Which cheap smartphone for my 77 year old mum?

[MitchT]

My mum wants me to find her a smartphone. She doesn't want to pay a lot, maybe £100-200. This rules out iPhones which makes my job harder as I've only ever had iPhones. As she's not so tech savvy I need to ensure that I can set the phone up so it's not chewing through tons of data in the background without her knowledge. On an iPhone you do this by turning off background app refresh but I wouldn't have a clue how to ensure the same on a non-iOS device. What's a decent phone in this price range and how easy is it for an experienced iPhone user to navigate through the settings?

NB. I'd prefer to avoid refurbished phones as I don't want to start out with the battery capacity somewhat depleted.

[alorotom]

You should be able to get an iPhone 7 in that price range from Music Magpie etc...

[xeny]

Look at phones like the Nokia 5.3 and Moto G9 Play.

Think about strategies to encourage her to use/practice with it so she becomes/stays confident with it - things like sending photos, using maps.

[stevemcs]

Something designed specifically for the elderly market which can be used with hearing aids and visual impairment would be Doro, the cheapest being this

https://www.doro.com/en-gb/shop/mobile-devices/sma...

[MitchT]

xeny said:

Look at phones like the Nokia 5.3 and Moto G9 Play.

They're both huge. I'm not sure she'd want anything bigger than my iPhone 8, but I'll ask her as they've both got great potential.

stevemcs said:

Something designed specifically for the elderly market which can be used with hearing aids and visual impairment would be Doro, the cheapest being this

https://www.doro.com/en-gb/shop/mobile-devices/sma...

That could definitely be a goer. Looks reasonably small too.

[MitchT]

Having done some research, I have reservations about the Doro as there are concerns about the reliability of the hardware. She definitely wants a relatively small phone - something about the size of my iPhone 8. This would be about 5.4" if it were one with an edge-to-edge screen. My largest battle at the moment seems to be finding a small enough phone - they're all huge - even the really cheap ones!

[audi321]

Stick with an iphone, you'll be sorting it out 24/7 and something you know inside out is worth it (couldn't you contribute if needed?).

However, an Iphone 8 is worth about £200 now, so get a good condition one with battery health >90% and you'll be fine. Don't forget even 90% will be fine for someone who doesn't use it an awful lot during the day.

[Desiderata]

I got my Mum (84) a Huawei P-smart last year for around £150 new.
I set it up initially but she's taught herself how to use it and won't go anywhere without it now.
It's been a godsend for her this last year, keeping in touch with the family via chats and video chats.
The phone seems to do everything she wants it to .

[MitchT]

Latest installment of the saga...

My mum's sister has an iPhone 5 which she bought second hand and loves, so I figured, my mum being the same generation as my aunt and my aunt being happy with what she has, that it wouldn't hurt to do something similar for my mum as my aunt could help her if there were any issues. So far, so good.

My aunt helped my mum get an iPhone 6S from the same place she'd got her 5 from. I checked it over - 86% battery capacity remaining - not bad. Mum puts her EE PAYG SIM card in is up and running.

First problem:
PAYG on EE is costing her a fortune so I get her a GiffGaff SIM, activate it and organize a date for her number to switch to the GiffGaff SIM.

Second problem:
Transfer date arrives so I head over to swap the SIM card only to get the message "SIM not recognised" on the phone. Turns out the phone has locked itself to EE and now needs unlocking before GiffGaff will work. I phone EE and request an unlocking code which they said they'd send to me via email.

Third problem:
Unlocking code hasn't arrived. I naively thought they'd just send it and the person I spoke to didn't suggest otherwise, but a bit of searching online indicates that this can take 72 hours. So, she's now got a GiffGaff SIM with her number on it that won't work in her phone and an EE SIM that no longer has her number on it.

What a faff!

Edited by MitchT on Saturday 6th February 12:56

[BoRED S2upid]

stevemcs said:

Something designed specifically for the elderly market which can be used with hearing aids and visual impairment would be Doro, the cheapest being this

https://www.doro.com/en-gb/shop/mobile-devices/sma...

This. If she’s not tech savvy get this. We have one for an 84 year old uncle it’s very easy to use he can get pics of the kids etc...

[Brian_996TT]

try plugging it into itunes with the new sim and it might work before the email confirmation. i use a 6s and it’s still a great phone, i’ve got a 7 and 8 but still like the 6 as it has the earphone jack

[MitchT]

Brian_996TT said:

try plugging it into itunes...

Not sure that would work. My 8 doesn't show up in iTunes at all so I'm not sure the 6S would either. I think it's 'cause I'm on High Sierra and iOS needs a newer version of iTunes than the one that High Sierra will run.

Anyway, I had a call from EE earlier asking to confirm my email so they could send me the unlock code, which they since did, so hopefully I'll be able to sort it in the morning.