any suggestions?
Is the Wildfire not supposed to be a "cheaper Desire"? I've got no idea what they go for, but if they are anything like a Desire then it should be good. There are some really good deals on mobile phones, have you done some research on where to get the best price? It took me a few weeks to get a Desire for what I thought was reasonable at the time. Panic
Well, I'm okay with getting a second-hand phone, so I've concentrated on eBay, are there some other places you would suggest?
The desire HD is rumoured to be coming out in October. Bigger screen 8mp camera and an aluminium uni body like the legend. I would wait for that to appear as the standard desire will probably take a price drop. Availability of the desire is low because they cant get enough AMOLED screens. Mobiles.co.uk have some nice offers plus the phones come unlocked and unbranded even on contract so you will get android updates quickly and with out all the crap the carriers install.
From what I understand, it a similar spec to the Desire except it has a much lower resolution screen. If you can live the poorer image quality (for browsing etc) then it should make a cheaper alternative.
(To clarify, I don't want a new contract, just a handset. Other requirement is Android) @Da_Rude_Baboon - that could be what I need (i.e. a price drop on the Desire), and I hadn't heard the HD rumour, so thank you! I don't think I'd be happy with the lo-res of the Wildfire - I want to better my wife's iPhone! I really need to physically get my hands on a Dell Streak - I like it in concept, but have been told that it's too big in reality.
There's nothing cheaper that isn't inferior. There are a few Droids that have QVGA screens or thereabouts and the res is just rubbish for the full experience (plus your wife wins hands down). There was a Desire in the for sale section here tho IIRC.
Nokia N900 Not as sexy as a Desire, but something wholesome about it! really loving tinkering about with mine!
I dont know what provider you're using but you can apparently get a desire from o2 mid contract for £285 if you ring up and request to buy the phone outright. Obviously that isnt any use if you're not with o2 but might be worth trying to ring whoever you're with and seeing if they can offer you anything similar.
Acer liquid. I paid just under £300 for mine, it's currently on sale at play.com for only £250. It's got an underclocked snapdragon processor (more than fast enough though, its a balance between performance and battery life. Stock it only has Android 1.6, but there should be an upgrade to 2.1 available - my phone uses the French rom version, so i don't know if the standard english one is available, if not there are always the unofficial roms (very easy to install, btw). And the screen is fantastic - huge and very bright. THe only downside are the couple of stupid apps that come preinstalled and can't be removed - why the hell is there an app to make a silly little cartoon avatar thing? It's completely pointless! But other than that it's a fantastic little phone. and pretty durable too - mine fell off my bike at 15mph onto the tarmac road, and its only a bit scratched, i thought the screen was gone for sure
@13eightyfour, I am on O2, so that's great to hear, though I had hoped to be able to recoup my cost by selling my upgrade in 5 months time, so that might not work out. @bixie_62, BB Curve 8900. @13en, hadn't heard of that, thanks - will have a look.
The Dell Streak is truly huge. Its about the height and length of a mid-range graphics card. Its more of an iPad competitor IMO, definitely too big for the average pocket.
They had one in the Carphone Warehouse in the Tesco mini-mall thing by my flats, so I had hold of one yesterday. It DOES have a phone built in, but .... well imagine THREE of your Curve 8900 (I have one too, btw) side by side, and that's about the size of the Streak. It really is huge.
Have you been to Phones 4 U? They will buy out the rest of your contract for you if you take one out with them.
I held a Dell Streak alittle while ago, all be it in the annoying display stand thing (which I think is designed to stop you holding to your head and realising how huge it is), and although it's nice I think it would be too big. I didn't know that about Ph4U, I may drop in and ask about that.
