windsong

I have a UK girlfriend from school days who uses a phone app called Tango to talk to me on the phone. However, neither of us knows if she has to pay for using it with her phone company. She doesn't have a smartphone but one of those phones that allows her to text and use apps.

I am assuming she doesn't pay for incoming calls but I really don't know. She is not sure either.

Does anyone know if incoming and outgoing calls made using Tango are free in the UK?

hoffage123

If she is using Wifi yes (is she calling your mobile?). If not, then she is likely using her data bundle allowance (3g/4g). If it isn't a smartphone and included in her monthly line rental, be prepared for a shock. Are you sure it isn't a smartphone? It sounds like a smartphone facility.

dunroving

If it has apps on it surely it must be a smartphone?

These communication apps can be deceptive and it is important to read the terms and conditions to find out whether you pay.

Slightly different situation, but I just received a text message from a former student with several photos of her new baby attached. Even though I pay a pretty penny for my contract, and I didn't ask for the photos, I am quite sure I will have to pay extra for the fact I "downloaded" (viewed) them, even though I didn't have a choice - I just got a text alert and when I looked, the photos were there.

rebs

Windsong... here's a page with some FAQs about Tango - including how much it costs...

http://www.tango.me/how-to-tango/

As others have said, it's using data so how much it costs will depend on whether it is used on WIFI or 3G (or 4G).

If your friend is using this app, then I would say she has a smartphone

Spacecake799

Hi,
I use viber to speak to my daughter in New Zealand. Its an easy app to download onto your smartphone. Its free to call or message with pictures so long as your near wifi. If im out and about my 3g picks it up. I have never paid anything extra.

Bob

Not necessarily.

Plenty of pre-smart phones out there that run java based apps....they're clunky, slow and a bit meh, but they get the job done on a lot of the low end PAYG phones.

rebs

So what makes a smart phone a smart phone? Like Dunroving, I had assumed if a phone could access the internet and run apps then it was 'smart'.

dunroving

Maybe there is an assumption that a smartphone has a touch screen?

We have developed some smartphone apps with our colleagues from Computer and Information Science. I had assumed from conversations with them that a smartphone is any phone that does more than calls or text.

Bob

Something that's basically a computer, capable of running general apps, usually with access to a store.

These old phones, they can run java based apps, but they aren't a quick and easy access to get, nor are they very good.

Something running iOS/Android/WinMo+

windsong

Yes. She is calling my smartphone.

She says she doesn't have a smartphone but I am honestly not sure she really knows. She is not very tech savvy. (Seems I am going to have to get used to being around people who are not quite as tech savvy over there. )

I do know she uses an Android phone.

I suggested she call her phone company and ask but that hasn't happened yet.

I know it has a touchscreen. I've seen it on Skype; however, Skype's picture keeps pixelating so it's difficult to tell.

Dunroving, like you, I used to think that a phone that did anything other than calls and texting was a smartphone but I think that these days, some of those "in between" phones, do use apps but where we draw the line between the two types of phone nowadays, I don't know.

rebs

I wouldn't fret about that, Windsong... the UK is just the same as everywhere - you'll bump into all sorts of people, some of them more techy and some of them less