Portable New Phone contract time - What deals you guys getting?

Hey all,

Its time for me to renew my phone contract and i want a Smartphone. I have slimmed the choices down to the HTC Desire HD (Andriod 2.3) or the Samsung I8700 Omnia 7 (Windows 7).

I want a smarphone mainly for the apps. Im after stuff like:

- ESPN app
- NBA app
- WTCC app
- WRC app
- SKy Sports News app

etc etc

I have some questions which im having trouble finding answers too.

1) I know W7 doesnt have these apps at the moment, do you think that they will at some point?

2) Will the Desire HD be updated to Andriod 2.3 at some point?

MAIN QUESTION!!

3) What sort of deals are you on? I want 600mins, Unlimited Text + Unlimited/lots of internet. 18months.

Thank you

 

Your first two questions, no one can answer because we can't actually look into the future.

 

Well my contract is 600mins unlimited txts and 500meg internet and thats 30quid a month with Vodafone, i don't know how many actually do unlimited internet, and if you just browsing etc then 500meg is usually fine. As far as apps go, then if it is a big player they should have apps out pretty quickly.

 

Windows 7 should start to drum up more internest and apps as time goes on, the OS is nice but it just doesn't have the backing yet. I am personally hoping that as peoples contracts are up they start to get w7 phones so people will start making apps for them, more choice and competition is always good.

As for android 2.3, I would imagine, or at least hope the Desire HD will get it. If it doesn't get it officially, then head over to xda developers and they will get it on there as well as unlocking the true power of android by rooting it.

I assume you are in the UK. I am on £22.50 a month with unlimited texts, 500mb internet which I haven't been close to even though it sounds tiny, 600 minutes. That is with Orange. I could have got a better deal but I got my Desire(original) free within a few weeks of it coming out.

 

Come on Phazed mate. You know im asking for opinion, perhaps educated opinion based on some research. This would help give me some confidence in what might happen.

 

600 mins unlimited texts 4gb(unlimited if you go over they cap your speed) with tmobile on a 24 month at £30 per month. they probably do 18 month for the same deal

 

Ok here's what I don't understand. You say you want a smartphone for the apps. In that criteria, the only logical choices are an iPhone or Android. There's really no question in that.

 

Might be worth getting this moved to the general section.

 

Well there's already a very long thread entitled "smartphone choices".

 

This.

 

At the moment yes, your right. But what if there was some information that someone knew of, or could link too, that gave me confidence that Windows 7 would be getting these kind of apps?

Im posting to draw on others peoples knowledge & information as part of my research. It all helps me come to a final decision.

 

For question 1, it depends on the market adoption of W7. The apps are only going to be developed if the market is there.

For question 2, the update will be on its way, HTC have been quoted as saying

in response to the release of Gingerbread. Although, 2.3 may be skipped due to the possible impending release of Android 2.4.

And my contract is Desire HD on 3. I'm on 500 mins and 5000 texts with 1gig of internet for £35 a month. You can probably get a better deal now though, I got the phone pretty much at release.

 

Again, NOBODY KNOWS. Nobody knows if Windows 7 phones will take off. Microsoft doesn't know, Nokia doesn't know, no one does. Now you can find someone who has the opinion that it will be a big success, and you can find a someone who has the opinion that it will bomb and fail. Unless you think random posters on Bit-Tech have an insight into the future that the most intelligent, best educated, best paid analysts and thinkers do not? You think I have a sneaky bit of info that no one knows about W7? Or anyone else?

I'll repeat what I've already said. You want a smartphone for apps. You want iPhone or Android. Unless you are seriously contemplating locking yourself into a 18 month contract on the hope and possibility that the apps that you want that are on iOS and Android may eventually come over to W7.

 

Awesome thank you for the response. Windows 7 could be a gamble, which is a shame because i like the look of it.

But the Desire HD is winning on most fronts for me at the moment. Just gotta try and squeeze the best deal i can out of my phone peoples

 

I'm getting 100 mins, unlimited texts and 500mb with orange on my wildfire
£15 a month

 

Everyone that I know who got a Windows Phone 7, swear how much better it is than their last phone (Android or iPhone 4). They claim that Windows Phone 7 has much less apps, but it's growing, and the current release of apps are far superior quality, than most iPhone apps.. where and I quote "It feels like Half the app store are filled with far apps and "flash light" apps. I won't be surprised if they all come from Apple, just get a bigger app number."

I don't have a cell phone, nor care to get one at the moment. Maybe once I finish University, where I can actually have people call me for a reason other than "Hey Dude, where are you?" as the first standard cell phone phrase/question.

My view:
Microsoft has money. Their problem is that they know how to push a product. Usually Microsoft just trow money at it and hope it works. I don't know where several million dollar advertising went... but it did not went on advertising. You can see this with the Zune, Zune store, WP7, Windows, Office, and all the other small products that they have. The exception is the XBox 360, and Windows 7. Sadly the money should have not went to Windows 7 but rather Vista, as everyone knows how Win7 is already awesome.
The XBox is like WP7 right now... minimal ads, no nothing... That is why the market share is growing very slowly. But like their Zune MP3 player, and Zune Pass service, IT KICKS ASS! But few knows about it, and it goes more by word of mouth more than anything.

As for any issues that WP7 has.. it's a new platform, it's expected. But as we can see Microsoft is serious about it, and works really fast on updates. With the major update coming up in a few weeks (probably end of March), it will really shine the phone.


The problem with Android, is that every month or so, there is a new OS update... As the OS needs to be adapted to the phone, and the UI, including testing, and the carriers wants they app to still works, it creates never ending delays for official updates. So you always need to hack it to get the latest update, and if it's not a popular phone... when you are screwed as you won't find help easy.
Also, as we can see, more performance on a phone, doesn't mean that the Android OS interface will be smooth and stable, They are so many Android phones, that I see some companies struggling to get their phone in usable condition. Example, LG new Dual Core CPU Android Phone. Despite using the latest Android OS, and using the default UI, it's choppy, and crashes non-stop (based on a reviews).
So it's difficult to choose a good Android phone.

With WP7 or even iPhone, you just pick a phone and your done. You know the OS will be smooth, you know that everything is stable, works well, you get updates like everyone else. No headaches. The advantage of WP7 over the iPhone is that you can choose your manufacture of choice, and pick the layout of the phone (keyboard or no, and it's slid-out position, LCD/OLED screen, etc..)

 

I was going to say something simillar. Here are some up to date stats on the Wp7 marketplace - Its going pretty well so far.

I think wp7 will be popular with the average customer, who worried more about the interface than the OS - I prefer the Wp7 interface to the iOS one, and it just craps all over the android interface. I think android is doing well because it used to be the only real alternative to iPhone. That's changed, and I expect Wp7 will be quite a popular choice for current android owners when they upgrade. As it gets more popular, the app store will get bigger and bigger.

Having said that, nothing would convince me to switch from android at the moment, I love the ability to mess around with the OS... and all the custom roms out there.

 

Yes, What Microsoft is master at, is there focus and be able to please very well developers.
Their tools are seriously impressive. Example: Visual Studio

Windows phone 7 has Silverlight which is basically Flash with more power, more flexibility, and done right. Which makes every application done on it, work on any future versions (kinda like how Flash or Java works.. where it runs the same is you change device) And XNA for serious applications/games performance, all powered with an easy API code layout.

 

Thats interesting, i read on GSM arena that the W7 phones did not come with Silverlight or flash? Or is that just when browsing?

Thanks for all the contribution so far, exactly the sort of info im intereted in.

Basically i would prefer to go W7, but timing wise its not great as i know the marketplace is a little light at the moment (which is to be expected i know)

 

I don't know about Silverlight in the web browser.. I assume yes. I need to check.
BUT, as APPLICATIONS (not in web browser), there is Silverlight.

Flash is in the works, is Adobe is to be believed (I say this, because it's still not out for Blackberry, despite being said to be the first device with it).