Phones 4U

This was by far the smallest mobile shop in Northampton and , despite there being a few customers to attend to , Sam was still quick on the scene to help me out .

He said that most of the newer topend Android phones were compatible with NFC , as well as the newer BlackBerrys – the Z10 and Q10 . He added that the latest Windows Phone devices – the Nokia Lumia 920 and 925 – were also .

Expanding on his earlier comment about Android compatibility , Sam listed the Samsung Galaxy S III and S4 , HTC One and Sony Xperia Z – it was a good list to work from .

He then asked if I was looking to go on to contract or purchase outright on prepay , how much I was looking to spend every month and whether I wanted the phone for personal use or for work . These were all good questions .

Of the selection he had initially mentioned Sam recommended the Galaxy S4 , which would be free for £ 37 a month on a Vodafone Red plan with unlimited minutes , unlimited texts and 2GB of data .

Sam then asked what I did for a living , which was a change of direction , but there was method in the madness .

I told him I was an estate agent , and Sam said that if I knew anyone working in , for example , the NHS , they and five other friends or family members could get a 20 per cent

discount with Vodafone . This was useful information .

Back to the task in hand though , and I asked how easy it would be to activate NFC on the S4 .

Sam offered to show me on a live handset , and he demonstrated that activating the technology on the device could be done in a matter of seconds by dragging down a menu from the top of the home screen . He even gave me a crash course on the S4 and how I could customise it with my own apps .

It was almost a flawless performance from Sam .

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I explained to Phones 4U sales assistant James what I wanted , and he recommended the Samsung Galaxy S4 , HTC One and Sony Xperia Z . He asked me what handset I currently had , before going through the retailer ’ s customer questionnaire .

James asked what I wanted NFC for , whether I was on contract , and with whom , when my contract was due to end and if I wanted to buy on the spot .

The questions kept coming : what phone was I after , what did I think of my Xperia S , were there any networks I wouldn ’ t want to go with and was there anything I was looking for in the handset ? It was a bit of a barrage , but all the questions seemed relevant .

James recommended EE and said that data transfer across NFC would be so much faster on the network because of the increased data speeds .

He was now pushing the HTC One , explaining it was the best music phone owing to its front-facing speakers and Beats by Dr . Dre audio technology . He knew this because he owned the phone .

We then moved on to tariffs and James asked me what I was currently paying and what allowances I had .

I then asked how I could activate NFC on the HTC One , and although James admitted he had never used the function , he was able to find it quickly and show me how it worked . He also showed me how to set up a personal Wi-Fi hotspot on the phone .

I asked about tariffs , and James recommended EE , quoting me the phone free at £ 41 a month with unlimited minutes , texts and 1GB of data . He then called over standin manager Sav who explained the permanent store manager , who lived in nearby Bedford , was receiving download speeds of 100Mbps on EE .

He said they could give me the tariff for £ 33 a month and if I traded in my Xperia S , they ’ d pay off my old contract . Overall , this was an unbeatable deal . I left a very happy customer .

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