Thanks everyone so far for their response. I've been shopping around but haven't signed up to anything yet. I'm definitely just going to get another handset as the one I have has a broken screen and the camera doesn't work. Is anyone with three?
J
I’ve been through this agony for the last few weeks as my five year old iPhone is failing badly. My experience is this.
1. Unlocked and sim free is the best option
2. The three best value smartphones on the market are the Huawei P Smart, the Moto G6 play and the Moto G6 Plus. All my research heads in this direction.
The Which? review of the Huawei is rather average
“If it cost any more, the Huawei P Smart would be an outright disappointment. As it is, it's simply an unimpressive (but certainly not terrible) phone at a sensible price. It's not going to set pulses racing, but it might tempt you if you're on a budget - we'd suggest you look somewhere else, though.
Should I buy it?
Not really. While the P Smart doesn't really do anything wrong, there's just no ignoring the fact that we've tested better handsets at the same price - or even cheaper. By all means have a look at it, but our tests found little reason to opt for it over some of its more impressive budget rivals.
On the other hand this is the Moto G6 Play review:
“The Motorola Moto G6 Play is an incredible smartphone, not because it's the best we've seen but because we weren't sure a handset this good was possible at such an incredibly low price. It even outscores the Moto G6, its more expensive sibling. This handset is terrific value.
Should I buy it?
Motorola has got its priorities spot-on with the Moto G6 Play. It won't appeal to real technophiles, but its performance is better than the sum of its parts. Combine that with an incredible battery and you have one of the best-value phones on the market.”
3. To keep call costs down I’d suggest Tesco mobile or O2 (Tesco uses O2 network). Try Rocket packs which allow you to buy monthly in lumps of £5 to £20 in £2.50 jumps. This means you can vary your purchase depending on what you need that month.
I’ve done this for five months now. Generally the £5 pack is more than enough.
After two months of agonising over this I’m going to buy a Moto G6 Play next week.