My wife’s personal mobile’s cr@pping out on her so I’m looking at the best options for her to replace this. As she’s also forced to have a work mobile, and she’s great at leaving at not having both on her at any point in time, I was wondering about the merits of a dual-SIM phone – this means at all times she’d only have to carry the one phone.

Can anyone with experience of these offer insights as to how easily usage on each SIM can be controlled, either out of the box or with any additional apps? I know it’s easily possible to select which SIM is used to make particular calls, does it do the same with texts?

Also, most importantly, how easy is it to switch the use of data between one SIM and the other? (eg, when switching on data can it ask you which SIM’s data to use?). One thing I read is that some phones don’t have 3G (let alone 4G) for both SIMs, meaning for data usage one is really left using only one account for data or switching SIMs as needed, neither being a viable option in this case.

I see some NZ shops sell the dual-SIM version of the 2014 Moto G, which would probably have been top of my list for her phone anyway; any perspectives on this or other dual-SIM phones currently available, at a relatively similar price point (say below $300)? I guess one critical factor is ensuring they have the right frequency support for the NZ providers (currently both her work and personal phones are with Spark).

Indeed are there any other single-SIM phones that offer the same or better value for money than the Moto G for a price point of $300 or less?

Many thanks