What other smartphones are worth considering beside iPhone and HTC?

[fluffyanimal]

I really need a new phone, one that will do email and internet effectively for work. But contracts with iPhones or HTC phones, or Blackberries, with decent data allowance are all quite pricey. What other handsets are out there?

There are lots of Android phones of which HTC is but one manufacturer. Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson are others. They'll all do email and Internet although some of the lower-end Android phones won't be able to deal with particularly complicated web pages that have lots of Flash animation etc.

Can you narrow down what kind of thing you're looking for? Eg, do you want a "real" keyboard - either Blackberry-style or one that slides out - or are you looking more for a phone with a touch screen? What kind of Internet sites will you need to access? How much are you looking to pay?

Thanks Snorbs. I don't really know about the real keyboard or touch screen. At the moment I have an HTC Smart, I think it is basically a smartphone for kids! I dislike using the touch screen for typing as it's such a diddy little phone that the qwerty keys are so small and I'm always mistyping. So I wouldn't be averse to a real keyboard, but maybe the touchscreen key size isn't a problem on the larger smartphones. My phone can technically handle email but I've never bothered because of the typing issue.
Internet sites - for work could be anything but probably nothing with very fancy graphics or video etc. So long as I can effectively Google, MN and FB on it as well, I'll be happy! I don't use the internet very often on my current phone either as it tends to crash and is very slow.

How much to pay - £15 per month ish. At the moment I'm on a SIM only contract with Tesco, I got a great deal in the January sales last year and it's got free unlimited text and calls, and some good rate on the data and if I don't use the internet then I rarely pay more than £10 a month. Reckon I could go up to £15, but if I had a better phone I would use it for work emails and internet more, so I'd like a decent data allowance.

Not too bothered about other things e.g. camera quality, but would like to put music on it.

Fluffy, try downloading Swype onto your HTC. It takes some getting used to but is a lot easier for typing on. I never wanted touchscreen but I figured a tiny keyboard would be far more annoying and once I started using Swype, I was fine with it.

Oh. Good call MrsWW.

Swype is mighty fine.

And has lots of cool punctuation.

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«easily pleased»

Thanks for the suggestion of Swype. But this would not solve the problem of my phone crashing whenever I try to do anything more than search Google. i think a better phone is the solution. So any handset recommendations?

I've got a Samsung Galaxy S2 over which I have developed an entirely unhealthy obsession. It's fantastic but would be massive overkill for what you want. Something like the Galaxy W or Galaxy S might be a better fit.

Alternatively, HTC do a range of phones that might float your boat. The Desire S is well built while not being too big whereas you could go up to something the size of the Desire HD or Incredible S that have relatively huge screens. 3D is a gimmick on phones and not worth the extra money.

I've found that a touch screen keyboard is fine provided that the screen is a reasonable size. I've got big hands yet my Galaxy S2 works fine for me. Swype is cool but if I've got a lot of text to enter then I just turn my phone round into landscape format, put it on something flat and just tap away. Works fine even without Swype (which gets on my nerves after a while).

Maybe the best thing to do is visit Carphone Warehouse and maybe a couple of other shops, have a play with what is available and then look online for deals.

I just got a Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro which I love. It is v cheap as smartphones go, and has a slide out keyboard...

I have a HTC wildfire which is £20 PCM and does what you want. It is a touch screen but the predictive text is very good so it sorts out very well what you actually meant when you hit the neighbouring key by accident. Thus is NOT the same as autocorrect on the iPad which drivesmeinsane.

Samsung Galaxy S or S II. Both Android. Both fabulous.

Thanks so much for these. I was wondering about an HTC Wildfire, but wonder if I would have the same keyboard size issues. Heard interesting things about the Samsung Galaxy range too, so that is helpful.