Guest cutcutcut Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 Hi, I've been reading these forums withe interest since I discovered them a month or so again. I'm still using an old school nokia, and am keen to get into the smartphone game. Unfortunately, with a young family, funds are pretty limited. I have some family members going to the UK in a month or so, and some other family members already living there. I was going to get them to pick me up a orange SF 2 or T Mobile vivacity when I spied the launch of the G300 at a similar price point in the UK. The G300 has just launched in NZ and they are selling it on prepay (PAYG) for a ridiculous $450 NZD, about 225 britsh pounds. It's unlocked admittedly, but an absolute rip-off compared to what they are charging in the UK. So I thought I'd get them to get me a PAYG G300 for the UK. I'm keen to starting mucking about with Android and this forum has a wealth of info! I thought I'd get them to use the phone for a week or so to make sure it works ok. Is there anything else I need to think about. Obviously the charger won't work without an adapter. Can any mini USB charger work or does it have to be a certain voltage or something? I thought I'd also get an sd card from the UK too as they seem to be a bit cheaper than here. I've seen a couple of good deals on mobymemory.co.uk for class 6 cards. Is class 6 fast enough for video etc? Are moby memory carsds ok? Any other good memory retailers that are better? Thanks, any suggestions welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FrownBreaker Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) Hi there, The charger you need is a micro USB most any chager will do (e.g. blackberry etc) look on ebay they are around £1 to £1.50 delivered. The sellers in Asia do free global shipping. MicroSD cards class 6 or class 4 will be fine. Even class 2 will be ok this phone does not record HD video! Play and myMemory have good prices and free delivery in the UK. They are based in Jersey so no VAT for items <£17 A 32gb card is around £15 check uk hotdeals for the current deals. As who ever is getting the phone for you to get it unlocked free. Avoid the £10 top by ordering a free Voda sim on line or purchaing from a Poundstore (ask at the checkout for a Vodafoen PAYG SIM, insert into an unlocked phone and dial 17298 to activate the SIM - Not top up needed. You need one SIM per phone you want to purchase. Then walk into the store with the activated SIM to avoid the £10 top up.) If you are not going for a free unlock, then purchase on line using topcashback to get the phone for £100 plus £5.05 cashback) could pay for your unlock! The Orange Santa Clara is also due soon... Roumoured to be cheap and very powerful. It uses an Intel Chips and is a Gen1 Intel so there might be issues with support, development and custom ROM work. Tilal - one of the great developers on here said that he thought some work on the Intel based phones might be 10 time hard than on Arm CPU. FYI all phones except for 2 or 3 use Arm CPUs. Intel is new to this game... Cases for the G300 here http://android.modaco.com/topic/353404-protective-cases/ Chargers (Mains and Car) + Batteries here http://android.modaco.com/topic/353371-spare-battery-andor-charger-suppliers/#entry1948311 Edited May 8, 2012 by FrownBreaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest punjabi Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 I agree with all the above... This phone is an excellent bargain android handset for £100. And the developer community over here is exceptionally supportive, so you'll have plenty of support and pretty much all your questions answered in this forum! I'd advise you buy from the UK at Vodafone and try to have it unlocked (for free in store). Bottom line... Go for it!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FrownBreaker Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) I couple of years ago I was in a similar situation as yourself. I'd nver had a smart phone. Then my carrier offered me free data (3G) as part of a SIM only upgrade. I wanted a smartphone without too much outlay. Got the Orange Sanfransico, paid for an unlock (this was the days before the free unlock calculators) and within a few days had Pauls ROM running... Since then I purchased about 8 San fransicos for friends and familly. I had the Skate running Ice Cream Sandwich since January. Got the G300 this weekend! Some advice about working on the phones 1) Read the instructions a few times, and use software and techniques that others have tried. When you download files check they completed (Check MD5 hash) 2) Unlock the phone first, then try and get Rooted this means you can run any program and access more of your phone 3) Next step is to install Clockwork recovery. This is an alternative way of starting the phone and is great for when your phone won't boot normally and you need to reflash! There are some technical terms (- like my check the MD5 hash) but just ask or Google search! If you invest some time and energy you will gain a better understanding of you phone and be able to perform some amazing transformations. Not least you will become part of the community that Paul has put together (it did not happen by accident). I think it is among the best in the world! A really great bunch who work well with the other Andriod communites and open source projects around the globe. Edited May 8, 2012 by FrownBreaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davidoff59 Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 please take into consideration that the G300 comes with a 1 amp charger. All you would need is a plug adaptor for NZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FrownBreaker Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) please take into consideration that the G300 comes with a 1 amp charger. All you would need is a plug adaptor for NZ. Had not noticed most wall and car chargers are five hundred Milli Amps this will be but may take longer to charge the phone. Look for high capacity chargers that support a one amp load. Edited May 8, 2012 by FrownBreaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cutcutcut Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 Thanks for the replys. My brother living in London has a vodafone sim through his work, do you think they'd accept that if he told them he wanted a spare phone for travelling or something, or that he didn't like his standard work phone much? And his wife has a 3 sim to test any unlock. I think I'll get him to try and buy instore and see if he can use his kiwi charm to get it unlocked. Haha. I've been reading about the Santa Clara, looks interesting. Is there any indicators where it will sit price-wise? For the money, there is nothing comparable here in NZ. Lack of competition of suppose. Thanks again guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davidoff59 Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 They won't care about the reasons for wanting it, they will be just glad to get a sale. Just make sure the first question is if I buy this phone, will you unlock it for free? If they say no, just try elsewhere as it seems charging for an unlock is done at their discretion. Regarding the Santa Clara, it should be ok. While no price or release date has been announced, I reckon it will be under £200. The reason being is that its a old chip going into a phone for the first time, and its made by an unheard of manufacturer. You can see some videos on Youtube of the Indian version of this phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cutcutcut Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 I've ordered a case of ebay and I've pre-ordered a 32gb sandisk class 10 microsd card from play.co.uk. The original release date said 15 May, but that has been changed to 29 May. Are they ok to deal with in regards to pre-orders? I guess I can just cancel the order and pick another card up if something better comes up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FrankieADZ Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 I've ordered a case of ebay and I've pre-ordered a 32gb sandisk class 10 microsd card from play.co.uk. The original release date said 15 May, but that has been changed to 29 May. Are they ok to deal with in regards to pre-orders? I guess I can just cancel the order and pick another card up if something better comes up. play.com tend to be hit & miss with pre-orders i've found. i know the deal your referring too btw. its a good deal imo, I'd wait myself but that's my view Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cutcutcut Posted May 30, 2012 Report Share Posted May 30, 2012 play.com tend to be hit & miss with pre-orders i've found. i know the deal your referring too btw. its a good deal imo, I'd wait myself but that's my view and Hmmm....so play.com are now saying 12 June. But I notice Amazon are saying 2 June http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-32GB-Micro-Ultra-Adapter/dp/B007JTKLEK/ref=lh_ni_t. And mymemory.co.uk seem to have them in stock http://www.mymemory.co.uk/SDHC/SanDisk/SanDisk-32GB-Mobile-Ultra-Micro-SD-%28SDHC%29-Card---Class-10-UHS-1-%2B-SD-Adapter. I'm not in the UK and haven't used play.com and I'm not in a roaring hurry but I want to get this sorted before my sister vists my brother in London next month. Might be best to try something like this instead http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005FY61EK/ref=nosim/?tag=hotukdeals-21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FrankieADZ Posted May 30, 2012 Report Share Posted May 30, 2012 and Hmmm....so play.com are now saying 12 June. But I notice Amazon are saying 2 June http://www.amazon.co...LEK/ref=lh_ni_t. And mymemory.co.uk seem to have them in stock http://www.mymemory....-1-+-SD-Adapter. I'm not in the UK and haven't used play.com and I'm not in a roaring hurry but I want to get this sorted before my sister vists my brother in London next month. Might be best to try something like this instead http://www.amazon.co...g=hotukdeals-21 i noticed that too, I cancelled my order for the SD card now, couldnt be bothered to wait anymore as its been changed a few times now :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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