Is the Skate a good upgrade from the Blade

[Guest Vansphone]

I have a Blade (on GiffGaff) and I am thinking of upgrading to the Skate, mainly to get a larger screen

If anyone has already done this I would be grateful to read their thoughts.

In particular, apart for the size how does the screen, battery life and speed (is it laggy?) compare.

[Guest mike_]

Other than the fact that you're not going to get your giffgaff sim to work until either someone manages to crack the unlock codes or you've had it connected to orange for 3 months and pay them £20 I think it's better than the blade.

Screen is the same resolution but so much easier to read with the extra size and is definitely a bit faster and 'snappier' in use also the wifi doesn't drop all the time and connects properly when the phone wakes, I have to manually refresh my OSF if it's been left for more than a couple of mins,

I bought mine because I dropped my OSF and the touchscreen stopped working, I spent the best part of a week trying to get a turbosim to work but ended up buying a new digitizer for the OSF. As soon as I can unlock the monte carlo I'll use it as my main phone though.

Edit: battery life seems much better, still on 75% after 3 days of mucking about, connected to wifi, downloading lots of apps and playing with it lots BUT I hardly had data turned on as Orange is so damn dear and didn't make many calls cos no-one has got my orange number.

Edited October 16, 2011 by mike_

[Guest dadashi]

skate is much better than the blade...better hardware, better design, more thought out....the phone voice quality is excelent...blade had sound quality problems using hands free because the speaker was down near the microphone...

Its a very good smartphone and with the new Flash 10.2 its not short of the £300 phones...for the money its a decent buy...the build quality is very good, stabile and sturdy...Aldi is selling them in Germany with 3 years warranty, so they have a lot of faith in the skate...

[Guest Vansphone]

Thanks for the replies.

I am looking for a bigger screen but if the Skate cannot be unlocked I think I will give it a miss because the Orange PAYG plans look very expensive.

I have also looked at a sim free Skate but at £220 I will have to first have a closer look at alternatives.

Thanks again

[Guest Atomix86]

Definitely not a significant upgrade in any way.

[Guest Vansphone]

I think I will look at the Xperia Play. Don't know much about them yet, but it has a 4" screen, a bit chunky and is £149 on O2 so it can be used with GiffGaff

[Guest Sidecar_jon]

I'd say not on my old blade (great gorgeous screen, haven't used the latter led screen ones) The Wifi connects simply unlike the blade the screen is good on my old eyes but its sort of washed out a bit., The signal seems a little better. Sound is better, case is slippery though , need a bouncy case (i have one)