The best thing about mobile phones is, well, that they are mobile, but unfortunately that comes with a limitation. Even though you can use them wherever the signal is available you still can’t use them for as long as you might like. You are limited by the life of your battery, and depending on the manufacturer, the model and the way you use your phone, that life might be too short for your liking. Luckily, there are measures you can take and habits you can try to develop if you want to extend that life.
First of all it is important to remember that your Bluetooth and infra red are wasting a lot of energy when they’re on even if they are not actively transmitting data, whenever you use them you should remember to turn them off after.
One of the other things you should definitively try to avoid whenever you can is vibration mode. Sometimes you don’t really have a choice and you have to use it because your current circumstances demand it, but at any other time you should make sure that it is off as it consumes a lot of energy.
The type and strength of the network reception in your area also have significant influence on your battery’s life. Phones operating on the GSM network have much longer battery life than the ones using 3G, of course most people wouldn’t sacrifice speed and efficiency of the newer network just to make the phone work slightly longer, but some might consider it a fair trade off.
Also, if your network signal is weak your phone will be struggling to establish a connection and as a result it will drain the battery faster, if you are in an area with bad reception you might think about turning your phone off, it usually isn’t of much use anyway and you’ll save a lot of power.
Your phone’s display is another big spender; you should lower the brightness as far as you can, as this is one of the main sources of energy drain. Following the same logic, you shouldn’t have active flashy screen-savers with animations, or just about anything else that will make your display work overtime, a nice entertaining black is just as fun not to look at as a colourful, lively cartoon and it requires far less energy.
The same goes for games, if you need your battery to last long you should refrain from playing them on your phone, they not only use the display but more often than not, you also need sound, and the speakers can be just as effective at draining your phone as display. That is why listening to music on your phone is also on the list.
Other things to remember are the power save mode option that most nokia mobile phones have and that you should definitely think about using, freeing up as much memory space as you can, and of course, talking which might be the activity that drains your phone the most.
Needles to say, battery life is just not that important to most people and these measures are often not worth considering, but if you only adopted some of the necessary habits you might make your battery last longer without having to sacrifice all the things that made you buy the phone in the first place.
Contract: £10 per month
Length: 24 Month contract
Minutes: 30 Minutes anytime any network
Texts: Unlimited texts
Internet: 100MB per month
Phone Price: £0.00
Clearly this HTC Desire S offer for the texters given the limited minutes (30) available on this contract. Either that or a good phone for anyone wanting to buy the HTC Desire S for use with another contact that is already in place. Works out to cost £240 over the 24 months with no redemption etc. so cheaper than buying the phone outright in the first place.
Great if you are on the Orange network, otherwise it will cost a little extra for this deal as you would need to unlock the HTC Desire S for use on other networks such as O2, Three, Virgin etc.
For more offers on this mobile either use the search tool on the right hand side or click here.
Do you have an opinion on this mobile phone? Let us know below we would love to hear from you.
Remember to bookmark the site to get the latest offers and cheap mobile phones.
LG Optimus 2X – Sim Free
Contract: Sim Free
Length: N/A
Minutes: N/A
Texts: N/A
Internet: N/A
Price: £329
What you need to know
This LG Optimus 2X on Android features a 8 Mega Pixel camera and features an IPS screen like the iPhone but bigger and many will find it more usable. It is rumoured that the iPhone 5 when released will use this exact same screen, although this is yet to be confirmed.
Speed of this phone is it’s strong point with dual core processors although many argue that dual core use is limited in a mobile phone at the moment and is a feature that is yet to be fully developed so more to come in this area.
For £329 this is available sim free which is an incredible deal given it was around the £500 mark a few months ago.
It can be had for around £20 per month on an 18 month contract for those that prefer the cost spread which works out around £360. Obviously down to choice and if you are happy to be in a long contract or not. If you have a good bundle deal from your existing network then obviously a sim only mobile would work better.
For more offers on this mobile either use the search tool on the right hand side or click here.
The world of mobile phones however is very much swings and roundabouts, some will love the LG Optimus 2X mobile whilst others will prefer the likes of the HTC Desire. Having said that the LG Optimus 2X does have better battery life, internal memory and a better camera than the HTC Desire (interestingly we featured a very good offer on the Desire here a few weeks ago).
Do you have an opinion on this mobile phone? Let us know below we would love to hear from you.
Contract: Sim Free
Length: N/A
Minutes: N/A
Texts: N/A
Internet: N/A
Price: £265.00
HTC Desire Z Sim Free Mobile – £265 Delivered
A very good offer for the HTC Desire Z priced at £265.00 delivered from Amazon. This is a real bargain and allows you to add your own sim card to the mobile and save the need for a long contract with one of the UK networks.
The HTC Desire Z has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and a gorgeous, 3.7 inch, AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 480×800 pixels. Its bright and clear with vivid colours, enabling you to enjoy HD movies and media at their very best. The technical specifications of the Desire Z are equally impressive.
It has an 800MHz CPU, the latest Android OS 2.2 and HTCs Sense user interface. Although its a weighty device at 180g, the Desire Z feels light in the hand and the sliding mechanism is effortless. Its remarkably thin but extremely strong, constructed from a single piece of aluminium
For more offers on this mobile either use the search tool on the right hand side or click here.
Contract: Talkmobile Smart plan £20
Length: 12 Month Contract
Minutes: 200 Minutes Anytime Any Network
Texts: 1000 Texts
Internet: Unlimited Internet
Price: £99.99
With a 4 inch super AMOLED display the Samsung Galaxy S is just £99 on the Talkmobile Smart Plan. This is a 12 month contract so no lengthy tie in and priced at £20 per month it’s a fairly low monthly cost.
The Samsung Galaxy S is great for watching HD movies or browsing detailed websites. As you’ll be tapping away on your mobile all the time, make sure to invest in a screen protector, which will ward off dust, scratches and fingerprints.
For more offers on this mobile either use the search tool on the right hand side or click here.
The E72 from Nokia is a smartphone part of the Nokia Eseries range. It is the successor to the E71 and if you compare the two you can see that it is based on a similar design, it also shares a lot of the features that made the E71 such a popular choice and rival to other smartphones such as the Blackberry.
While it may not be the most exciting mobile phone you have ever seen it makes up for in features and quality. Aimed at the business user part of the mobile market the Nokia E72 is an ideal choice and for those who may be looking at getting a smartphone, with its full qwerty keyboard it is a breeze to both use, email and send text messages. It also boasts true push email enabling you to send and receive emails from up to 10 different email accounts and including the use of Microsoft Mail for exchange should you need it.
Documents can be edited via its built in Office applications of Word, Excel and Powerpoint, whilst these and PDF files can be viewed, edited and attached to emails directly on the phone before sending via email. HSDPA connectivity will now be available upto 10.2 Mbps meaning that the E72 will be no slouch in the speed department.
E71 vs E72
There really is little between the two handsets other than little tweeks and upgrades over the previous model, which just goes to show how well Nokia made the E71, and those familiar with the previous version of the E72 will be just as impressed with this version we are sure. Fans of the E71 will surely be looking to upgrade their mobile to the newer version once they have chance.
New Features of the E72
- Symbian OS 9.3, Series 60 v3.2 UI, Feature Pack 2.
- Optical navi key, instead of the conventional D-Pad
- 3.5 mm jack instead of 2.5 mm
- USB charging
- Active noise cancellation
- Accelerometer sensor
- Magnetometer sensor
- Digital compass
- RDS support
- PictBridge
Upgrades
- 12 hours of talktime(2G) instead of the E71’s 10hrs (2G).
- Tri-band UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA instead of Dual-band
- HSDPA support of up to 10.2 Mbps instead of 3.6
- Added HSUPA at 2.0 Mbps
- Improved CPU clock speed to 600MHz
- Real time Push e-mail HTML
- 5 Megapixel camera (up from 3.2)
Noticeably the newer model gets some big upgrades in the form of HSDPA support of up to 10.2 Mbps instead of 3.6, Improved CPU clock speed to 600MHz from the original 369MHz and a 5 Megapixel camera (up from 3.2).
Given the awards the E71 received during its time (listed below) we are sure that the E72 will soon follow in its footsteps.
Editors’ Choice, Readers’ Choice and 8.9 out of 10 rating on CNET.co.uk
Highly Commended in a category of Best Mobile Handset or Device at the GSMA Awards 2009
Phone of the Year and the Best Smartphone at the 2008 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards
WIRED Magazine’s 2008 Best of Test
The E72 is available in both sim free (unlocked) form and on contract which is currently exclusive to Vodafone.
Pay Monthly Deals
Pay Monthly also known as a Contract is when you pay for your mobile on a monthly basis rather than a Pay As You Go (PAYG) / Prepay option whereby you add credit to your mobile phone when you existing balance runs out. This latter is usually done by topping up your mobile in one of the many methods such as buying a topup card, calling a number (depending on your network) or even through a cash machine.
Cheaper than SIM Free
Pay Monthly is the most popular way of owning a mobile phone in the UK and is the easiest way of having the latest phone as it avoids the need to pay a large sum of money (usually >£400) for the latest handset if you looked at going down the SIM free route.
Pay Monthly Benefits
Another benefit of Pay Monthly Deals is that you get a bundled allocation of minutes, text message and more often than not internet usage. A more recent trend is to offer unlimited text messages and unlimited internet with monthly contract bundles, which in other words gives the user a set number of minutes per month to use along with what the networks call unlimited text message and internet although in reality this is restricted to a fair usage policy with the amount depending on each Network.
Pay Montly Networks
You will find that T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange, 3 Mobile and O2 as networks offer different tariffs and deals meaning that choosing the right network can be a timely exercise. It is worth however comparing the latest pay monthly deals to make sure you get the most for your money.
Finding The Best Deal
For example some networks offerr 24 month deals whilst you may be able to get a similar deal on another network for 18 months, meaning that you save yourself paying 6 months of the appropriate line rental and this allows you to get your next new mobile sooner.
You also need to consider how many minutes and text messages you get for your money as deals between this different networks can vary hugely. If you know how many minutes and text messages you use per month you can often shop around and find the best deal using handy comparison tools such as the one on the top right hand side of the page.
Existing Network Deals
What we also suggest doing is using the tool to find the best offer and then speaking to your existing mobile phone network to see if they will match the offer or if possible beat it in order for them to keep you as a customer as more often than not they may be able to offer you a better deals (unless the deal you have found is a really good one).
Below are the latest contract offers for the HTC Desire one of the latest and most popular mobiles from HTC.
We have also included a sim free option for those interested in buying the mobile outright without any tie-ins.
Featuring a 3.7 inch touchscreen the HTC Desire is great for internet browsing featuring Google Andriod the Desire lets you customise multiple home screens with downloadable applications (apps) and has plenty of features perfect for you to keep in contact with your favourite social networking sites .
Google Maps is also included so this handset makes a great backup for those without a SatNav.
HTC Desire Deals
| Network | Mins | Texts | Deal Information | Cost p/m | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | 3000 | FREE HTC Desire | £16.50 |
|
| 200 | 0 | FREE HTC Desire | £12.81 |
|
| 400 | 3000 | FREE HTC Desire | £17.22 |
|
| 400 | 0 | FREE HTC Desire | £17.22 |
|
| 500 | 3000 | FREE HTC Desire | £17.22 |
|
| 50 | 250 | HTC Desire costs £44.99 | £15.50 |
|
| 50 | 250 | FREE HTC Desire | £13.50 |
|
| 50 | 250 | HTC Desire costs £74.99 | £10.50 |
|
| 100 | 500 | FREE HTC Desire | £13.89 |
|
| 0 | 0 | HTC Desire costs £333.68 | £0.00 |
|
Get 600 minutes, unlimited texts messages and a choice of unlimited O2 to O2 or unlimited landline calls for £15 on O2 Simplicity.
Click here for more on this great offer.
This is one of the best sim only deals around at the moment and great for heavy texters who also make plenty of calls, and with the offer from O2 it’s a network you can trust.
Tesco mobile have created what is being billed as the cheapest mobile phone contract in the UK with their £6 per month 1 month rolling contract which comes complete with 100 minutes and unlimited texts.
If you are a regular payg customer now may be the time to switch to a short term mobile contract with Tesco especially if you are a constant texter and make limited calls.
If you need more minutes then they offer the same deal but with 250 minutes for an extra £4 per month at £10.
Charges for these 1 month plans are as follows:
Charges thereafter (per min)
| Call type | Peak | Off Peak |
|---|---|---|
| Landlines | £0.20 | £0.20 |
| Same Network | £0.20 | £0.20 |
| Other Networks | £0.20 | £0.20 |
| Video Calls (same Network) | £0.50 | £0.50 |
| Voicemail | £0.10 | £0.10 |
| SMS | £0.10 | |
| MMS | £0.25 | |
We think this is a really great offer for high texters low callers who already have a payg mobile at their disposal and will be hard to find anything close to this from the mainstream mobile phone networks.
If however you need more minutes then it would be worth looking round for a higher minutes offer to suit you better.
