Festival phone, Full disclosure, the EE rook (HotUKDeals link here) has won something off mumsnet, (so if you're strung out and sleep deprived, it's probably still a winner). And it's at least a tenner cheaper. Maybe slightly harder to break as well

dont forget tenner topup required and price is for EE Vodafone. If you are with Vodafone check upgrade for 29 quid

I find it hard to recommend this. I have one of these bought from CPW and I've had a previous Windows 'phone (Lumia 920). I actually liked the 920 at the time, but for some reason I dislike WP10. I think it doesn't help that the 550 is budget so I notice lots of lag, even doing basic tasks.

Do yourself a favour and get a cheap Android 'phone.

These phones are great, smooth and quick. However, once purchased you must complete all the updates and then complete the store updates, you will then find, its a great piece of machinery.

Who was?

Has this phone still got the hotspot bug?

thanks op. we nearly order this phone yesterday for more money. many thanks and great timing

Took one on holiday a few weeks ago, compared to my 6 plus these are slooooow.
Did the job but are very limited.
Trying to read pdf magazines was a pain as this lags so much it takes an age for a page to be clear.
Did the job for watching to episodes on the plane.
Even on wifi stuff like Facebook was near unusable.

I've never warmed to my 550 - I still use my old 635 (or is it a 625) as it has far superior battery life despite it being nearly 2.5 years old. I also like having the camera button handy as I take a lot of photos where I work

It's a excellent phone, more than basic. Paid £44.99 upgrade on o2 a few weeks back, well recommended. I use a iphone 5s and Lumia 1320 and for the price the 550 is well good, great screen and W10 Mobile is a decent OS with updates to come.

The removable battery is a plus point.

£39.99 for a throwaway phone... na, nil poi.

I been using this phone for 6 months and it's great.

Got a 640. Windows' phones are great...nice and fast, and love the tiles. But be aware the apps for it are ****...often don't work, often far inferior versions. And all of apps are missing if used to android

Good price but Windows on phones is as dead as a dodo.

Isn't this £39.99 + £10.00 top up? The sim free one is much more expensive than £39.99...

Microsoft fire sale before abandoning this OS on phones

Perhaps a good choice for a gig phone for now, however I imagine this, if it gets released worldwide without too much of a markup, will be the choice for a cheap gig phone: https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/26/india-4-dollar-smartphone-ships/

Great phone for this price, bought one for my mum on a PAYG upgrade.

This isn't the greatest introduction to a Windows device. Might be better off with a 640, if you can find one, and updating that to W10.

The best way to buy this phone is through a Vodafone PAYG upgrade for £29.99 with no top up required. The O2 PAYG upgrade still costs £39.99 on O2. My guess is that an in store Virgin PAYG upgrade would also be £39.99.
https://www.carphonewarehouse.com/microsoft/lumia-550.html?intcmp=HPBETA_AMAZINGDEALS_PAYG_550_230616#!colour=white&dealType=pgud&awc=2264_1467188533_f7073ac6b2d0344d1836ccbcbbc46f84&cid=Affiliate_Editorial+Content_154750&network=Vodafone

I did about 10 upgrades using the web site over several Years on 3 different networks. Only one upgrade failed and that was on Black Friday which is Carphone Warehouse's busiest and cheapest day of the Year. It worked when I tried the upgrade again over the phone. My advice is to buy a second SIM and top up the new SIM by £10 several times over 6 months and see what happens. Note that I think that you can not do an upgrade from a new Virgin SIM unless you move from the starter tariff to one of the big tariffs.

It's only £29.95 if you can get a Vodafone Upgrade and no top up

Agree that's what I do myself (Nokia 130 Dual SIM Handset) but the catch is a lot of the time CPW will not accept the upgrade and you have to get a manager over to fight tooth & nail to get it, with it being rejected a lot (especially in Aberdeen for some reason). :disappointed:

It's cheap because no one wants Windows based phones. They either want Apple or Android.:laughing:

Why do WP posts on here always descend into app debates? If I wanted an Android phone, I'd look at an Android deal. If I wanted an iPhone, I'd look at the Apple deals. I wouldn't then go and mention apps either platform didn't have for the sake of what? Serves no purpose.

The phone is dire you will be frustrated by it, we have them for work and everyone hates them heard nothing positive at all.