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Thursday 23 February 2012

QOTD: 23rd February

Watch out world!! I'm on the road!

So this week has been an exciting week for me, mainly due to one thing... I HAVE FINALLY PASSED MY DRIVING TEST
This was test number 3 for me and I was so nervous I honestly couldn't stop shaking. I'm really surprised I passed my test what with me stalling once, being in the wrong lane for a roundabout and trying a couple of times to pull away in 2nd or 3rd gear, in fact when the examiner said I'd passed my reaction was "You are kidding right?!"

Anyway now I have passed my test I now need to decide whether to spend some of my savings (which I am currently saving for the money for my postgraduate course) to buy a car myself a car and make a use of my new found freedom or to wait and save. I know that I'm hating having to get up early and get the bus to work now I know I can drive.


I guess I wish a new car and insurance wasn't so bloody expensive so I can justify dipping into a bit of my savings but at the moment I'll be eating into a large chunk of it... I guess at the moment I'll just have to bite the bullet and get back in the queue for the bus stop.

Monday 6 February 2012

The Great iPhone Debate

So the time has come again...the time I've actually been waiting for for about 2 years now. The time I can upgrade my phone on my phone contract. I'm usually pretty good at upgrading my phone, already knowing which phone I want however this time I am stuck.

There is one thing for sure and that is that it is definitely time for my Blackberry to say goodbye and be banished to a place that's very far away. I'm sick of the dodgy signal, the internet that is slower than a snail and BBM which to be completely honest isn't all it's cracked up to be.
But then there is the dilemma, what phone shall replace my Blackberry and become the new object of obsession for me.

At the moment I have narrowed it down to either the iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy SII but then that is as far as I have got. This is where the questions have started. Do I actually need an iPhone when I already own the iPod touch? Is it better to get the Samsung which seems to cost the same but is cheaper to insure? Does the Samsung Galaxy SII really match up to the iPhone?

So I turned to the internet...which proved fruitless...every comparison I found came to the same conclusion- We'll let you decide. I'm sorry but how is that supposed to help me?! I want a comparison that comes to a conclusion not some cop-out where they don't say which one will suit my needs.


Having made a temporary decision to go for the iPhone 4S I looked online to see if I could find a better deal than Orange were quoting me (600 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited internet for £36 a month as well as £100 for the phone itself). Anyway I found plenty of deals offering me to same but with the phone for free so I did the thing I usually do and phoned Orange to see if they can match it. What did I find?

Probably the most unhelpful bit of advice I could get. After telling them that I had found 10 deals online with the above offer of the phone for free on the Orange network but through a company willing to give me the phone for free, the reply I got was "no we can't match it". This I found quite unacceptable... not only did they not try to offer me anything different but when I asked why they gave me some excuse about how apparently it's a standard fee charged by Apple and Orange and that they are instead going to stop selling the iPhone as they cannot beat the online companies. This I could accept but then they were shocked that I wanted to cancel my contract...well you're not giving me the better deal so yes I will be cancelling.

Since then I have been plagued with missed calls from Orange operators probably trying to find out why I've cancelled my contract however as I work most days between the hours of 9-5 and that's the only time they ring I have yet to speak to them.

So I need some opinions...is the iPhone really worth the hassle? Should I just bite the bullet and pay the £100 to Orange? Should I get the iPhone from Orange even though they won't sell them anymore (as if anything goes wrong and they don't sell it they won't be able to replace it). Any opinions would be welcome.