Simple to use, easy to read mobile phone. Any recommendations?

Black Sheep

Registered User
Messages
2,381
I need to change my mobile and have been looking around for a simple easy to use and read, neat one.
Have been looking at the "DORO" 8080.
Has anybody any experience of this or I would be interested in other options.
I don't need all the bells and whistles.
 
It depends what you mean by bells and whistles. Do you want a radio? The ability to bank online or run other apps? That you can answer it via your car's hi-fi? A decent camera? What's important to you?
A teenager would consider the ability to make phone calls immaterial on their phone, but that is probably vital to you :)
If you want a basic phone-as-a-phone then one of the new "reimagined" Nokias might suit:
 
Thankfully I'm not a teenager so a simple smart phone for calls, texts, what's app. email. A few Apps (banking is important). A fairly decent camera.
I have a very old Iphone at the moment.
 
A smart phone is not "simple" but just about any smart phone will do what you want.

As you have an iphone, an upgrade to a more recent iphone is probably the simplest as that will facilitate recovering your contacts and other information from the old iphone.
 
Which very old iPhone do you have? 4/5/5c/5s/6?

What kind of budget do you have? The cheapest new iPhone at the moment is the jPhone SE Gen 2, @ €529. You may be able to get a deal from one of the iPhone retailers or network operators by signing up to one of their plans. If you get offered a very inexpensive or deeply discounted new iPhone from some fly-by-night outfit, run. The margins on new Apple hardware are small, very small.

If you and those you communicate regularly with use iPhones, why is WhatsApp on your list or why is it important to you? Do you store photographs on your phone or do you offload them to some external storage medium? This may dictate what storage capacity you need on your new phone. Do you use iCloud or other cloud storage product? One of these can be a handy and cost-effective way to store and share media.
 
I am a very light user so storage is not very important. I only store important photos on the phone and clear out the rubbish ones every so often.
Budget €200 to €250.
Current model is IPhone 5S
 
I’m in a similiar situation. Have an 64 GB SE that is at least four years old, battery life is v poor. Was looking at some refurbed phones online. Could get a second hand X or 11. But still spending c. 500 +. I can’t believe the amount of people that own a 12. No way will I spend that much on a phone that I could drop into water or lose. I have about 6000 photos. I’m paying a direct debit fee to apple every month for storage. Do I need to ?
 
Probably €2.99/month for 200GB storage. I can't tell you whether you need iCloud storage or not, what do you store there? I think encrypted iCloud storage is a good idea as a secure place to store your Keychain info such as Safari and WiFi usernames & passwords for all your Apple devices, credit-card information, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Find My Mac data for lost or stolen devices, and enables the syncing of all up-to-date data, across devices, etc.

Your iPhone SE is a Gen 1 and at 4+ years old, the battery life is certainly limited, but probably no more so than any other phone of the same age.

SE Gen 3 with same processor as iPhone 13 https://www.apple.com/ie/iphone-se/

I have an iPhone 11 Pro 512GB with the Apple accessory battery pack. Lotsa music and Apps for hands-free Apple Car Play on the move.
 
Last edited:
Even a Nokia XR20 is €460 these days or the X10 is €300, one with headphones, the other with a speaker if that softens the blow.

Or go for some of their Feature Phones

I still have a working 6310i as my goto backup phone. Mind you in those days Nokias were made in Germany.
 
The iPhone SE 2020 model is what you want.

You'll get a refurbished model for under €250 in like new condition.

A recent iPhone without all the bells and whistles, but enough bells and whistles to have you humming along.

I can recommend refurbed.ie - they showcase on behalf of several eu sellers and their service and guarantee is top notch
https://www.refurbed.ie/p/iphone-se-2020/

I had an issue with an apple watch after 10 months and it was replaced without issue immediately.

Since purchased 2 iPads and 3 phones and no issues whatsoever.
 
I’m in a similiar situation. Have an 64 GB SE that is at least four years old, battery life is v poor. Was looking at some refurbed phones online. Could get a second hand X or 11. But still spending c. 500 +. I can’t believe the amount of people that own a 12. No way will I spend that much on a phone that I could drop into water or lose. I have about 6000 photos. I’m paying a direct debit fee to apple every month for storage. Do I need to ?
Amazon have new iphone's 11 for 429 sterling roughly 500e
 
Excellent new Xiami 5G phones for are available for 400E, Google storage of 100GB is only 20E per year.
You should not rely on keeping precious photos on your phone in case it gets lost or stolen, ensure you sync your photos and contact details to the Google or apple cloud storage for safekeeping
 
I’m in a similiar situation. Have an 64 GB SE that is at least four years old, battery life is v poor. Was looking at some refurbed phones online. Could get a second hand X or 11. But still spending c. 500 +. I can’t believe the amount of people that own a 12. No way will I spend that much on a phone that I could drop into water or lose. I have about 6000 photos. I’m paying a direct debit fee to apple every month for storage. Do I need to ?
I assume battery was good enough when new? Have you considered bringing it to a 3rd party phone shop to replace the battery? Should be a lot cheaper than a new phone (but backup your data first just in case they break or wipe it).
 
I have an iPad Pro that I use to take photos. I don’t take many on the phone. I cloud photos is turned on under settings. I assume that’s why I’m being charged. I don’t have anything else to store. I guess my photos are secure and there is no way to avoid the monthly dd. Will take advice when upgrading phone. Will stick to old SE for now. I asked in a shop about the battery and they said there was no point in changing it yet as I’m still getting nearly a day from it.
 
The iPhone SE 2020 model is what you want.

You'll get a refurbished model for under €250 in like new condition.

A recent iPhone without all the bells and whistles, but enough bells and whistles to have you humming along.

I can recommend refurbed.ie - they showcase on behalf of several eu sellers and their service and guarantee is top notch
https://www.refurbed.ie/p/iphone-se-2020/

I had an issue with an apple watch after 10 months and it was replaced without issue immediately.

Since purchased 2 iPads and 3 phones and no issues whatsoever.
I also know someone who recently bought the iphone se20 from that company after seeing their ads on tv. The phone is like new, IIRC they paid about 230, plus they're not tied into a contract for two years.
 
Back
Top