ipod touch or smart phone?

[oopslateagain]

DH just had a bit of a windfall and has decided that we are all to have a 'treat' from it - the rest is going on bills, of course! We'll get DD an ipod touch - which we'll save for Christmas; DH will take a couple of hundred to add to his 'motorbike fund', and I'm debating which way to go with mine.

My phone (which is also my MP3) is on its last legs and I was planning on buying out of my contract next month; I was intending to get a smartphone with all the bells & whistles, but now I am wondering whether to get a basic phone, and spend my money on an ipod touch instead.

I figure that if I get a smartphone, I need a monthly data allowance. If I get the ipod touch and a basic phone, I could drop my contract down to a cheaper one as the ipod goes online for free.

I am completely non-geeky and would love some opinions!

The iPhone goes online for free exactly the same as the iPod does...

Really? I thought you still had to have a contract with data... Thanks for that!

Well it's handier to be able to do stuff while you're out, but you connect it to your wifi anyway as it's faster

Apple are announcing a new iPhone (or, quite possibly, iPhones) today. This will have a major effect on pricing of current iPhones. Expect eBay to be swamped with people wanting to sell their current iPhone 4 in favour of the NewShiny.

Personally I think the iPhone is overpriced for what it is and that Android phones offer better value for money but that's horses for courses.

Realistically, with any smart phone you're going to want a contract with data services otherwise it will be very limited in what it can do when you're away from your house. That being said many places are now doing quite good deals. I've just got a SIM-only contract from TalkMobile for my son's phone that is offering 300min of talktime, 1000 texts and 500MB of data per month for only £8(!)

00pslateagain... i am in this same predicament and am wondering what did you do in the end?

like you i don't want to go into an expensive contract thing and then also have to pay to go on the 'interweb'... so basically would only go wifi anyway!..

so was thinking of getting a standard phone (cheap... am only going to text and phone) and get an ipod touch for surfing and apps etc???

anyone any ideas on what would be best? opinions please!

or is this thread going to be too old to be resurrected!?

Hi bea

I currently have an oldish iTouch (which was a freebie) and a dumb phone and am contemplating switching them for an iPhone...

Some iPhone 4S 16GB contracts now with free phones are £27-£30 pcm:
iPhone 4S

From what I've read, 500MB of data should be loads for normal web browsing and tweeting etc, you can wait till you're on wifi to do larger downloads.

Looking the other way round, a new iPod touch 8GB is £169 at Tesco and the 32GB is £245 (don't know why they don't have any at 16GB). You can probably get a second hand iTouch if you like but the older ones like mine don't have a camera, if that matters to you. Then you can get quite a cheap deal on a phone. How many minutes and texts do you need? Here's a Vodafone deal for example with 300 mins and unlimited texts on Blackberry for £15 pcm with a free PS3 Move (I think there's some other options like cashback or camera if you search the site).

Vodafone Blackberry deal

If you need fewer minutes or texts you could probably find an even cheaper deal, like £12 or £10 pcm, maybe no freebies though .

Sooo ... doing it your way i.e. iTouch 8GB plus little phone at £15 pcm is about £120 cheaper over two years than the cheapest iPhone 4S deal AND you might get cashback or a nice free gift as well. Is 8GB enough storage? I definitely have more music and audiobooks than that. If you need the 32GB it's still about £40 cheaper, plus there might be cheaper places to buy the iTouch than Tesco.

Personally I get annoyed having to carry phone AND music player, hence looking at iPhones, but you might be more chilled (or have a bigger handbag) than me

STS! Wow! what a reply and all your geeky knowledge! I am in awe! ...

Yes the idea of carrying two gadgets around would feel rather silly (handbag? i'm not that sophisticated!!!) ... been lurking on the what smartphone thread and i think i'm beginning to feel the lure of a samsung Galaxy S2... £21 pcm at tesco... which sounds pretty good?

Thanks again for the advice!

Bea

Yes, I am very geeky , I have done way too much research on which phone to buy!

That S2 deal looks good! I saw one for £18.50 pcm (SII deal) but you don't get as much data.

Hope you enjoy your new phone!

DH just had a bit of a windfall and has decided that we are all to have a 'treat' from it - the rest is going on bills, of course! We'll get DD an ipod touch - which we'll save for Christmas; DH will take a couple of hundred to add to his 'motorbike fund', and I'm debating which way to go with mine.

My phone (which is also my MP3) is on its last legs and I was planning on buying out of my contract next month; I was intending to get a smartphone with all the bells & whistles, but now I am wondering whether to get a basic phone, and spend my money on an ipod touch instead.

I figure that if I get a smartphone, I need a monthly data allowance. If I get the ipod touch and a basic phone, I could drop my contract down to a cheaper one as the ipod goes online for free.

I am completely non-geeky and would love some opinions!

Don't buy overpriced and "slave labour" Apple products. The best phone to get is the Samsung S2 and it doubles as a MP3/youtube/MP4 video player too. So you've got one device for both your uses.

But it depends on your usage as I've got a Sansa clip+ for my music and it's better that an ipod in audio quality. The Nokia N8 still blows most phones out the water today.