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I Need To Upgrade My Phone

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tamaris | 19:46 Sat 10th Jul 2021 | Technology
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I don't know where to start TBH as I don't really have anyone that could help me.
At present I have one on contract from Tesco at £7.50 a month. I think it's 4gb.
It is running out of data now as I've had It about 3 year. My friend got one under plus net which seemed reasonable priced.
I also have an old type with vodaphone.
I want to pay as little as possible probably on contract a month with more data. HELP.
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Your phone has 8 GB of memory built into it but roughly 3 GB of that is taken up by the Android operating system, etc. So that only leaves you about 5 GB for storing app, videos, photos, etc. (For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy A12, that I recommended above, has 64 GB of memory built into it, so you can see that your phone hasn't really got a lot!). You can add to the...
20:05 Sun 11th Jul 2021
Check out smarty sim £10 a month for 30gb data.
do you really mean data or do you mean storage?
Buy a SIM free phone, eg from Argos or Carphone. Then get a contract by shopping around. You can get one month contracts at Plusnet or Smarty, if you don't want to be tied too long.
Contract phones can often work out dearer than buying a SIM-free phone outright and then using recurring pay-as-you-go (PAYG) bundles.

If you can find a SIM-free phone you like, the most popular providers of PAYG bundles among AB member seem to be GiffGaff
https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-deals
and Asda Mobile (which I use):
https://mobile.asda.com/
Smarty (which is relatively new) is providing them with plenty of competition though:
https://smarty.co.uk/sim-only

(For comparison, you only get 2 GB of data with Tesco Mobile on a similar plan. My suggestions above are all far more generous: https://www.tescomobile.com/shop/sim-only-deals/sim-only-contracts ).

The best SIM-free phone available at the moment (in my opinion) if you don't want to pay mega-bucks for one, is the Samsung Galaxy A12, at £150 from Argos:
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8886745
It only came out in February of this year, so it uses the latest version of Android. It's got plenty of memory and a battery that lasts about a week without recharging. (It's what I bought myself just a few months ago). Apart from not having 5G capability (which very few people actually need anyway, in my opinion), it's very little different from the Galaxy S21, which costs between £820 and £1200, so that's quite a saving! [NB: You might find the Galaxy A12 a few pounds cheaper elsewhere but such offers are all for phones which are locked to relatively expensive service providers. Avoid!].

If you're on a really tight budget though, consider Alcatel phones as they have some quite cheap models which are reasonably good relative to what you pay for them.

If you're determined to buy a phone which is locked to a particular network (although I don't advise doing so), make sure that it's not only a decent phone but that it uses an inexpensive network as well. With those two factors in mind, the Nokia 3.4, locked to Asda Mobile, is well worth considering at £105:
https://groceries.asda.com/product/mobile-phones/asda-mobile-nokia-3-4-charcoal-mobile-phone/1000304248699

"It is running out of data now as I've had It about 3 year"
makes me think you mean storage?
^^^ I was thinking that too, Bednobs.

If Tamaris omitted to put a memory card in her phone when she first bought it (as many people seem to do), it might be that all she needs to do is to insert one now.
In my experience adding an SD card to increase storage guarantees problems at the worst possible moment. Don't do it.
you could go into a place like car phone warehouse (or similar) and ask the sales clerk to advise. Just be very specific about what you need it for -
Question Author
Yes storage has run out.
Which phone are you using - and has it got an SD card in it?
Question Author
I am using the Tesco phone. I only mentioned the other as I have that phone number still. I know nothing of an SD card so I can't have one Chris
All smartphones come with some built-in memory but the amount provided can often be quite small. To the best of my knowledge though, they all allow you to expand the available memory by inserting an SD card into the phone. Many (most?) people insert an SD card as soon as they buy a phone, in order that they won't run out of memory quickly. Others though either don't need a lot of memory (because, for example, they hardly ever use their phones to take photos or to record videos) or they simply omit to put an SD card in straight away (perhaps because they're happy to leave it until later or simply because they don't realise that it can be a good idea to insert an SD card into their phone).

From reading your posts, I suspect that you've never inserted an SD card into your existing phone, which has severely limited the amount of memory available to you. Putting one in now might be all that's needed to fix the problem. Without the exact make and model, I can't provide you with instructions but, if you can't find the manual, the staff in Tesco Mobile should be able to do it for you.
Question Author
Thanks Chris for your help as always. There are few apps I use currently but I did want Wetherspoons and I don't seem to be able to get it.
Uninstall the apps you don't use.
Back up your photos and videos to your pc and delete the ones you don't want on your phone.
Deleting apps and reinstalling them can free a lot of space - some apps bloat a lot through use.
Open settings - storage and click 'free up space'. See if it comes up with anything you can delete.
There should be no reason to replace a 3 year old phone that still works well
Question Author
That's freed up a little space Barry but still under 600
What is the make and model of your phone?
Question Author
Moto E 2nd generation 4g lte. Android.
Your phone has 8 GB of memory built into it but roughly 3 GB of that is taken up by the Android operating system, etc. So that only leaves you about 5 GB for storing app, videos, photos, etc. (For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy A12, that I recommended above, has 64 GB of memory built into it, so you can see that your phone hasn't really got a lot!).

You can add to the available memory by inserting a microSD card into the phone, such as this 16GB one from Asda for just £6:
https://groceries.asda.com/product/data-storage/kioxia-micro-sd-card-with-adapter-16-gb/1000223013587
That will take the 'real' amount of memory (i.e. excluding what's being used by your phone's operating system) up from 5 GB to 21 GB, giving you over 4 times as much memory as you currently have available to you.

[Note: Asda also sell a 32 GB version of that card for £9, which you could use if you think you might need lots more memory. Don't be tempted to buy either the 64 GB or 128 GB version though, as your phone can't recognise cards with over 32 GB of storage].

To insert the card, turn off your phone, remove the band around the edge of your phone and push the card into the relevant slot:
https://ibb.co/mcKC6ZT
Question Author
Thanks Chris really helpful. I'll go into asda.
Barry 1010 thanks also.
Question Author
I think maybe I still need something t better Chris.

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