Mobile Phone

[Charisma Bypass]

I have to buy a mobile phone for someone's 40th - I have no clue what's what.  I use an iPhone as a glorified alarm clock.

So, I noticed Rutty posted on Twitter about the Samsung Galaxy Ace.  Perfect!  I've found it for £245 on Amazon, which says "Samsung S5830 Galaxy Ace Sim Free Smartphone".

Sim Free - what does that mean in real english?  I think it means it comes with no SIM, so I would then need to go to o2, voda or whereever to get a SIM.  Can I get a PAYG sim?  As it's a present for someone else I don't particularly want to enter into a contract myself.

Thoughts?  Advice?  Other phones suitable (about £200 to £300 ish)?  Thanks

[Mr Anderson]

Yep, it's not locked to any network and so you can choose which you want, and can use a PAYG sim too. Most (all?) mobile providers will send you a PAYG sim for free IIRC.

[Dom]

I think SIM-free means you can put any SIM card in it, but you should make sure that the phone is unlocked for the network you want to use (such as Orange, T-Mobile, etc).

You should be able to put both a Pay As You Go SIM card in it, or you can get SIM-only contracts. So if you didn't want to sign up for a contract in your name, the recipient of your present could get themselves a SIM-only contract where they only give them, and hence they only pay for, the SIM card and not a new phone like normal.

[rutty]

The Ace came yesterday and it seems to work (sans the phone functions) quite happily even without a SIM in it. So, you could use it as a wifi device on its own.

As far as I know it's not locked to any network so just stick any old SIM in there and off you go.

For that price, though, you could probably get a second-hand HTC Desire or similar.

[Charisma Bypass]

Cheers Chaps.  Took a trip to the big smoke and picked up a Galaxy Ace for £225 from carphone warehouse.  Even cheaper than Amazon - sweet!