The brand new Nokia N900 is awesome

Nokia N900 Handset

Nokia N900 HandsetThe Nokia N900 mobile phone is Nokia’s latest NSeries Smartphone. This powerful device features Linux-based Maemo software that delivers a PC-like experience all within the size of a handset. The Maemo 5 software will enable users to have dozens of application windows open and running simultaneously while taking full advantage of the phone features, touch screen and QWERTY keyboard. Other features include a 5.0 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash, WiFi and HSDPA, built-in GPS and 32GB of internal memory expandable up to 48GB via a microSD card.

  • Huge 32GB of internal memory!
  • Incredible new Maemo operating system
  • Messaging is easy and convenient thanks to the full physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
  • Keep all your email accounts in one place with functionality for up to 10 personal email accounts.
  • Read all your important documents with the N900’s document viewer.
  • Connect via WiFi and Bluetooth v2.1

Luckily for you, we’ve compiled a list of all the contract deals available for this phone, and have compiled them into our special site at our N900 Mobile Phone Checker site.

Free SIM Cards

Free Sim Cards!

Networks love to give away SIM cards as it makes them a lot of profit - but use them wisely, and you can obtain fairly cheap calls and texts.

They also make great presents for friends, or a way to re-use old mobiles

We’ve provided a comprehensive list of all free/nearly free SIM card offers on the net, so enjoy!

Network Cost Buy
Asda Mobile Sim Card 47p
o2 Sim Card FREE
Orange Sim Card FREE
T-Mobile Sim Card FREE
Tesco Sim Card FREE
Three Sim Card FREE
Virgin Sim Card FREE
Vodafone Sim Card FREE

The Nokia E71 is gorgeous…

…and is much improved upon it’s E61 and E61i predecessors.Nokia E71

For those unaware, it’s a geek smartphone - qwerty keyboard n’all - but stylish.

It’s a perfect phone for those that spend their life checking e-mails, IMs and texts on the train during the daily commute.

The phone comes coupled with Mail for Exchange as default, which enables you to plug straight into your corporate e-mail.

More details can be found on Nokia’s website - http://europe.nokia.com/A41146122

To find the best deal, click over to http://www.mobilephonechecker.co.uk/nokia-phone/e71-handset/

For those people who can’t send enough text messages per month…

It seems like MobileShop.com have a few issues with their tariffs - just check out this phone on T-Mobile’s new Combi 30 tariff. It looks like you get 4,294,967,295 texts free per month… that’s nearly 100,000 per minute! Crazy!

Short term N95 Clearance Deal

Currently available on a 12 month contract for £30/month - with cashback the full term costs £120 (£10/month). Go go go!

http://www.mobilephonechecker.co.uk/nokia-phone/n95_clearance-handset/

Mobile Phone Free Gifts

A quote from a mobile phone retailer went along the lines of “Do you promote Free gifts - this is making up 65% of our sales currently” - and this was a big wake-up call. With the problems associated with claiming cashback reliably from retailers, it seems as though a large majority of people are now going for the easier “free gift” promotions, which are normally dispatched when you receive your phone, or up to a month afterwards.

That’s why we’ve now upgraded the Mobile Phone Checker to enable you to search for contracts with free gifts. As we speak, many retailers are offering an Xbox 360 on a £30/month contract or a PS3 on contracts for £35/month.

 As always, comments or suggestions are very much welcome, and will help shape the Mobile Phone Checker for the future.

Pleathora of free sim cards available

A short and sweet post - if you’re looking for free PAYG sim cards - here you go!

o2: http://freesimo2.o2.co.uk/
Orange: http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/freesimcard
Tesco: http://www.tm-standardplus.co.uk/
T-Mobile: http://www.t-mobilesimgiveaway.co.uk/
Virgin: http://www.virginmobile.co.uk/promo/duoSim.html

Three releases new unlimited texts tariffs

Three have, this morning, released two new tariffs as part of their product offerings, namely the £25 Texter and £35 Texter price plans.

 Interestingly, their Texter tariffs are available in 12 and 18 month varieties,  compared to their ‘Mix and Match’/Flext-killer tariffs which are only 18 months - perhaps they have enough margin on these tariffs to make them worthwhile for shorter contract commitments?

Anyway, they provide pretty good value for the text-a-holics amongst you. Although they’re quoted as having “unlimited texts”, their “fair usage” policy effectively makes makes this term redundant - we’ve set texts to 100/day as a fair max - namely 3,000 texts/month.

Webuser Review!

Webuser published a review of the MobilePhoneChecker as part of their “Best new websites” feature in January.

Getting 3 stars is pretty good as in the same feature, Yell.com’s revamped website received 4.

As always - feedback enables us to shape the MobilePhoneChecker going forward, so get in touch!

Webuser Review

Retailer Offerings

We thought it would be interesting to share with you a few stats regarding the retailers we index on the MobilePhoneChecker.

Firstly, we wanted to take a look at the number of deals offered by each retailer. Here @ MPC we’re always looking to find the best deal - but does more = better?

Retailer Number of Deals
Asda 384
BT Mobile 170
Carphone Warehouse 4517
Dial A Phone 8750
e2save 3820
Mobiles 824
Mobiles2YourDoor 669
Mobileshop 1194
MobilesPlease 841
o2 486
Orange 800
One Stop Phone Shop 1556
Phones4u 885
T-Mobile 1252
Tesco 491
The Link 245
The Phone Spot 3252
Three 240
Virgin 386
Vodafone 1328

Interestingly, Dial A Phone offer almost double the number of deals compared to it’s rivals.

Carphone Warehouse (4,517) has more on offer that it’s sister companies of e2save (3,820), One Stop Phone Shop (1,556) and The Phone Spot (3,252).

 Out of the networks, BT Mobile has the least number of deals (perhaps due to the limited collection of handsets available - at 170), compared to Vodafone which has 1,328.


Secondly, we looked at the average monthly cost of contracts offered by each retailer. A lower number doesn’t equate to cheaper in the Non-Cashback section, but it does indicate which target market the retailer is aiming for.

Cashback Non-Cashback

Retailer

Monthly Cost

Retailer

Monthly Cost

Three 22 Three 22
Mobiles 23 Virgin 31
One Stop Phone Shop 25 Mobiles 34
Virgin 31 Mobileshop 35
e2save 31 Tesco 36
Tesco 33 Dial A Phone 38
Dial A Phone 34 Orange 38
Mobileshop 35 o2 39
MobilesPlease 36 BT Mobile 39
The Phone Spot 37 T-Mobile 39
Asda 37 The Link 41
Orange 38 Carphone Warehouse 41
o2 39 Asda 41
BT Mobile 39 One Stop Phone Shop 42
T-Mobile 39 Vodafone 42
Carphone Warehouse 40 MobilesPlease 44
Vodafone 41 e2save 45
The Link 41 Phones4u 46
Mobiles2YourDoor 43 Mobiles2YourDoor 47
Phones4u 44 The Phone Spot 51

Three stands-out as the retailer who is aiming to increase it’s customer base - with a noticeable difference in it’s monthly fees. Also, as you would expect, the cashback kings of e2save and One Stop Phone Shop make a staggering jump from below mid-table in the Non-Cashback league to the top 5 in the Cashback total.

At the other end of the spectrum, Phones4u and Mobiles2YourDoor are both showing high average prices - perhaps targetting to those bigger-spenders?

Anyway - just something for you guys to ponder as you’re searching for the best mobile phone deal.