15 replies to this topic

[00Mark]

Hi,

I dropped my old phone (Acer Liquid mt) and broke it, and I need a replacement! A few guys in General Discussion recommended the G300. I've read several reviews and it all sounds good, but I have a few quick questions before I get one:

• My budget is up to £160 (on PAYG), and the G300 is only £100. I'm not complaining, but is it really true that the G300 is better than phones costing 1.6x as much? The G300's price definitely makes it a budget smartphone and this did kinda surprise me a little!
  
• Is there an ETA for the black version in the UK? (Also a date for ICS, but I've done a  few searches and couldn't find anything on this...?)
  
• Where's the best place to buy the G300 and get it working with a Three network SIM?

Thanks

[pritsey]

I had an iphone4 which broke and got this as an interim phone while I scoped out what to do. It's actually not bad! I've chnaged the launcher, got rid of the bloat ware and use some different apps to standard. Ok, there's a few niggles, but for £100 there was always going to be a few!

If you can stretch to £200 then there's the orange San Diego powered by an intel atom, looks quite good and considering it myself. I think you can getmcashback somewhere bringing it even closer to your £160 budget.

What else have you been considering out of interest? My son has a SE Xperia mini pro, not bad and upgradable to ics too...

[RussellS]

00Mark, on 19 June 2012 - 09:30 PM, said:

Hi,

I dropped my old phone (Acer Liquid mt) and broke it, and I need a replacement! A few guys in General Discussion recommended the G300. I've read several reviews and it all sounds good, but I have a few quick questions before I get one:

• My budget is up to £160 (on PAYG), and the G300 is only £100. I'm not complaining, but is it really true that the G300 is better than phones costing 1.6x as much? The G300's price definitely makes it a budget smartphone and this did kinda surprise me a little!
  
• Is there an ETA for the black version in the UK? (Also a date for ICS, but I've done a  few searches and couldn't find anything on this...?)
  
• Where's the best place to buy the G300 and get it working with a Three network SIM?

Thanks

1) I would say that the G300 is far better than a major brand phone costing £160. For example it is better than the Samsung Galaxy Ace and the HTC Wildfire S. However, there may be better budget brand phones for £160 (Huawei & ZTE for example)
2) Amazon were advertising a Black one but the picture was stuill the white/silver one so not quite sure. It appears that Vodafone only do the white/silver so you may have to wait until the Vodafone 3 month exclusive deal is ended and then black ones may appear.I read somewhere earlier that the ICS beta will be sometime in July with the full release probably September. Huawei have said 3rd quarter which is between July & September.
3) Best place is from Vodafone (either shop or online) and then get it unlocked. If you buy from a Vodafone shop they may unlock it for you free of charge or they may charge £20 to unlock it. Also they may try to fleece you for a £10 top up charge as well. If you get it from Vodafone online there is no top up charge to worry about and then just get an unlock code from eBay.

Edited by RussellS, 19 June 2012 - 10:18 PM.

[Mtman1]

The problem with the Intel phone is there isn't any root methods yet and no custom roms (as the bootloader is locked)
The mini pro has too small a screen for my likeing but its fast.
If I were you, I would go for the g300.

[RussellS]

Mtman1, on 19 June 2012 - 10:15 PM, said:

The problem with the Intel phone is there isn't any root methods yet and no custom roms (as the bootloader is locked)
The mini pro has too small a screen for my likeing but its fast.
If I were you, I would go for the g300.

Agreed 100%

Edited by RussellS, 19 June 2012 - 10:19 PM.

[00Mark]

Thanks for your helpful comments

The Xperia Mini Pro is an interesting suggestion given the keyboard, but considering I was finding the 3.5'' screen on the mt a little on the small side (how the hell do people cope with iPhones??) I don't think it's for me!

My previous phone was rooted and I enjoyed that - so that's a big lure of the G300 in that rooting is possible. Although if I can get a San Diego within my budget, that does look like an interesting option. I'll have to think about this, and I'll post back here soon!

Thanks again...

[RussellS]

00Mark, on 20 June 2012 - 06:56 AM, said:

Thanks for your helpful comments

The Xperia Mini Pro is an interesting suggestion given the keyboard, but considering I was finding the 3.5'' screen on the mt a little on the small side (how the hell do people cope with iPhones??) I don't think it's for me!

My previous phone was rooted and I enjoyed that - so that's a big lure of the G300 in that rooting is possible. Although if I can get a San Diego within my budget, that does look like an interesting option. I'll have to think about this, and I'll post back here soon!

Thanks again...

The problem with the San Diego is that because it is completely different architecture everything is starting from scratch with it. As far as I'm aware there isn't even a way to unlock it at the moment so unless your on Orange it is a non starter plus there's no root at the moment.

Edited by RussellS, 20 June 2012 - 07:35 AM.

[pritsey]

RussellS, on 20 June 2012 - 07:35 AM, said:

The problem with the San Diego is that because it is completely different architecture everything is starting from scratch with it. As far as I'm aware there isn't even a way to unlock it at the moment so unless your on Orange it is a non starter plus there's no root at the moment.

Orange or T-Mobile!

[RussellS]

pritsey, on 20 June 2012 - 07:42 AM, said:

Orange or T-Mobile!

Are you sure about that. I thought that the retail parts of the two companies were still completely seperate and that their respective phones were still sim locked to their own sims.

I could be wrong though.

Edited by RussellS, 20 June 2012 - 09:30 AM.

[Peninsula]

I lost my SGSII and needed a budget phone to take me to the end of my contract. Went with the G300 due to the screen size, cpu, battery, and importantly (!) the modding community at MoDaCo.

If you think this phone is too cheap to be good, you'd be wrong. Its down to the absence of a brand name (and possibly, as I read somewhere, a subsidy by the Chinese govt).

Looking at the G300 as about one third the price of a new SGSII (£340 on amazon), its more than one third as good. To me that says good value for money.

That said, its been a bit of a comedown for me. They're not comparable in all but the most basic terms - screen and battery life are similar, they both have Play Store access and decent browsers. But cpu and ram are both lower - noticeable when browsing a couple of tabs or desktop websites, switching apps. And the touchscreen is not as responsive (I'm scoring less on Angry Birds!).

I'm not putting the G300 down, in fact I'm praising it due to what they packed in for £100. Obviously its not as good as a phone 3x the price, but if you are looking at £160 or below it is THE BEST. Better than the Monte Carlo, the Ace, Wildfire S, etc. Use http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3 to compare specs. I was looking for 4" screen min, 1Ghz cpu or more, and min 512 RAM. The storage built in is a bonus, as is the battery capacity, 5MP camera and flash.

As an aside on the locking discussion: I'm on T-Mobile - considered getting a SF2 and putting my T-Mob sim is, but the sales guy said it would be locked to Orange.

Assuming he is right (big assumption given my experience with phone salespeople!), then the SD will be locked to Orange.

[RussellS]

Peninsula, on 20 June 2012 - 11:30 AM, said:

As an aside on the locking discussion: I'm on T-Mobile - considered getting a SF2 and putting my T-Mob sim is, but the sales guy said it would be locked to Orange.

Assuming he is right (big assumption given my experience with phone salespeople!), then the SD will be locked to Orange.

That's how I understood the Orange/T-Mobile situation. Although they have merged they are still operating as seperate companies but they are pooling their cellular infrastructure to acheive better coverage to compete with Vodafone & o2.

[00Mark]

Yes, today's news about the SD being completely locked down has done it for me; I'll get a G300.

About the SF2 being simlocked - if there isn't an unofficial unlock code service (check on eBay), there probably will be soon. There certainly isn't one for the SD yet either, although apparently once you have owned it for three months Orange will do it for £20.

[Mtman1]

Cool orange really have failed with the San Diego... have fun with your g300

[brucesj]

Mine seems to be black,so you can buy one in China.
And there is already a custom ROM based on ICS. You have probably seen. Huawei would would update ICS in July for Europe.
And why not save your money for other things? Hope this may help.

[00Mark]

brucesj, on 21 June 2012 - 12:34 PM, said:

Mine seems to be black,so you can buy one in China.
And there is already a custom ROM based on ICS. You have probably seen. Huawei would would update ICS in July for Europe.
And why not save your money for other things? Hope this may help.

I'll be ordering tonight...

Can't find a black version in the UK, but I'll have a case on it and the white/grey isn't too bad. And yes, I'm pleased about saving the extra money - just I did find it surprising how good value this phone seems to be

I think it makes sense to wait for the official ICS update; but in the meantime is there anything wrong with the stock ROM? I know there were volume issues, couldn't remember if they were fixed officially?

[RussellS]

00Mark, on 21 June 2012 - 06:05 PM, said:

I'll be ordering tonight...

Can't find a black version in the UK, but I'll have a case on it and the white/grey isn't too bad. And yes, I'm pleased about saving the extra money - just I did find it surprising how good value this phone seems to be

I think it makes sense to wait for the official ICS update; but in the meantime is there anything wrong with the stock ROM? I know there were volume issues, couldn't remember if they were fixed officially?

Yes, the volume bug was fixed officially by the OTA update to B885. There is nothing wrong with the stock rom except that it has lots of Vodafone crap on it. Also the buttons and touch screen are more responsive with the later unofficial roms.

Edited by RussellS, 21 June 2012 - 07:19 PM.