Trout

iTrader: (1)

Has anyone here ever used Expansys to source a mobile device?

Expansys

Any good? They seem to have huge stock and lots of different contract and product offers that the mobile companies themselves or Carphone Warehouse just do not offer.

Any thoughts good or bad apprecaited!

Rannoch

cw42

iTrader: (1)

Been to see them in person over a year ago now, huge range like you say, tiny little counter at the front of the warehouse
Always on the ball, ordered a few things off them at the time, with no problems. Went round personally cause they're fairly local to me, and fancied the drive out (did get stuck in some greasy unwashed student protest thing at the time nearby though, but that's another story!)

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

Don't buy the imate jamin, or orange spv M600.. unless you don't make phone calls.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for that James - it was on my list until the Orange shop said that they have been discontinued - they are not in stock with Orange anyway.

Any specific reason - I have seen a couple of reviews criticise the voice performance and others rate it well.

I have been looking at the HTC TyTN/Orange SPV M3100 which is the next generation 3g equivalent of the O2 XDA Mini S/HTC Magician/imate K-Jam.

Windows 5, Wifi, 3g, Edge, Quad band, keyboard, 400khz processor, largish screen etc. A smidge bigger than my SE 910i.

Bored with waiting for the 990i and to be honest all my SE phones have been great but fragile.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

always overpriced IMHO.

P990i is out on voda this month.

ScoobyDoo555

My mate's got this Imate thing - he's deaf, so uses for texting. As a phone, he says it the worst thing he's ever bought because it is SO unusable. As a PDA (well, mini pda) very good. The slide-down keypad is clever, but very "clunky". He now wishes he'd stuck with a regular phone. I've got a HP 6515 as a secondary phone. Pretty good as the screen is big enough to use the touch screen numerical pad. Still not a patch on my Nokia phone though.


Back to your original question though, from what I've seen, Expnsys are very good, especially if their shop is anywhere near as good as the support forum (AMAZING!).....

Hope this helps

Dan

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Overpriced is relative when I can get them both for free at my level of usage. Or are you talking about Expansys generally?

The 990i has been coming out since September last year. I am sure it is about to come out - but given the delays there have clearly been lots of teething issues.

Also my P900 and my P910 have both proven to be fragile and needed a software rebuild (the 910 failed with a critical error that SE could not fix although I got it working again) to keep them up and running.

The 990 looks fabulous but has a smaller screen and is emphasing the tiny thumbboard as the way forward. Too small for me and I don't like it on my 910.

The HTC phones give me new options and they look very well specced.

A functional comparison would be useful.

Rannoch

Edited to add - thanks Dan

JamesMcD

Hi, I've used them twice without any problems, their delivery has also been very fast.

I would agree that some of their prices do tend to be slightly more expensive than other outlets but they do seem to be able to get the latest gadgets first.

James

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

Exactly that, the in call sound is terrible. The ear speaker distorts the voice of the caller badly, it's also very quiet. I almost got used to how bad it is until I used a SE K750i the other day and it was crisp and clear.

I've had two M600 handsets (got a new one with this problem reported) and they are both the same.

It's a shame really as the idea/look is great and I've always loved the p900/p910 without the flip and this is as close as it gets at the moment.

The Snug Rhino

I use an HTC made Imate Jam (XDA2 mini).....amazed they dont shift more of these - windows on a phone, cant beat it for syncing with a pc that runs.....windows! Makes everything else look a bit silly...assuming you need the functions it offers (and it offeres 90% of what a PC offers in my experience)

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Tiggs - I really wanted to hear from someone using one of these.

The P910 almost offers all of this functionality - and I don't want to lug a laptop, PDA and a mobile!!

I even hear that you can run a powerpoint presentation from it!!

Rannoch

dsmith

I'm 2 weeks into a K-Jam - and am gutted that I bought (depsite checking 1st) just days before the better specced TyTN was available.

That aside I'm pleased so far.

Cons - getting used to a "complicated" phone - but havent had any quality issues yet.

Pros - everything else. Browsing the web from the sofa via Wi-Fi. Tom Tom at the touch of a button anywhere (I got as bluetooth GPS dongle). Appointments with me everywhere. Juts having one reasonable device to carry.

I actually dont use the keyboard as much as I thougth - the stylus + soft keyboard is so easy for a quick text.

King RA

Expensive but good service.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I know one of the blokes who owns it, seems a good bloke, his lad is mates with my lad, if you have any problems let me know and I will mither him personally, still not speaking to him for dissing my N70 !

dsmith

also try www.clove.co.uk

ADP

i buy from them for business all the time

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Thanks - they are by far the cheapest although they don't package the phones with contracts.

I am going to do a comparison table to see what the costs are overall. Will post once I am finished.

Rannoch

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Just out of interest here is how the deals compare - I am glad I did this before buying.

I am currently with Orange and so I have used one of their pacakages as a baseline as it most closely matches my monthly usage - 700-900 minutes and around 200 texts, voicemail once a day and 4mb of data a month (that may go up a lot with 3G however Orange data is quite cheap or I will use wifi more).

There are four comparisons. One if I buy the Orange version of this phone as new and transfer my number back to Orange (they refuse to do it as an upgrade - ****!).

The second is if I upgrade my talk plan and buy the phone separately.

The third and fourth are taking the closest plans from Expansys and making them equivalent to the Orange talk plan.


Orange package with phone (Orange SPV M3100) £998 over 18 months

Orange without phone (purchase HTC TyTN) £1400 over 18 months

Vodafone best available plan from Expansys (HTC TyTN free) £3078 over 18 months

O2 best available plan from Expansys (HTC TyTN £117) 2653 over 18 months


So buying it upfront or waiting to see if Orange will ever deign to give me one seems to be the way forward!!

Indeed it does seem that Expansys are quite expensive - they must get fabulous commission on these packages and today their stock of these phones went down by nearly 400 so they must be raking it in (or they were nicked!!).

If anyone knows of better deals then please let me know!

Apple

AFAIR if you use Expansys, you can have each item of a multiple order sent separately when it's in stock - I wanted a few things for my pda but as one thing came into stock the other went out and they'd only send a completed order. I had to ring up and complain after a couple of weeks of watching the web stock levels going up and down with no deliveries to me and get them to send the bits individually.

It might have changed now as this was a while ago...