Vodafone Smart 4 Mini Pay as you go Handset - White

I bought this to replace an old one just like it i had for 9 years. The original was a gift; I don't like smart-phones, but I got so used to it that when it wore out I found this online cheap to replace it. Very satisfied.It has many bells and whistles I don't use; but the most useful feature is the camera which is very good for normal purposes, and came in useful to photograph a hit-and run car whom the police caught super fast thanks to photo of the number-plate.

The phone arrived quickly and as a product it seems great and excellent value for money, but I am giving it one star because of Vodafone. I want to unlock the phone so that I can use my own provider and so far I have found this impossible. None of the free or cheep unlocking sites can help, so I had to go to Vodafone. They charge £20 to unlock, so you have to put £20 of credit on the phone, complete a form and wait 48 hours for an unlocking code. Taking this into consideration I still felt that the phone was good value for money, so I went ahead with this. I received a reply from them 4 days later to say that I didn't have enough credit on the phone for them to unlock it, I checked and the credit was down to £18 and I hadn't made a call, sent a text or used the internet. Since then I have been trying to put another £5 of credit on the phone, so that I can complete the form again for it to be unlocked - no luck. I spent two hours after work trying to put additional credit on the phone via their website and also by phoning them, only to eventually find out via their 'live text' service that their card payment system is down. Please take into account the additional costs of unlocking the phone (so far £20 a week ago, £2 mysteriously going missing, and hopefully soon I will be able to place another £5 on the phone, which is the minimum amount you can top up by at any one time.) Please also take into account the exceptionally poor/non-existent customer service from Vodafone and the hours it will take you to get anything at all sorted out with them. It's impossible to speak to anyone in person, with their menu system taking you around in circles. Good luck!

I've never used a mobile phone enough to justify a monthly contract but given the number of free Wi-Fi hotspots now available when out and about, I wanted a cheap PAYG smartphone that could get me online and also double as an MP3 player. I searched around and was surprised at the specifications of this for the price - 1.3 GHz Dual core processor, Android 4.2.2 (Jellybean) and its capacity can be extended with a MicroSD card. It really is a bargain.It uses a standard SIM card (not a micro) and it comes with one in the box (I fitted my existing 10 year old Vodafone SIM). As a phone it works fine and is straightforward to use. I also inserted a 128GB MicroSD card and despite the literature stating that only external storage up to 32GB is accepted, it works to it's FULL capacity.It's very FAST, launching and switching effortlessly between apps - you can have a lot going on but it copes with ease. It only has a 4GB internal capacity but you can transfer some apps to a MicroSD card and run them from there. I don't know what the criteria is, but some can be moved to a MicroSD card (BBC iPlayer, BBC iPlayer Radio, Amazon Music, Netflix, Skype, etc) and some can't (4oD, Spotify, Facebook, Amazon Instant Video, ITV Player, etc). If you transfer the BBC iPlayer app to a MicroSD card, any programmes downloaded are saved within the app on the MicroSD card.Wi-Fi and Bluetooth function as they should. If you need to use the GPS, install the Nokia Here Maps app and their UK map (they're both free) - it works perfectly without having to be connected to the Internet. It's been 100% accurate every time I've used it.As an MP3 player it sounds fine but the volume does not go as loud as other players I've used. It has an FM radio too and the reception is perfect. You need to plug in headphones (a cheap pair are included) to use the radio.The display is excellent and the screen doesn't feel cheap but you've got to be really accurate when using the keyboard. The overall build quality is good and just to confirm, the front facing camera is 3.2 mega pixel and there is no flash or back facing camera.The battery life is OK (around four hours when constantly surfing the web whilst listening to music at the same time) and in stand-by mode with the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and display switched off it lasts for days instead of hours.In summary, this is an absolute bargain. It's not quite perfect but it's amazing value for money compared to similar Andoid smartphones and it should more than meet the needs of anyone after an inexpensive but by no means basic PAYG smartphone.

For the price, it's a great phone. I bought this phone when my Sony Xperia z3 broke and I couldn't afford repair. And it did fine for me, the only issues I can bring up is that it was very laggy at times and the battery wasn't too good. However the display is rather awful and I found myself several times tilting my phone so that I can get the full detailed look of what I wanted to see.However, I'd say this is the best cheap phone on the market. You couldn't get any better for £30

Super light

I have had this phone nearly 4 months now and I can only say don't buy it. Yes it looks good and has wi-fi etc but after nearly 3 months I was having problems with the on off button. The button is attached to the removable back of the phone, it is secured with a small piece of elastic which resembles something that my children use for the braces on their teeth. The button would not press down so I was unable to use my phone unless I removed the back and pressed the smaller button at the top of the phone using a pointed object, when this failed I would have to remove the battery and push it back in, replace the cover and all was well. I did take the phone down to my local Vodaphone shop, they said they would send it away to be looked at, I would be without a phone for 7 days and as at that moment it was working there probably wouldn't be much they could do. So I am stuck with it until it stops completely. It's worth spending a bit more on a branded product as you may get better value for money.