Know there's a million threads on this but there's some pretty specific caveats. Having been stupidly tied to a contract and then out of england for the past 3 years, i've only had an old crap nokia while everyone's got a smartphone. Lost it yesterday so seems as good time as any to try get one

Basically;

A) who are the best places to get a contract with?

B) what's the best phone out at the moment? Not-abysmal camera + the same kind of games/apps i can play on my ipad is all i really care about

C) will I be able to get a phone and just delay paying the contract for first 2 months? And just use the wi-fi / camera / etc? I've been able to put my last one on hold in the past, maybe not at the start though?

D) Are them free gift deals ever worth it / good value? Quite wanna get a new tv as well - wouldn't mind paying a fair bit every month for the next 2 years if it meant not spending hundreds now. Are the phones that come with these crap that no one would buy otherwise?

E) Know with an iPhone you can use it's 3g to tether internet usage to ipad / other stuff? Can other phones do this or is it a crap sneaky apple thing?

F) How straightforward is it to sync calendar/photos/notes/app data between an iphone and ipad? Am I correct in thinking games/apps I've already paid for with my apple ID I could get free (again) on a second device?

Ideal - Orange, free tv, phone is decent enough and can tether 3g to stuff. contract is less than £40 a month.

thanks, i've been the most boring person that's ever existed