Please save me from seduction by young man in phone shop - Samsung S3 or 4

[kkkkkkate]

So I went in with the idea of justgettingwhatmyblokehas (Samsung S3, he's techy but he still finds this 'fine', apparently) and now the Cunning Young Man has talked me into indecision.

I can't waste any more time drifting around technical reviews which are way beyond my capacity to interpret. So could you knowledgeable people please help me?

I need to:
Text
Call
Surf web (not FB, but BBC, email, Twitter etc)
Take reasonable photos for a blog which I have been promising myself to write for the last 3 years
I don't envisage playing videos or games, apart from the odd 5 minute YouTube on a news website or of a cat while I'm waiting for a train

I can get S3 for £18 a month. S4 for £23 - is this normal? High? It sounds high, but my current ancient phone costs a tenner so I may be exaggerating.

This means 500 free minutes, 500 mg data (it bristles with WiFi around here), unlimited texts

The Cunning Young Man claims
The camera on S3 is rubbish
It's an old phone so you won't get any support
The S4 is very slow to download things

Any help would be really super. I just want to get it over with, so I can get back to reading books and listening to the radio.

Although you may have ideas about non-Samsung phones, please don't tell me about them because while undoubtedly useful, this will just open up a whole new universe of pain.

Finally, I'm a bit paranoid about what you do if some enterprising person walks off with your phone.
How do you cancel the contract?
Can you remotely wipe your data on an Android?
At this point, the young man got really excited and said, 'You need an iphone, only Apple can kill you phone remotely. Or you need to take a £110 contract out with Our Team and they can do this for you.'

At this point I politely terminated the conversation.

I have a samsung galaxy s3 mini and have had it for about 9 months. It's an OK phone, nothing amazing but it does the job. The camera is fine, not as food as my partner's iPhone4 but good enough for me. It had ample storage space for what I want and is easy to use. The battery is starting to go though and has been for a whole. I have to charge everyday even on days when I haven't been using it to listen to music when you would expect the power to go down quickly. Overall, an OK phone. Would probably give about a 6.5/10.

Hmm. Interesting. Thanks scrambled.

If you don't mind my asking, how much do you pay each month?

I also have S3mini. I bought it in ummm about May. Paid about £140 for it from Argos. Am not on a contract. I use giff gaff. Most months I put a £10 goody bag on which gives 1MB data, I think 500 mins and unlimited texts. Texts and calls to other giff gaff numbers are free.
The battery life has always been poor but I think most smart phones have that issue nowadays.

I ran out of memory space soon but added an sd card so can download more apps.
Camera isn't brilliant but okay for snaps in a good light.

This is mine - I got the price wrong. samsung s3 mini

I just didn't want a contract again - to be tied in for 24 months.

And i use the goody bag from giff gaff - no tie in at all. giffgaff.com/goodybags

I did similar for DS too, his phone was a little cheaper, and he is happy wiht the £7.50 goody bag.

Mini s3 are quite different from normal s3.

I would go for s4 op. Having had both, the camera on the s4 is fanbloodytastic!

I had a S3. It was my first proper "grown up" phone - and I loved it!

When the contract came to an end it was cheaper to upgrade to the S4 per month. I have brought a sim only card and given the s3 to my son (wanted a smartphone as a locator service is on the phone so I can see when he arrives at school)

Have not noticed any difference in the s3 to s4.

Not helping at all, I now have the S5, I have lots of data and unlimited calls and texts, so an expensive plan (required for work), but the camera is great, and the phone overall is a massive improvement on my old s2. You can get it on cheaper plans (try the phone finder thingy on money saving expert), & I think you might be able to find one not far off the £23 you're being quoted for the s4.

Aw gawd
I'm kind of glad for these suggestions and kind of not :-)
Ok this might help me - can you set an alert for when you're approaching your limit for minutes/internet usage?
I think I could bear the £24 s4 IF I knew I could make sure I'd never exceed these
Tumble, thank you for suggestion but out of sheer Luddite panic I'm not even going to look :-)

£16pcm for 500mg data, unlimited texts and approx 3000 mins (any network) and free to Virgin phones. It would be £21pcm if I wasn't with virgin for my home internet etc.

Thanks scrambled

500 mg data isn't a lot

I have S5, much better on battery than S4. S3 is not taht good so I wouldn't consited it.
Photos on S4 was OK, but battery life was crap

EE won't let you go over the data limit, but their plans are at the pricier end (4g)

Moto g! have a look at one, unless you want a big screen it'll do all you want really cheaply.

Get a SIM only deal and buy the phone outright at about 149

I love love love my S4 (previously had v old S1). Big but not too big screen, no probs running all the apps I like (BBC, Runkeeper etc). Don't know about remotely wiping data tho, I have a phone pin and a sim pin set on my phone. And I back up. You can back up much of your contacts etc to Google or Dropbox.

The only downside for me is that the latest Android OS won't allow you to write directly to the external sd card, which I use for additional storage and back ups. Tis not a biggie (phone memory is plenty big enough) and can be side stepped, just my only niggle.

I have the phone and am on a £7 a month PAYG I think.

Virgin add on £10 to the contract each month Scrambled if you've not got any of their other services!

I can't recommend moto g. Bought one for ds1 last year and it has had constant problems. Half the screen freezes and programmes randomly shut down. Couldn't believe my bad luck....ds1 finally decided to let me have it on Sunday evening so I could take it back to the shop I bought it from.....phones4u! Then we heard the news that it had folded.

Ds1 has to shut it down and restart frequently. I wish he'd let me take it back ages ago.