Best 3G Phones Comparison

3G phones - the hottest gadgets around!

One of the hottest gadgets of the moment has to be the 3G phone, which as you'll see from casting your eyes over our guides above, comes in an array of shapes, sizes and configurations. 3G phones, or smartphones as they're more commonly referred to, are the perfect blend of a traditional mobile phone along with some of the best, most portable features found on a handheld computer.

Where once the humble mobile allowed you to make voice calls and send and receive text messages the 3G phones that are available today enable users to do just about anything they'd do on a traditional computer. In fact, alongside the usual voice, text and data calls found on touch screen phones, you can almost throw away your dusty old desktop PC at home and use a smartphone to take care of day-to-day computing business. Or can you?

A 3G phone can certainly pack a formidable punch when it comes to cramming a lot of technology into a very small package. However, it's this very point that does mean that a lot of tasks can be compromised somewhat when it comes to carrying out regular computing tasks. You'll see from our selection above that smartphones have everything needed to stay online, from social networking tools and powerful email services. The slight issue is that you have to do all this via a rather small screen area.

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3G phones and the internet

However, the best 3G phones now come with really excellent screens that sport crystal clear resolutions and adjustable controls that can cope with all sorts of viewing scenarios. Sure, the viewing area of most touch screen mobile phones screens' is certainly smaller than even a tiny notebook computer, let alone a laptop or regular PC. Nevertheless, for accessing information online a 3G phone makes an incredibly convenient way of keeping in touch with your internet activities.

Added to that, many of the smartphones currently on the market come with fully featured QWERTY keyboards, which are essentially just the same as those on a regular laptop or netbook. Some are physical buttons on a normal style keyboard, while other versions will be touchscreen versions and, of course, both variants will be much smaller than a normal keyboard.

But this actually makes a 3G phone fantastically handy for sending and receiving emails while you’re on the move and you can even work well with regular documents such as word processing and spreadsheets files using scaled down versions of popular Office-style applications. In fact, applications, or apps as they’re commonly referred to, make up many of the main reasons for buying yourself a 3G phone. Pretty much all the major smartphone manufacturers now have a wide variety of apps covering everything from frivolous games through to professional-level business tools.

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Is a 3G phone for me?

Nowadays, people who buy 3G phones aren’t just business people but consumers who want the mobility and convenience of a laptop or netbook computer but don’t want the bulk. A smartphone is effectively an internet-connected computer that you can fit into your pocket and with fast 3G-connectivity now widely available, carrying out online multitasking is undeniably easy.

And, make no mistake, those who buy 3G phones from the range shown above experience that these devices are far removed from the older style phones that had web-browsing functionality but didn’t actually work when you needed it most. Today’s smartphones have excellent web browsing software that works in pretty much the same way as a traditional computer. Naturally you'll be looking at a scaled down version of the pages, but many of the tools are exactly the same.

A modern-day 3G phone will allow you to work around the smaller screen size by using fingertip control techniques such as pinching the screen in order to zoom in and out. You'll find many variations on this theme, depending on which manufacturer has produced the phone, while UK mobile providers (Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, 3-Mobile, O2) often have device specific tools and applications too. Try taking a look at our comparison charts and compare the customer reviews in order to gauge the offers.

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What are the best 3G phones?

Demand for smartphones is huge and there's now a selection of models to choose from that'll appeal to every kind of user with any sort of budget. Many people rave about the Apple iPhone, and it is something of a market leader, but there are several other devices that will give it a run for its money, such as the HTC. There are numerous models now available from a variety of 3G phone producers that now run the Android-based operating system and these are becoming increasingly popular.

You'll also find that other manufacturers have their own operating systems, such as BlackBerry, Nokia and there's also Windows Phone 7 too. The OS basically runs the 3G phone in much the same way as your computer and the many and varied incarnations of these operating systems can often sway more avid smartphone buffs into staying loyal to one particular make or model. However, generally speaking, most of the current 3G phones are now reasonably dependable. They also tend to have their own idiosyncrasies too.

The operating system will also be the deciding factor on how many of those apps you can run. Some of the less popular version have decidedly fewer apps, while the Apple iPhone now has thousands and its growing by the day. Watch out too for any changes to operating systems that come along. Windows Phone 7, for example, replaced Windows Mobile and there are some incompatibilities with older versions of Windows-based phones and applications. So be sure to read our in-depth reviews to get a better grasp on the operating systems of any or all of the smartphones you're interested in.

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3G phone features

It's easy to be blown away by the amazing features found on the latest 3G phones, but it’s also a good idea to think about what you want to do with it when you get one. Most devices allows you to play music, many have video playing and interactive content viewers too, while those QWERTY keyboards can be mighty handy for a bit of multitasking. Having said that, if you're paying a premium for these features and don’t expect to use them then try investigating some of the cheap models.

Perhaps the best aspect about 3G smartphones is the ease of browsing the web, alongside carrying out email chores as well as social networking. In that respect just about any model you plump for will deliver good service on that front, assuming of course that you have dependable mobile network coverage, which ensures that you get a decent signal to the device. So one of the biggest points to consider when thinking about getting a 3G phone is what kind of network package comes with the device.

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3G phone tariffs

All of the smartphones that you’ll see listed in our comparison tables above are available on either pay-monthly or pay-as-you-go tariffs. While some deals suggest that you get a free phone into the bargain, this is often factored into the term prices of the deal that comes with it, leaving it no longer the cheapest option. PAYG, meanwhile will probably require you to pay a fee for the phone upfront, which gives you clear idea of what cost are involved. Meanwhile, a contract option means you'll need to add up what you're paying in total over the course of the term.

One of the main things you'll want to do with your 3G smartphone is to access the web and your emails, so pay close attention to the data usage information that comes with any smartphone deal. If you’ve got an internet router or Wi-Fi supply at home then you can carry out online activities on a smartphone using this. However, once you're on the move a smartphone needs to tap into 3G for accessing the internet.

That's all well and good for browsing and email activities, but tread carefully if you're planning on downloading and uploading lots of data. Smartphones have usage levels, in much the same way as mobile broadband deals, and this can get expensive if you start going over your allowances. So while a 3G smartphone can be an invaluable asset to have, it's still a good idea to think of it as a supplement to other broadband services, such as mobile and home-based ADSL or cable deals. 

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