Phone for my mother

from_atozinc

Hey all

Mother is in her 70's.
Has had Nokia phones for the last 15 years, she can text and make and recieve calls but that's about it.

Her current phone is fecked, so she has to bite the bullet and get another.

I know there is the new Nokia 3310, but not sure when this is being released etc

She is kinda looking for a big enough screen to see the pictures of the grand kids properly, nothing else really needed, just texting, she prefers the small size 1-9 keyboard, not the full size one.

She does not need large storage etc

She is with Vodafone and has always been pay as you go and likes this way of doing things.


Can anyone recommend a phone for this type of user?

MarkR

For pictures, would she be getting them from the various social media platforms (facebook / whatsapp )? If yes, she'll want a smart phone of some sort. I got my mother in law one of those Doro phones, but that is literally only for calls / texts.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/shop/phones-plans/all-phones/phone-6520

beauf

Have to say those dumb phones can be a nightmare to manage contacts, photos etc.

I ended up taking a photo from the doro of my phones screen, to get photos on it.

from_atozinc

MarkR wrote: »

For pictures, would she be getting them from the various social media platforms (facebook / whatsapp )? If yes, she'll want a smart phone of some sort. I got my mother in law one of those Doro phones, but that is literally only for calls / texts.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/shop/phones-plans/all-phones/phone-6520

She would only get the photos from text messages. Doesn't need e mail. Whatsapp etc.

from_atozinc

beauf wrote: »

Have to say those dumb phones can be a nightmare to manage contacts, photos etc.

I ended up taking a photo from the doro of my phones screen, to get photos on it.

What do you mean by dumb phones ?

sdanseo

from_atozinc wrote: »

Hey all

Mother is in her 70's.
Has had Nokia phones for the last 15 years, she can text and make and recieve calls but that's about it.

Her current phone is fecked, so she has to bite the bullet and get another.

I know there is the new Nokia 3310, but not sure when this is being released etc

She is kinda looking for a big enough screen to see the pictures of the grand kids properly, nothing else really needed, just texting, she prefers the small size 1-9 keyboard, not the full size one.

She does not need large storage etc

She is with Vodafone and has always been pay as you go and likes this way of doing things.


Can anyone recommend a phone for this type of user?

If she's in any way in tune with technology, a cheaper Samsung J3 or the like with easy mode enabled.

If she's completely technophobic (which if she's had a phone before, even a Nokia 3310, probably isn't the case) then a doro.

beauf

from_atozinc wrote: »

What do you mean by dumb phones ?

Anything that's not a smart phone.

beauf

You can buy any old phone new from those retro shops.

We just went with a doro. we've bought 3 so far. I don't really like them. But they seem happy with them. Big buttons and screen. I think my old Sony Walkman phone leaves it in the dust.

from_atozinc

Any other comments?

from_atozinc

sdanseo wrote: »

If she's in any way in tune with technology, a cheaper Samsung J3 or the like with easy mode enabled.

If she's completely technophobic (which if she's had a phone before, even a Nokia 3310, probably isn't the case) then a doro.

Deed was done today. She went for a Samsung J3 and easy mode is enabled.

It will be a learning curve for her. She has a tendency to press the buttons hard rather than just tap them.

She is happy with the old school 1-9 keyboard though, she has a lot to learn, she has to write down things step by step and then do it.

sdanseo

from_atozinc wrote: »

Deed was done today. She went for a Samsung J3 and easy mode is enabled.

It will be a learning curve for her. She has a tendency to press the buttons hard rather than just tap them.

She is happy with the old school 1-9 keyboard though, she has a lot to learn, she has to write down things step by step and then do it.

Just describe it as heat sensitive, just easier to understand. I used to demonstrate the response of the screen while barely touching it and most older customers cottoned on very quickly.

By the time I got out of telco we had a regular customer who was by all accounts an iPhone expert. Think he was in his 80's.

from_atozinc

sdanseo wrote: »

Just describe it as heat sensitive, just easier to understand. I used to demonstrate the response of the screen while barely touching it and most older customers cottoned on very quickly.

By the time I got out of telco we had a regular customer who was by all accounts an iPhone expert. Think he was in his 80's.

Yeah, that could be a good way to explain it -- thanks.

Doubt the mother will become an expert now, but as long as she can do the basics, thats ok.

Another thing she is concerned about is the bills and if she taps something by mistake or apps downloading stuff in the background etc. which could eat up data.

sdanseo

from_atozinc wrote: »

Yeah, that could be a good way to explain it -- thanks.

Doubt the mother will become an expert now, but as long as she can do the basics, thats ok.

Another thing she is concerned about is the bills and if she taps something by mistake or apps downloading stuff in the background etc. which could eat up data.

With data allowances these days shouldn't be too hard to find a plan which allows enough to pretty much eliminate this as a concern. After all, that's the point of a smartphone.

You can turn off data with one swipe and one tap if she's concerned about leaving it on all the time - but again, defeats the purpose a bit.

from_atozinc

sdanseo wrote: »

With data allowances these days shouldn't be too hard to find a plan which allows enough to pretty much eliminate this as a concern. After all, that's the point of a smartphone.

You can turn off data with one swipe and one tap if she's concerned about leaving it on all the time - but again, defeats the purpose a bit.

She is just pay as you go. So not sure of her exact options.

sdanseo

from_atozinc wrote: »

She is just pay as you go. So not sure of her exact options.

You can't run up a bill at least. Many prepay plans now have unlimited or as near as makes no difference to unlimited data when you top up by a certain amount a month / every 28 days.

from_atozinc

sdanseo wrote: »

You can't run up a bill at least. Many prepay plans now have unlimited or as near as makes no difference to unlimited data when you top up by a certain amount a month / every 28 days.

If she was bill pay, she would know exactly the story with how many minutes and data and unlimited data etc etc.

But because she is pay as you go - how does she know what plan she is on. You just buy the credit and use it and then top up. Or have I got this wrong?

from_atozinc

from_atozinc wrote: »

If she was bill pay, she would know exactly the story with how many minutes and data and unlimited data etc etc.

But because she is pay as you go - how does she know what plan she is on. You just buy the credit and use it and then top up. Or have I got this wrong?

anyone on this?

beauf

What are you asking?

from_atozinc

beauf wrote: »

What are you asking?

When you are a pay as you go customer, do you just follow some generic plan or are there a load of plans of which you can pick from?

Ursus Horribilis

You could try getting in contact with Vodafone customer care to find out what plan she's on. It could be a legacy plan. She might be able to switch to something better. Vodafone being Vodafone, the terms are unlikely to be generous.

sdanseo

Best to give them a call alright.

If usage is high enough it might be worth topping up a certain amount per month to get the data allowance.

If she's unlikely to actually use the data, and aren't topped up by enough to activate any bundles, then turn it off - but this defeats the purpose of a smartphone almost entrirely.

If data usage will be moderate, chances are she'll pay a daily data charge for any use in a day the data functionality is enabled, if not topped up within the last 30 days and on a plan or bundle - depending what they're offering.

beauf

There are pay as you plans that include everything thing. I dunno about Vodafone it's one of the more expensive networks

Ten Pin

Here is a general overview of the PAYG plans the networks offer. The gist is that topping up every 28 days gives various amounts of calls, SMS and data depending on the top up amount.
For example, top up of 10 euro (every 28 days) with meteor simplicity plan gives either unlimited calls or 7.5GB. If you chose 7.5GB then you would need to use apps for calls and text so it depends how proficient your mother is with a smartphone.
Topping up and not opting in to any plan ends up being expensive, the networks charge 35 cent per minute for calls, 15 cent for text and in some cases up to one euro per MB of data.

Ursus Horribilis

I've a relative who has a smartphone but no data package (yes.. I know!) The phone can't receive picture messages without it being online. Something to bear in mind if your mother wants to send or receive photos.

Vodafone's smartphone offerings are about as dismal as it gets but if your mum is like my relative, she'll not want to move networks even if you get that new phone unlocked. I see on Vodafone's website that they're offering unlimited any network calls, texts and 1gb of data for €20 per month. As a smartphone user I wouldn't touch that offer with a 20ft barge pole but for someone like your mum it'd be fine.

from_atozinc

I must have brain freeze going on here.

Was up to the mother earlier and she has her new Samsung J3, gettin on ok with it.

Now here is my thing. I don't want mobile data turned on on the phone really for now, until she gets the hang of things. She is pressing lots of buttons she should not etc etc

The mother has wifi in the house and the new phone is connected to that - as this way she won't get stung as such with pay as you go top ups when using the wifi. (And she is one of these people that has an exact budget that is based on her pay as you go usage for the past 15 years)

I sent her a picture message via standard text message from my iPhone. Her phone just has wifi only turned on. She revives the text message and gets the option to download but it never downloads. I would have thought she would have revived this picture message via wifi. But obviously not, why is this?

beauf

You sent her a MMS. As Far as I know MMS only works over a data connection. No one uses MMS anymore.

If you want to use WiFi use an email, or something like WhatsApp.

from_atozinc

beauf wrote: »

You sent her a MMS. As Far as I know MMS only works over a data connection. No one uses MMS anymore.

If you want to use WiFi use an email, or something like WhatsApp.

Thanks. But dosent the wifi offer a data connection?

beauf

Its all data. Just routed different ways. But the network doesn't support SMS over WiFi.

You can check with your operator.

from_atozinc

beauf wrote: »

Its all data. Just routed different ways. But the network doesn't support SMS over WiFi.

You can check with your operator.

Which network doesn't support SMS over wifi? The wifi network or the mobile phone network.

beauf

Mms don't work over WiFi.

Turn on mobile data on and the mms will work.

from_atozinc

beauf wrote: »

Mms don't work over WiFi

But i think it does with iMessage turned on.

Does Android have an equivelant ?

beauf

Imessage isn't mms or sms. Its like an apple only version of WhatsApp or similar.


If you want to send free messages or photos over wifi use whatsapp or email.

Its just simplier

leex

My own mother went through a similar upgrade a while ago and is getting on fine now. Make sure all updates are either turned off or switched to wifi only.

from_atozinc

beauf wrote: »

Imessage isn't mms or sms. Its like an apple only version of WhatsApp or similar.


If you want to send free messages or photos over wifi use whatsapp or email.

Its just simplier

mmmm, will leave it a while, will leave her get used to the phone first and then introduce whats app

from_atozinc

leex wrote: »

My own mother went through a similar upgrade a while ago and is getting on fine now. Make sure all updates are either turned off or switched to wifi only.

thanks.

im not really familiar with Android phones.
Can anyone tell me the easiest way to turn off automatic updates on Android?

beauf

Considering you can get almost unlimited data/calls for €20. If you want to avoid bill shock. That is the way I would go.

It allows you to use smart phone as it was designed.

Personally I have all updates turned off except on WiFi. But there always something unexpected that gobbles up data. On windows phone I could turn off data on one onscreen toggle. On Android is scattered all over the place across apps, system and the data toggle itself. Often an update will turn data back on for itself.

from_atozinc

beauf wrote: »

Considering you can get almost unlimited data/calls for €20. If you want to avoid bill shock. That is the way I would go.

It allows you to use smart phone as it was designed.

Personally I have all updates turned off except on WiFi. But there always something unexpected that gobbles up data. On windows phone I could turn off data on one onscreen toggle. On Android is scattered all over the place across apps, system and the data toggle itself. Often an update will turn data back on for itself.

but can you get these unlimited data etc on pay as you go phones. I know nothing about how this operates really.


yeah, its annoying that you cant just turn things off with 1 tap.

beauf

I said almost.

http://www.48months.ie/

No way your mother will get though that 20 plan.

or even this one.
http://www.three.ie/eShop/phone-plans/prepay/
You have €20 worth of credit for calls.

Same with these
https://meteor.ie/pay-as-you-go/simplicity/#15GB