Help me out guys. Want a Galaxy Note. CPW are doing it for £20.50 a month 24mth contract with Vodafone. 300 minutes, 3000 texts and 250mb of web. £500+ worth of phone (unlocked) for free on a cheap contract. Win.

Called Orange from the store to disconnect and transfer my number to Vodafone. They offered me same phone, 400 minutes, 3000 texts and 500mb of web for £15.50!!! So I'm like, yeah, awesome. BUT it's a locked handset. So they say call us and for £20 we'll unlock it for you. My main reasoning is because I often use foreign SIMs when I'm abroad. CPW staff (who I know and have bought from before and know what they're talking about) don't like it coz they say that it's still gonna be Orange branded with software and that has caused problems in the past with internet settings, MMS etc. I'm not a fan of Orange software, but I can't ignore the deal. So I say to the guy what happens if it doesn't work, where do I stand? He says I have a 14 day cooling-off period and if I don't like it for whatever reason, I can return it. So I order it, it'll be here tomorrow.

But now that I'm home, I have this nagging doubt that an Orange handset is way more likely to cause problems than an unlocked/branded Samsung one. But also, I might be delayed in, or even prevented from, getting Ice Cream Sandwich which is being rolled out to the Note over the coming months.

Should I call Orange and cancel it and just drive back into town and pick up the handset?

The Vodafone deal is also slightly better than Orange when overseas....

In terms of the software I wouldn't be too picky as you can always just flash the phone and stick a "vanilla" version of the OS on it.

I did this exact thing with an HTC ages ago. At the time it was an exclusive phone to Orange but there was a vanilla version of the software available online so I downloaded it and installed it.

It took it back to the standard OS look/feel.

Still worked with Orange internet etc...

If they will unlock it then I'd be tempted to go for that one. (Or just unlock it yourself).

I have never knowingly been in a place with Orange signal coverage (bearing in mind I abandoned them a few years ago). I'd decide on that basis for what you know about coverage in your area - unless you're lucky enough that all the companies cover your area with a real, usable signal.