Hi everyone,
I'm looking to buy a smart phone for my technologically challenged Mum. Basic smart phone, easy to use, but something that she can grow into. She's currently on Optus Prepaid, so something in either that or an unlocked category. Budget is around $100, give or take.
Any ideas on what kind of a phone would be right for her, and then who might have one on sale?
Thanks in advance!
How about a Samsung Galaxy Pocket Outright $98 Officeworks.
http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail/products/Technology/Pho…
2.8 inch QVGA TFT display (320x240), 833mhz processor
Not a good choice. Also tends to leave a bad impression of Android for first time users.
Screen size is important for ease of use, particularly for first time smartphone users. If the screen is too small it can be very difficult to use an on screen keyboard.
That said the easiest to use smartphone is probably a Windows 8 mobile, since it has very large touch targets, a display with large fonts on a dark background and a user interface that tends to avoid a grid full of icons in favour of lists, which some elderly people may find more familiar and easier to understand.
Hehe…she's not elderly :p
But I get what you meant!
Thanks for the insight guys, gives me a good starting point! Definitely won't be going with Telstra though, will be sticking with Optus (Woolworths $29 cap with 5GB of internet that we can both use to hotspot to our laptops, since I have it too)
$100 is quite a small budget; the problem with too cheap smartphones is as Scrimshaw pointed out.. they can frustrate the user and have a worse user experience than a "dumbphone" (I hate that word.. basic phone).
If you can up your budget to say around $180 range you can get something like the Lumia 520 for $176 which really is the base specs for a decent smartphone.
http://www.harveynorman.com.au/nokia-lumia-520-windows-8-pho…
(This was recently only say at Harvey Norman for $135; if you shop around you can get it cheaper).
I reckon first time users should use first generation phones, they were built simplistically for the first users and still are good today I say. So that leads me to say Iphone 3g or the 3gs.
Sometimes the 'beginner' smartphones are actually quite complex compared to higher-end/mid range phones, since it'll often take a lot of patience and eye squinting to understand wtf the phone is actually doing. For example the Huawei X1 & X3- crashing.
go to www.pocketronics.com.au
My family buys all its mobiles there, and all are unlocked, just look for a smartphone that uses the optus network
Oh wow! Okay, more food for thought. I won't go super cheap.
I bought an LG Cookie 2 years ago (unlocked) for $150, and I still love it. It's super user friendly, and I think would be great for my Mum. Obvoiously though, now it's unavailable. So I suppose that price range would be better.
Optus store sells a Huawei G510 for $149. This is the best value pre-paid device they currently sale in their product range.
https://www.optus.com.au/shop/prepaid/mobile/huawei/ascend-g…
You'd be looking at a Huawei G300+, which is $99 locked to Voda.
Look around on Dick Smith or eBay.
If you see any Huawei phone, Ozbargain User Bagman can unlock it for you for $5.49.
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/91771
If your mom doesn't surf the internet on the phone, or is a very light data user, you can also consider Telstra NextG devices (they lack 900mhz band, but just 2100mhz 3g will work in metropolitan areas). In which case you'll be looking at Nokia 520, Huawei Y300 etc all of which are better options than the G300+.