Motorola G4

[Clive]

Many of you are well aware that I have never owned a Smart phone but I'm now considering casting my fate to the wind and almost coming into the 21st Century.  I really do not see the point of shelling out lots of money on a fancy Apple phone but I've seen a lot of good reviews on the Motorola G4 which retails at £160.  To me this is still an obscene amount to pay for a phone but times change and I can see the advantages of having various Apps available on tap.  Adult Sheep Finder naturally comes to mind.   
I do not want to get into a monthly contract if I can avoid it but will a PAYG sim card pass muster?  At present I use Tesco/O2 which has good coverage in my area.  I've heard about Giff Gaff but is that a bespoke network which I would have to use instead of O2?  How would I know if I have coverage in my area?  Any advice would be very welcome.

[Simon]

PAYG may work out to be quite an expensive option, Clive, as the phone will be using data (3G/4G) for all sort of things, such as emails, downloading and updating apps, system updates, etc.  It may be fine if you don't intend to use the phone away from a Wi-Fi connection, but there are quite a few fairly cheap options now with 'SIM Only' deals, where you pay a monthly fee for the services, but you purchase your own device.  I've never even looked at Giff-Gaff, but I believe Mitch has had dealings with them.  BT Mobile seems pretty competitive at the moment, and I believe they have the same sort of coverage as O2.  Deals start at £10 per month.

[Clive]

I couldn't possibly use BT Simon.   

[Simon]

That's what I thought you'd say!    I've heard some good reports about Tesco Mobile - in fact, a friend's daughter is with them, and as far as I know she's not had any problems.  They use O2's network, so good coverage in most places.

http://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-monthly/sim-only/Tesco+Mobile/simonly/tariff

[stevenrw]

Simon is right Tesco hve quite good deals and that includes 4G as standard. If 4G isn't that much of an issue (and it really isn't the blistering fast service that Kevin Bacon would have us believe) Virgin Mobile have some silly cheap SIM only deals, which, although they are only 3G, are only on a rolling 30 day contract, so you are not tied in for 12 months. They start at just £5 per month!http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/sim-only/pay-monthly-sim.html?buspart=uk_ps_a_mobile_google_purchase_B-BRAND-SIM-VIP%25B-BRAND-SIM-VIP-SITELINK%25Rolling%30%day%25SIM&CMP=DFA:1882230:115985978:289014471:0&gclid=CMmI7ffyt84CFVDaGQodop0Ngg&gclsrc=ds
They used to be for existing Virgin Media customers but not any more. They are available to anybody. I believe they also use the EE network.

[MisterW]

I've heard about Giff Gaff but is that a bespoke network which I would have to use instead of O2?  How would I know if I have coverage in my area?  Any advice would be very welcome.

GiffGaff use the O2 network, so coverage would be exactly the same as O2. You can either use GiffGaff as a true PAYG or you can buy what they call a 'goodybag' which gives an amount of included minutes/texts/data valid for 1 month. You can set goodbags to auto renew each month, effectively giving a type of monthly plan. The advantage is that you can change the plan each month or even just revert to no plan. For instance I use mine on PAYG most of the time but say I'm away from home for a period with no wifi then I'll add a data goodybag for that month. I believe Giffgaff also is automatically 4g if your phone is capable and you're in a 4g area.   

[Clive]

Thanks for all the advice which seems very encouraging.  It's Tesco Mobile (O2) that I'm using now on my ancient non-smart phone.  Just to clarify, the name of the Motorola phone is G4.  I have no interest in 4G.   

[MisterW]

I have no interest in 4G

You will when/if you start to use data on your shiny new smartphone! . The difference between 3g and 4g speeds can be staggering. 

[J!ll]

Have limited mine to 2g and 3g! It can update when I'm home