James Little

I’m off to Switzerland tomorrow and this is one of the reasons I love my Android phone:

Now I can switch my data off (and save a load of cash) without getting lost, as the GPS will function as normal.

Do cool features like this help make carrier contracts a bit obsolete? I think so; there’s so many ways of working round expensive data costs when you have a decent smartphone. That’s why I’ve ditched my contract and gone with Giffgaff.

To enable this on your Android on a recentish version of Google maps, just go to Settings > Labs > Precache Map Area. Now when you click on an address you’ll get the option to precache, which grabs the 10 square miles around it. The one above (of Basel) costs 6MB of disk space, a small price to pay not to have to wonder around trying to find stuff in a language I don’t really understand.

Ditch your phone contract! ‘Coz with Giffgaff you can get unlimited data, 250 minutes any time/network and unlimited SMS for £10/month. And they’ll even throw in a FREE FIVER when you activate your SIM.

I’ve been with Giffgaff for eight months now, and I’m impressed. They operate on the O2 network, so they benefit from their infrastructure and signal quality, which seems to be pretty decent. At least it’s been rare that I’ve not had a 3G signal down here on the south coast, even in fairly rural areas. Anyway, this article is mainly to get you thinking about whether you need to be tied to that (expensive, long) mobile phone contract. In short, on giffgaff I’m currently spending £10/month in total including unlimited data, with no contract, and no hidden obligations. You order a SIM card (for free), it arrives, you top it up, and you forget about it. How do I get by on a tenner? Simples:

• 250 minutes of call time, any UK network, any time of day.
• Unlimited Texts
• Unlimited Data usage

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