Whatever your circumstances, tastes, needs and budget, there'll be a mobile phone and tariff to suit you. There's such a wide variety of handsets around now, everyone can have a phone which they're happy with.
So how do you choose from the plethora of handsets out there? The first thing to do is assess your needs: find out exactly what you want from a mobile phone. Where will you use it? How often will you use it? What will you use it for? Deciding what the primary use for your handset will be is a good indication of what features you'll need, and it will also help you when it comes to deciding on a tariff.
Gone are the days where you had to carry around a big grey brick just to talk on the move;
mobile phones these days can be small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. You can have all the functionality of a lap-top without compromising on size. Of course, some handsets are bigger than others depending on what features they have: the PDA's tend to be slightly larger than their cheaper counterparts.
Available features is probably the biggest deciding factor when choosing between
mobile phones, after price. Handsets usually come with a camera, polyphonic ringtones and MMS as standard, but there are a host of additional extras to be considered. Do you listen to a lot of music? An MP3 phone may be for you. Do you make video calls? Handsets are available with video-conferencing software. Does your job mean you do a lot of driving? Consider a phone with satellite navigation equipped. Business persons may wish to have a mobile phone they can integrate with their PC, so they can prepare documents on the move – a PDA is useful for this. Make a list of the desirable features and keep it handy when shopping around.
Once you've narrowed it down to a few handsets that you like, you'll need to choose a tariff. There are currently 3 main ones available: contract, pay as you go and sim-free. If you're a gadget freak or you like the latest fashions, a contract phone may be the best for you. You can get
cheap mobile phones in the latest designs – you may even get them free – and you get the option to change for a newer one at the end of the term. Just be aware that contracts are for a minimum of 12 months, and need to be paid monthly.
If you can afford the initial cost, and don't want to be tied into a contract, a pay-as-you-go tariff might suit you. You buy the phone and network sim card, and then just pay to top-up your phone when you need to. As you own the phone outright there are no monthly bills to worry about.
A Sim-free tariff is useful if you are unsure which provider you prefer. Like PAYG, you buy the phone outright, but as it isn't locked to a particular network you can use any sim card in the handset. Sim-free is great if you have a lot of friends all on different networks, or if you travel around a lot.
