Comments on: Are There Any Good and Cheap Smartphones?

By: CSMR

CSMR — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:32:46 +0000

I wish governments would use competition law to make these bundling strategies illegal. Phones and contracts are separate products and bundling decreases competition and transparency.

By: Alex Whiteside

Alex Whiteside — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:09:19 +0000

While they’re usually last season’s phones, they often have similar or better specs to this season’s models. Nokia’s done little to differentiate the new N-series sliders from the N95, for example, and the E71 doesn’t really have any equivalent in Nokia’s catalogue at the moment.

Buying SIM-free really is the way to go though, assuming you’re in a market where sim-only plans are a viable option. This is particularly true if you want a particular phone and you don’t want to arbitrarily change every 18 months. Usually the “subsidy” is nothing of the sort when you do the maths. I got an N95 8GB for free on T-Mobile because they were clearing out, but they wanted £150 for it the week before. Seeing as I’m paying £10 more per month than the equivalent SIM-only plan, over the 18 months I would’ve been paying £180 + the one-off £150 = £330. The generic SIM-free version is £335 plus shipping, direct from Nokia.

Of course in some markets you’re stuck, so just choose the free phone with the highest resale value when you’re asked to upgrade, and cash in.

By: Techni

Techni — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:01:31 +0000

You can get the HTC touch for $0 on a contract now

By: Barrett

Barrett — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:10:48 +0000

Blackberry 7290. Color. Backlit. Indestructible. Great browsing on GPRS anywhere in the world with Opera Mini. $20 on eBay. This is the poor man’s Nokia N95, anywhere in the world. You can use Google Sync or Funambol for push e-mail, even if you don’t pay for BlackBerry service.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:03:35 +0000

Well, maybe because Sprint and Verizon each have a better data network than AT&T and T-Mobile combined (rough unscientific estimate of mine)? Maybe because not everyone cares about being table to talk and access data at the same time? ;)

By: DaveZatz

DaveZatz — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:33:14 +0000

Amazon.com and LetsTalk.com have even better prices that the source article quotes. For example, free Centro (Sprint or Verizon) and *make* $75 to $100 on a Blackberry Curve (AT&T or T-Mobile).

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:51:05 +0000

Here in the U.S. where it’s generally a subsidized business model with two-year contracts, it gets pricey very quickly. It might be more cost effective elsewhere, but I wouldn’t say that’s the case here.

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:32:34 +0000

The potential of getting tired of a phone is no reason to not let a contract subsidize it, on GSM carriers at least. If you decide you want to switch phones, just get the new one and pop your SIM in. The contract covers the wireless plan, not the phone, and chances are you’ll be able to find something to your liking in an unlocked form whenever you decide an upgrade is necessary.

And really, why would anyone be on a carrier where you can’t have 3G data and voice simultaneously? ;)