Vodafone Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini VE Pay as you go Handset - White

I bought mine direct from Vodafone (£99) to replace an ageing Samsung phone (yup, just a phone). Two reasons, mainly I could use my existing full sized SIM and with pay-as-you go it seems to be difficult to replace that with a mini one, especially as I live outside the UK. I also wanted something I could actually use to text and my old phone had tiny buttons recessed into the bit under a sliding top. I'm very happy indeed with this S3 Mini.... it is, after all, very inexpensive compared to more up to date smart phones but it does absolutely everything I will ever want to do. It does however leave me with a problem.... my wife now want's one too. If I have a criticism it's that the sound isn't very good, as in playing an mp3 as a ringtone or just mp3 music. I am not at all surprised but I have heard friends' smartphones playing music and they're usually better than my S3 mini... but they paid hundreds of pounds or have expensive monthly plans. I did think I'd be able to have background music out in the garden but this isn't really an option with the phone alone. However, I bought a JBL Flip 2 Bluetooth speaker for £49 (on offer from Amazon) and a 32 gig Samsung Evo micro SD card and voila! Works a treat. And forget background, it's party quality and knocks spots off anything I've heard that's as portable so if your requirements are anything like mine, for £150 plus an optional SD card you can have great sounds wherever you go. Enjoy. p.s. the reason for buying the Samsung Evo card is that I've seen reviews where people have had difficulties getting their cards to work, having to reformat them, whatever. I reckoned that with a Samsung card I'd have a better chance of avoiding such issues and I was right. Works perfectly out of the box, as does the 64 gig one in my wife's Galaxy Tab S.... and she STILL wants an S3 Mini too!. IMPORTANT UPDATE. I have left my original comments below so you can see the context. Now the VE (8200) version has arrived I can confirm it takes a standard sized SIM. I suspect other reports that it takes a "micro" are confusing the SIM with the SD card! The newer version certainty seems faster than my "original". A great buy! Ignore the following now... WARNING. The phone I bought as per above is an S3 Mini. The review states S3 Mini VE version - it stands for Value Edition apparently. This is what I have just bought for my wife without realising it is DIFFERENT. Actually, I think it's a little better but there is one HUGE difference - as far as I can see the VE needs a smaller SIM, something I specifically did not want. It hasn't arrived yet so we'll see, but I wanted to alert prospective buyers. There is conflicting information as to what sized SIM the VE model takes. My original order was returned damaged to Amazon and the replacement hasn't arrived yet so I'll clarify once I get it.

It was perfect buy but it was blocked to Irish networks so that sort of took a bit of time to sort out.

Took it to the shop to be unlocked. But still unable to use as I was told it had been barred. Will always buy new from now on.

Great phone. Good size, not too big and not too small. only downside the ring tones are very quiet and the message alert only beeps once so you have to keep checking the phone to see if you have a message.

I love this phone. It is so easy to use, even for a grandmother like me. The only problem I had was downloading onto my PC, so I used my Kindle cable instead of the one supplied and that solved the problem.

I bought this for a gift for my mum cause she lost her phone! She is very happy with it and it is very easy to use for her fast delivery also! Not found any faults with this phone!

Didn't take long to come .. no problems ..

I bought this phone for my wife, she requested something simple to use that had everything she wanted with regards to social media and internet access. She is very pleased with the phone, it does everything it says on the tin.