Technical Advice Please re Dual SIM card dual standby

[Anonymous]

I want to buy a simple (and inexpensive) mobile phone for someone who is even less well-informed that I am.  One that I think, prima facie, would be suitable is a HD 3G Mini S5 which is said to have  "Dual SIM card dual standby".  Although I have Googled this I am none the wiser.  What does it mean in practice?  Will the phone have to have 2 SIM cards inserted, and if that is so would that mean 2 tariffs?  Would there be any appreciable negative impact on normal usage if only 1 SIM is inserted? 

Have I given enough information to establish what size of SIM card(s) would be needed?

Sorry if these are too silly questions.

[MI5]

Dual sim phones will work equally well with either one or two sim cards as long as at least one sim is in sim slot one.
You could have one contract sim and one payg sim if you wanted so no actual need for 2 contract tariff's.

[Anonymous]

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@MI5 wrote:
Dual sim phones will work equally well with either one or two sim cards as long as at least one sim is in sim slot one.
You could have one contract sim and one payg sim if you wanted so no actual need for 2 contract tariff's.

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Thanks for quick reply @MI5    Presumably that means there must be some on screen way to switch between the SIMs?

[Anonymous]

On the subject of dual sim and as we have @MI5's attention on this, would the Note 3 take a dual sim set up and if so how would this work?

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

The only time you have to choose a sim is when you want to make a call, send text etc. It will ask you if you want to use Sim 1 or Sim 2.
Looking online it appears that the phone takes mini sim cards in size.

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous the subject of dualsim and as we have @MI5's attention on this, would the Note 3 take a dualsim set up and if so how would this work?

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Magic Sim should do an adapter to fit mate.

[Anonymous]

Perfect. I shall look that up.

Would the Note 3 recognise this or would I need to download software so the phone would select the right sim? I am thinking of having o2 as my contract and ee as a payg until June 15 then when my contract is up it is bye bye o2 for another network.

[Anonymous]

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@MI5 wrote:
The only time you have to choose a sim is when you want to make a call, send text etc. It will ask you if you want to use Sim 1 or Sim 2.
Looking online it appears that the phone takes mini sim cards in size.

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Very many thanks again @MI5  - that's another pint (or dram) I owe you!!  

[Anonymous]

For others looking on here, Magic Sim Elite retails at around £25 and supports 3g and 4g.

(I hope I am allowed to post that @Toby, if not please feel free to remove)

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Would the Note 3 recognise this or would I need to download software 

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When you boot the phone with a Magic-sim adapter in it will install a small app from which you can control the sim cards.

The only downside is that it's not dual standby so you have to manually switch sim's yourself, but I've been using one for years with no problems......

(Check first if you use a custom ROM though as they don't work with all of them).