Samsung s3mini

A question about : Samsung s3mini

Hello, can anyone tell me what difference they can find between the above s3 phone priced at Ј79 at Sainsburys and the ones I have googled at Argos, Ј119.99 and giff gaff at Ј99?

That is a big difference in price if they are in fact the same phone?

Thanks for any help.

Best answers:

• I guess the (only?) difference is that the Sainsburys' one is locked to the network.
  At giffgaff you'll need to buy some bundle together with the phone unless you are already a customer.
• Your reply hasn't helped much, but thanks anyway.
  I've now found another S 3 phone in Argos catalogue which is a different price again.
  What I really want to source is a new phone for hubby. We both have ancient Nokias which have served us really well but hubby's has become unreliable so he needs a replacement.
  We went into the EE shop in town today, looked at a few phones in the Ј50 to Ј70 price range and he liked the feel and look of the Samsung S3 mini in there. That was until the girl serving us told us that the PAYG tariff is 30p per minute for calls, he never texts. But she said we would be locked into EE TARIFF ONCE WE HAD PUT THE SIM INTO THE PHONE. We left the shop to think about it as that is expensive for calls.
  Sainsburys has the same phone but none in stock but they will be coming in very soon at Ј79. The lad we spoke to in Sainsburys was just an general assistant but said that this was a sim free phone which would take their PAYG TARIFF SIMS WHICH COST 8p for calls and 4p for texts. We thought this a good price. On coming home I looked in Argos and the same phone in their book are Ј119 or Ј79 for what looks like the same phone but in black rather than ble or White. I am now totally bamboozled by it all.
  Anyone out there able to give me an idea which way to jump PLEASE.
  Our current Orange tariff is Raccoon which is 12p for calls. If I just buy a new PAYG phone then call orange/EE will they just transfer his remaining credit and existing number onto the new phone, job done?
  I am now dizzy with it all!
  Thanks
• Thanks Grumbler, so much info there I will read and digest in the morning and reply when I've done that.
  Please be kind, I'm an oldie so not very techie savvy and posting links is way beyond my prowess.
  Ok speak to you tomorrow.
• Thanks so much for all the info Grumbler.
  Now it is much clearer to me. As soon as Sainsburys get them in store I will get one but for now I will transfer the sim from his old phone, if it is indeed the same size. Our old dark and light grey Nokias must be at least 15 years old so may be the large type. We will stay with Orange until his credit is used up and then look into which company to go with then. He makes so few calls that 12p is neither here nor there but it is very easy to stay chatting for no reason and then 12p becomes Ј1 before you know it. When the time comes to change mine I might well go with Talk Talk as our home phone is with them and they are always ringing to tell me they can reduce my mobile phone bills if I go with them. When they ask how much a month I spend on mobile calls and I say not more than Ј25 PER YEAR, they think I mean per month. They soon realise that none of their plans will save me money! I do indeed use the Internet quite a lot but would only use it sparingly on such a small screen, it is pretty easy to pop my
  I pad mini into my bag and if needed there are free wi fi cafes and Weatherspoons all over the place.
  You see I really am a money saving oldie, not because I really have to be, just because it is a life times habit trying to save the pennies where I can. I now spend my spare money going on holidays!
  Thanks so much for all your help.
• An important note:
  S3 mini is a smartphone. Unless you switch mobile data off, it eats it without asking you and this can be very costly on most PAYG tariffs. Also, unlike basic phones, smartphones need charging every 1-2 days, depending on usage.
  Do you really need a smartphone?
• Thanks for the heads up! Not sure now what it actually means, smartphone? I expect it is way smarter than we are.
  If not a smartphone then which would you be choosing in my position. Hubby wants a modern phone, no internet at present but maybe in the future, maybe not. But he said a decent camera and a keypad for the not so nimble fingered. He can use the keypad on the I pad mini but it is a good size unlike a phone. I feel that we want an android as opposed to a windows phone, but I'm now asking your opinion.
  Thanks
• I have recently purchased a Moto E smart phone after using a very antiquated alcatel and really like it.
  My Moto E is sim free, however my Orange payg sim from my alcatel is a standard one, so I needed to get a micro sim (this is easy to do via the Orange web site and is free).
  Once I had received my new micro sim from Orange (it comes with full instructions on how to use it), I just rang them up and asked them to transfer my credit and phone number across to my new phone. I used their 0800 number via my home phone to save using my mobile credit. I found them very helpful and there were no problems.
  I am able to use my home wifi with this phone, which may be useful, but it doesn't have 3/4G capability.
  You can read about this phone below
  https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/moto-g-vs-moto-e
  HTH
• A smartphone means it want to connect to the internet for everything..
  Unless you turn it off or get a deal with some data your going to get billed for it.
  It wants to check the time, date, weather, news, app updates and firmware updates.... etc etc...
  When you set it up it will want you to create an email account to backup your phone and contacts etc...
• Iris,thanks. That was great. I looked at the comparisons between the 2 and the photos are the only significant thing that hubby might feel that he would like better quality close ups. He does take photos of tractors and needs clear detail so I think that might just influence the purchase.
  The details about the orange sim and transferring of original phone number is exactly what he would want to do so thanks very much for your info. I didn't realise that buying a phone could be such a minefield.
  Thanks
• Forgotmyname, thanks, I now understand the term smart phone. Are all the ones with the wi Fi symbol considered smart phones?
  Is it easy to turn this off so you can't get large bills?
  He doesn't want buy one with the separate keypad at the bottom, you know the one that is always visible, he isn't a bit fashion conscious but does want to at least look like he is now living in this century but quite honestly he is a real dinosaur with technology and would most surely press something and use up all his credit.
  Iris, which tariff are you on with EE? Ours is Raccoon, 12p per min for both phone and texts but fixed to a PAYG Orange phone the calls were going to be 30p per min! Exorbitant in my opinion.
• Glad I can be of some help
  If you buy from Tesco via the internet, as I did, you can use an e-coupon for a Ј10 discount if you haven't used it before. It's probably on the mse coupons site. If not just let me know and I will pm you.
  If you are with BT for your landline phone, you can also register your smart phone through BT and use this app to phone whilst you are out and about, or even abroad, and BT will charge you via your BT account.
• If you setup your smartphone to only update via a WiFi connection then you will limit the cost of internet data usage to general Web browsing and emails (should you wish to do that on the phone).
  As Grumbler has previously mentioned, the 3 network is a cheap payg option at 3p per minute for calls, 2p per text message and 1p per megabyte of data. Networks such as Orange charge significantly more, as you have discovered, so changing network is a good option as long as you can get a good signal.
  If you only keep a small balance on your payg account then you can avoid unwittingly incurring hefty data charges.
• Thanks Neil, much appreciated. How would I check the three signal for my area please? Plus we do travel around in our caravan in summer so the wider network availability is a factor for us.
• Get a free Three PAYG SIM and test in an unlocked handset (It'll need to be a 3G one though ,as they don't use 2G).
• Thanks to you all for the latest ideas. I will look at your suggestions tomorrow.
  Goodnight
• I have a Doro Phone Easy. It is designed for people who basically just want to phone and text. It is sim-free.
  Argos currently have one on offer for Ј29.95
  I use an Asda sim card that charges 8p per minute.
  I am very pleased with mine.