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.