Basic Mobile what can you recommend?

HooCanTellMee

Hi Folks,
A bit of background, I have a really old Motorola Razr! Only really use it to keep in touch with offspring, well mainly my text happy daughter! By the time I reply to her she has sent three more, so I thought maybe it isn't just me, the phone is ancient too. Am keyboard savvy, but the phone is only needed for text and calls, I have a camera, I have a good mp3 or what ever you call it. Don't want or need internet, I use the PC for that! What do I need? At the moment I have ASDA sim and that suits fine! Basic touch screen or keyboard would be OK. Anyone got any suggestions please!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have looked at an LG Cookie, I know it isn't state of the art but it doesn't need to be.
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to try pointing me in the right direction.

Lifeforms

The LG cookie is a very nice phone, albeit it quite old in terms of fast moving technology. If you've not used a capacitive touch screen, then you wont find the Cookie difficult or slow with using it. I do now, with my dad's cookie, but then I've got a good touchscreen android, so there is a big difference between the two.
The phones are well made, all three of us in the family had them at one point, with slips, trips, car roof journey and subsequent flights off, and they all survived, albeit it marked etc.

The cookie also comes with a stylus if you need to use it with the screen, but i never did. My mother swore by it though. It can be used with internet with a few Java programs/mods, but not internet as is now thought of with smartphones. You set those up yourself. (N.B) That is based on old cookies, there may be more upto date cookies out there, firmware etc that might be different.

I found it nice for text, and also general calling, and it was great battery life for a touch phone (but you probably will notice it wont be as long maybe as just a regular phone like your razr. .Spare batteries are cheap if that's ever an issue, and easy to change over.

I guess any older phone would do, but it depends how old you want to go, or if you just want a basic phone or not. Those are getting quite hard to get hold of, now we're going all "smart" I would recommend the cookie however, having had several of them for a long time, I loved that little phone!

I would however recommend you purchase one sim free, unlocked, and not tied to any network. The original one that my dad had was branded with software and such, and I found it a pain to use compared with mine which was branded free. Probably such a little difference though, that you might not notice it. I'd imagine though, that they are reasonable cheap now.

HooCanTellMee

Thanks Lifeforms

I trawled gumtree and managed to find aCookie for £15.00 so rushed out and bought it! I don't hate gadgets but must admit to not wanting a phone glued to my ear. So far so good, it is unlocked to all I need to do is swap my sim over or get another, might just do that and hide the Razr as a backup in case this doesn't work. Just realized the stylus is missing but for that price I won't be complaining. I know it it an old model but I really don't mind and it isn't as old as the Razr! The touch screen should speed up my texting.
I really appreciate you taking the time to go into so much detail, you get a five star rating from me!

Lifeforms

It is very difficult now mobile phone wise, because they're all getting smart and fancy and moving away from just text and talk essentially, so even newer phones, it's difficult to get simple phones. Unless you go down the route of phones designed for elderly, or the blind/sight impaired. They do exist, but as new, it's kind of a waste of cash.

Missing stylus isn't an issue, you can get a couple of the lg cookie ones off ebay for a quid postage free. Search specifically for the LG cookie stylus, as they fold up inside each other then slot in. You might also find you wouldn't use it, if you're happy with the screen as is. As it is second hand, you might also want to look at a new battery if you're not getting great times with the current one, but again a few quid off ebay will give you a new one. More for preference, and worry over damaging the screen, I always used a screen protector with them. Ebay jobbie again for those, and you can get some nice silicone fitting cases too there.

Hope you get on with it ok

esuhl

I'm pretty pleased with my Samsung E2121B. The battery life is amazing -- I get around a month from each charge (although I don't make a lot of calls), it's really light, and has an inbuilt-FM radio with impressive reception and sound quality... The only slight downside is the audio quality of the earpiece (it sounds a bit harsh), so I tend to use the supplied hands-free earphones instead (for calls as well as listening to the radio).

It's effectively £6.95 from the Carphone Warehouse (if you claim the £3 cashback from Quidco). You need to buy a £10 airtime voucher with it too, but I think the phones are unlocked, so you can just use your ASDA SIM after that.

HooCanTellMee

Thanks esuhl,
I looked at the Samsung, the only problem is back to my texting nightmare,
going through spelling words with the keypad is so slow, at least for me. Strangely I am not in my dotage, just don't want an all singing all dancing phone, I have a really great camera, or three! Not visually impaired or Very good personal music system, and only really need the phone to text my lovely daughter and occasionally get in touch with my typical student son. Calls when he needs a lift home or fetching back.
Lifeforms,
So far so good with the Cookie, it has the touch screen so I can just text using that, it doesn't need to be super fast, just quicker than the Razr! No good me spending hundreds on a phone I would rather get a better computer or more books for my Kindle. Had to laugh the stylus is missing but there is a screen protector still in the box unused! Will order a silicone case asap.
Hopefully that is me sorted, it should last me a couple of years then I will be back begging help again!
Many thanks to both of you!

m5rcc

HooCanTellMee wrote: »

Hi Folks,
A bit of background, I have a really old Motorola Razr! Only really use it to keep in touch with offspring, well mainly my text happy daughter! By the time I reply to her she has sent three more, so I thought maybe it isn't just me, the phone is ancient too. Am keyboard savvy, but the phone is only needed for text and calls, I have a camera, I have a good mp3 or what ever you call it. Don't want or need internet, I use the PC for that! What do I need? At the moment I have ASDA sim and that suits fine! Basic touch screen or keyboard would be OK. Anyone got any suggestions please!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have looked at an LG Cookie, I know it isn't state of the art but it doesn't need to be.
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to try pointing me in the right direction.

If you want simple telephony, nothing beats a Nokia 6310i