What is the best mobile for internet surfing

[ZsadistsShellan]

I want a new phone for surfing the net and reading my e-mails. Is the I-phone the best one? I was hoping to find something cheaper than that.

I like using my Nokia E71. However, I use some additional software - Gmail (for replying to e-mail), Opera Mini for Mumsnet (as it seems faster and remembers my mumsnet login), Gravity (a Twitter client).

The phone has WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, plus of course a camera.

What network are you on? What budget do you have in mind? On some contracts you can agree a price plan and then pay a bit extra to upgrade to a better handset. So you may pay £100 for the phone and be able to remain on say a £15 a month tariff.

How much are you being offered the I-Phone for?
Do you like Touch Screens, or do you prefer button mini keyboards?

Hi Nanny: thanks for your reply . I'm on 02 at the moment just pay as you go. I had a look at contract phones but can't seem to see anything that has unlimited internet use for under £30 a month and don't really want to spent that much. I would like one of the touch screens. I don't have wi-fi and work and would like to be able to access the internet at lunchtimes on my phone.

Why would you need unlimited internet?
Try to consider what your usage might be, if mostly Email and Mumsnet then a 1GB or 2GB monthly limit would be fine.
Have you used the touch screen phones? Try out friends phones, compose a text message so you get a feel of how easy/hard it is to type using the screen. Everyone will have their own preference.
Not sure what handsets are available on O2 PAYG - have you seen any that you like and are in your budget?

iPhone - you'll love it

i have the nokia n97 mini, tis fab dp has and i phone and he absolutley loves it

Nanny: I didn't realise you could get a monthly limit - will have a look around. Thanks for mentioning the Opera Mini app - I'm loving it

I love OperaMini - works great for Mumsnet whereas the built in browser is really slow at viewing Mumsnet. Glad you like it Sandy

Not sure which providers are still doing capped internet usage in terms of how they market the service to customers. Having had a quick look around appears that major providers are doing Unlimited web for a monthly fee but if you read the terms carefully you will see a Fair Usage limit mentioned.

Think the 1Gb, 3Gb thing I mentioned before was for Mobile Internet (which is where you connect your laptop to your mobile).

3 seem to still be doing a Free amount of data with each TopUp, then a charge per Mb of data - see 3Pay. They then have an Internet Add-on which adds unlimited internet for a fixed duration (such as a day or a month).

TescoMobile do a 7-day (GPRS data) internet pass for £2 per week (auto-renews) on PAYG. 100mb limit is mentioned but not clear if that is per day, per week or per month. On their Pay Monthly Sim Only tariff they say it's Unlimited data but fair usage limit is 500Mb per month.

ZsadistsShellan - consider if you want to stay as PAYG or change to Pay Monthly. Then look at the various tariffs on offer by your preferred network.

I view myself as being a fairly heavy internet user on my mobile. I use it for Twitter, Mumsnet, Email and occasional YouTube Videos. Last month, I used 96.96Mb of data. Previous month to that I used 54.8Mb, before that 81Mb, before that 92.65Mb. So while Unlimited packages do have Fair Usage limits, you may find that you are well within that limit.

Remember that it is Video and Audio that will use up most data - so use those with care.

Someone stuck away in Europe recently was listening to BBC R4 on his laptop. His data usage for a few days was 2800 MB (7000 odd quid +VAT).

I'd go for an unlimited deal if at all possible, just in case you try streaming a radio station and drift off to sleep...

I think they should ban "unlimited" in descriptions where the fair usage is relatively small (unless you only ever browse text websites, and manage not to hit some site which has hundreds of photos - I came across one some time ago with 500+ cat/kitten pix on one web page).

I have a nokia 5800 xpress music on virgin, it costs me £18.50 a month for an 18 month contract. I really love it - touchscreen, intuitive menus, wifi, gps and lots of fun apps. Use it for email, taking pics and surfing net. Will try opera mini, thanks for tip!

I have a sony erricson. I dont have unlimited internet but connect it to wi fi at home, gym, cafe etc. Its a bit quirky and not as good as the iphone for internet but has a decent 12.1 phone camera which was important to me.