What's the best smartphone?

Is there anything else besides the wi-fi connection you don't like about the Torch?

I'm in the market for a new phone, my contract is up on the 20th this month, I'm looking at HTC phones and the Samsung Galaxy S2. Currently got a Blackberry Storm 2 and a Nokia N900 - neither of which are any good!

I had the original Blackberry Storm, while Mrs. Kevin had a Blackberry Curve, and the Storm is what pushed me into dumping Blackberry for Android. It got so bad with the Storm that it would actually reboot itself from running out of memory while I was on the phone talking to somebody.

I ended up switching to a Motorola Droid 2 and the Mrs. eventually switched to a Motorola Droid Pro. I like the big screen with the sliding keyboard while she preferred the Blackberry Curve form factor so the Droid Pro was an easier migration for her. Since we've switched we've had no complaints and I can't imagine us ever switching back to Blackberry again.

Does the Samsung Galaxy S2 support 4G networks or is 3G only yet?

Still only 3G as far as I know. It is powered by Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), not sure how good that is.

I love my Nokia N900 but it has no support from Vodafone, they dropped it and barely supported it almost immediately after it was released - ended up flashing my OS with Nokia's own firmwares because Vodafone weren't supportive (breaking my warranty). Had similar memory leaks with BB.

I'm surprised to hear about the N900 being dropped that fast; wasn't that going to be their premiere phone in the UK?

Yes it was, probably dropped is the wrong word. It took Vodafone forever to release firmware updates (probably 2 or 3 months after Nokia released them), then the Nokia N8 was released at they concentrated on that. Everyone talked about them moving from Maemo 5 to Meego but it never materialised and the N900 became an expensive phone that wasn't getting the support or updates required - eventually Vodafone did stop supporting it and removed it from their stocklists.

I actually do like it though, I will keep using it even after getting a new phone - I did (well my OH did) manage to get webOS games running on it so I can play games like Angry Birds and Need for Speed and the movie/music playback is decent too.

Well I've been searching all weekend for a phone to upgrade to and in the end I've decided to stick with my N900 for another year but I'm reducing my monthly contract from £46.94 to £15.50 and ditching my Blackberry Storm 2.

All the offers Vodafone made me were rubbish, sure I could get the top phones but would need to pay between £45-£55 per month for them, I'm not that big a phone user and my N900 does everything I need (and probably more) and I'll be able to look at upgrades again from May 2012

Gemma, please explain to me UK phone pricing... why would your monthly rate change based upon the the phone you're using?

In the US we pay for the phone upfront and then have a set priced package plan to choose from (eg: how many minutes, SMS, data plan, etc.). When the time comes to upgrade to a new phone it is just the purchase amount of the phone that is a variable while the monthly rate would remain the same (assuming the carrier hasn't raised their rates). That way we can actually supply our own phone or buy one from the carrier. If we buy one from the carrier then it is usually at a discounted rate in exchange for agreeing to stay with the carrier for a minimum amount of time (most are either 12 or 24 months).

I got my phone for FREE with my price plan (1200 minutes, Unlimited text, 2GB Data) which was £46.94 for 18 months, a couple of weeks ago that contract ended and I had the chance of choosing a new phone (for FREE) with the same price plan - since changing jobs though I don't use this phone as much and £47 is quite expensive so I decided just to change my price plan and stick with the same phone. My plan now is 300 mins, 3000 texts and 1GB Data for £15.50

If I had taken a new phone, it would still have been FREE but for my 1200 minutes, Unlimited text, 2GB Data price plan it was going to cost me £52.50 per month on a 18 month contract, if I wanted a shorter contract (12 months) I would have needed to pay £149 for the phone and then £41.50 per month - which I wasn't prepared to do.

I think our system works the same way as yours going by how you've explained it but I'd imagine our plans are more expensive.