Yet another phone thread

[marksi]

One Mini v One

Well done everyone.

I don't so much want it to *look as if* it has stock Android rather I want it to actually have it as it means new updates will actually happen as opposed to the hardware being arbitrarily declared obselete after 6 months by a manufacturer only interested in selling you a new phone, despite the old one being perfectly powerful enough to run newer software.

[Jake]

One Mini v One

Well done everyone.

I don't so much want it to *look as if* it has stock Android rather I want it to actually have it as it means new updates will actually happen as opposed to the hardware being arbitrarily declared obselete after 6 months by a manufacturer only interested in selling you a new phone, despite the old one being perfectly powerful enough to run newer software.

You're essentially saying you want a phone updated by Google. Unfortunately that's only really the Nexus 4 at the moment in the UK, although they've recently released Google editions of both the HTC One and Galaxy S4 in America which run stock Android.

It might be worth keeping an eye on Motorola as they've recently become Googleified. The Moto X runs close to stock, with a few added features, but again that's a US only release for now.

[Dr Lobster*]

To be fair as well, when I sold my Galaxy S2, it had Android 4.1 and considering the age and spec is pretty good going (over the air update on Three)

My wife still has a Galaxy S2 and she only got her 4.1 update a few weeks ago, Three seem to be more on the ball with issuing firmware updates.

I have stock android on my Nexus 10 tablet, which I love, and I have the Samsung firmware on my Galaxy S4 - I have replaced the launcher with Nova on both and the experience is great.

Although there is a bit of bloatware on the galaxy, one or two of the features like the power saving and customisable shortcut pannel make it worth it.

The only thing which is so shockingly shit it wouldn't look out of place on an iPhone is the calendar app, its got a tacky skeuomorphic thing going on, but luckily can be easily replaced with the Google app for free.

[WillPS]

All this faffing about with manufacturer specific stuff reminds me of why I left Windows Mobile way back when.

I'm quite partial to my BlackBerry but I haven't had a go with BB10 yet.

[Pete]

So have wangled a tiny but more off of Orange (who are to call me back at 7pm tomorrow) however I have since discovered two issues.

1 - Vodafone are offering the Galaxy S4 at £33 for free with unlimited calls, unlimited texts and 1 gig of data. meaning that all orange are offering me is 60p discount for a gig of extra data, less minutes and less tax-dodging twat guilt.

2 - giffgaff require you to jailbreak your phone to do tethering, this being on top of paying Orange £20 to unlock the bugger. Given I have a deep hatred for my iPhone I am wondering whether this would be worth the effort given I'd not get my pretty new phone to cuddle (plus no doubt my 4S would plummet in resale value when the 5S comes out)

Please respond.

[Dr Lobster*]

Well, I'd just get the Galaxy. Though Vodafone's deal doesn't look all that compelling with their 2008 internet bundles.

Three so seem to be better value, depending on what you actually use it for. Guess it depends on your budget and coverage.

If you flog your iPhone now you should still be able to make a good return, there will be some school kid bored eager to upgrade their blackberry curve willing to pay almost new price. And if it's true apple will launch a cheap plastic iPhone in such colours as pink, a big part of the school girl demographic will buy that rather than a second hand white one. If you get a good price, a slightly higher contract price is completely mitigated.

[robschneider]

Can't beat the Samsung Galaxy S3. Still to try the S4.

[cwathen]

So I have my eye on a Galaxy S4 however orange are being far from their usual pushovers when it comes to retentions. Aside from trying to convince me to go with EE (er but there's no 4G coverage in Dundee, oh yes you're right sir).

Having just done round 2 with Orange (where I've managed to wangle them down to £31 / month, still with the same tarrif and still charging £29.99 for the handset - still not agreed to it with the handset charge on) I've shed a little bit more light onto why Orange's policy on retentions has changed - they don't have a retentions team any more! It was considered expendable when the operations were merged into EE. 'Retentions' is now simply a function of the computer system where customers asking for more than the standard offering get pre-determined loyalty discounts and deals offered based on your account history, but no one has the authority to authorise anything non-standard in order to keep you which retentions would have done in the past.

So, the standard upgrade bunnies are now the end of the line, you either agree to an official deal and discount or they will let you leave.

When I stated that I was more than willing to agree to her offer right now if only she would get the fee waived and then directly asked if they were really prepared to let me leave over £29.99 she launched into a tirranical so-scripted it was unreal speech involving such gems as 'Orange has never claimed to be the cheapest network', 'we've never just matched any deal to keep a customer', 'you get what you pay for - there is LTE with your handset giving you an upgrade path to 4G which you won't get with other networks' and the best one of all (when I asked what the point of having a manager with no more authority than the operatives was) 'what would be the point of a manager making those decisions when we have a detailed account history and have offered you an amazing deal'.

I'm now giving them a damning response to their free survey in the hope it will trigger some sort of call back from complaints.

[WillPS]

I'm now giving them a damning response to their free survey in the hope it will trigger some sort of call back from complaints.

In my experience you have to actually complain in order to get a call back from complaints, not just text 1 in response to a post-call survey. Doing that will just give the operator a hard time at their next review.

Olaf Swantee and Jackie O'Leary seem to be the e-mails you need if you want to get to the normally-better CEO Office.

I'm still absolutely delighted with my Virgin Mobile retentions deal from this time a year ago. I think it's £15/month or something similar, with my student discount taken on top of that means I'm paying about £13/month for more minutes and texts than I ever use, and 1GB of data which is usually plenty, plus a Bold 9790 which I love, and is still about £200 on a SIM-only/PAYG basis a year on. Say what you like about the BlackBerry, it's an impressive deal.

[Pete]

ask for your PAC code. That seemed to trigger the slightly better offers. Or just jump. I snapped with them in the end when they kept trying to convince me to pay an extra £5 a month to move to EE despite there being no 4G reception in Dundee at the moment.

"But it's coming soon sir"
"But I'd be pissing money up the wall until then?"
*confused silence*

[cwathen]

In my experience you have to actually complain in order to get a call back from complaints, not just text 1 in response to a post-call survey. Doing that will just give the operator a hard time at their next review.

I'm very comfortable with the operator getting a hard time at her next review actually. Having worked in retail environments of one kind or another for all of my working life, I am all too familiar with the frustration of having to explain to customers company policies which I don't personally agree with. But there are ways to go about it. Done correctly, you manage to make the customer blame the company but understand that it's not your fault personally. But the operator I got seemed incredulous that I wouldn't take her offer when I could get a better one else where and was bordering on getting quite rude in her closing speech - even cutting me off whilst I was talking to make her points. If she wants to live by the company flag, she can die by it too - maybe she'll learn that they won't thank her for it.

Olaf Swantee and Jackie O'Leary seem to be the e-mails you need if you want to get to the normally-better CEO Office.

Just done a quick linkedin on those names. Seems Jackie O'Leary ('Chief Customer Officer') left EE/Orange a few months ago. One of her 'notable achievements' was an overhaul of the call centre operations last autumn - it is extremely likely that she is the reason why there is no longer a dedicated retentions team. Seems like a typical chief executive to me - gets credit for introducing sweeping changes, promptly fucks off a few months later before they're proven, won't be there to answer for her fuckups when they inevitably become apparent as she'll be firmly ensconced fucking up another company by then.

ask for your PAC code. That seemed to trigger the slightly better offers.

They did actually call me back this afternoon as yesterday's operator marked the deal she put together as being 'under consideration'. I got a slightly more pleasant person this time where I *did* get an offer of a free S4 - *if* I would accept an increase in the tariff to £36 / month! Somehow she thought this meant my issue was completely resolved and didn't quite seem to get the concept that paying an extra £120 over the life of the contract for a free handset was not a better deal than paying £29.99 for it!

Tomorrow will be the PAC code call, partly to see if it will push them further, and partly because I might need it.