My iphones broken, so I’m using a cheapo txt/call only phone and rather enjoying the exclusion from virtual-social reality . Plus I have an upgrade available.

So, whats a good non smart phone these days?

I nackered mine and was in the same position, just a few months from an upgrade

I asked for advice in the phone shop and got a painfully honest, but probably financially poor, ‘sales’person. She said “To be honest with you, if you’re not after a smartphone, they’re all pretty much the same nowadays. I’d just buy the cheapest”

Stil loving my Nokia 3720 Classic.
Perfect trail phone: waterproof (I’ve done the pint-glass test), dustproof, battery lasts for ever, bombproof.

Doesn’t have GPS or a decent camera, but that’s not an issue.

We all got issued work phones a while ago, non-smart phone was a bit of a shocker, its a Nokia C1 i think it is, very basic call and txt, battery lasts a week. It gets thrown around the warehouse at work and across floors etc, still as good as new.

Shocking phone but the company paid for the sim card, its got 3 different numbers, an internal network number 4 digit code, a mobile number for whenout and about and somehow a landline number as well, so the phone cost £5 and the sim card £90!

Nokia X1-01:

Twin SIM
Battery life measured on a geological scale
The loudest ringer I have ever heard
And can play tunes too…
Cheap and tough

What is the accepted term for non-smart phones now that EVERYONE has a “Smart” phone then?

Stupid-phone?
Thick-phone?
Dim-phone?
Scruffy-phone?
Under dressed for the occasion… phone?

Could I have something half way and call it a Smart/Casual-phone?

Have never had a smartphone have still got a Motorola L7 from about 2008.

I put £10 credit on it in April

Done the iPhone/Android smartphone thing. I just dont like the size of them in my pocket.

Now using a Blackberry pearl 9105 ‘Candybar’ style phone.

Main use apart from calls/sms is the GPS which, unlike androids/iPhones, lasts all day while using Endomundo.

I’m in the same boat, we got issued with new Samsung smart phones a couple of weeks ago

I don’t like it much and asked for a normal phone, I’ve been told to have a look in the vodafone shop and choose something suitable so we’ll see what’s around

What is the accepted term for non-smart phones now that EVERYONE has a “Smart” phone then?

Er – “phone”, I should think…

Wunundred!

What is the accepted term for non-smart phones now that EVERYONE has a “Smart” phone then?

Feature phone, I think.

Thinking about “downgrading” or possibly just not upgrading, Smartphones can be such a time thief if you’re not careful, but so damn useful.

I’ve always fancied another Ericsson t-28, had one back in the day, lovely little bit of design, flip to answer and TETRIS!

Could I have something half way and call it a Smart/Casual-phone?

cookeaa – yes you can!

http://www.retrobrick.com/

Nokia C2 here. We were issued with Lumia 800s for work, my missus was leaving her work and the iPhone she was given as a staff incentive was taken back, so she got my iPhone 4s and I bought the cheapest Nokia I could get on 3.

The C2 survives my son ‘driving’ it around on a hardwood floor, albeit with a bunch of scratches. Battery life is about two weeks. I leave the smartphone at home at the weekend. Best of both worlds.

The phone scale works like this:

Smartphone: anything with oodles of processing power and relatively free choice of applications

Featurephone: a handset with a specific feature or app (ie, cameraphone, 3’s Facebook phone, any of the Vodafone own-brand handsets)

Phone or dumbphone: What I is running at the moment.

When my 3 contract ends in February, I’m going to ditch the smartphone tariff completely. The only thing I really miss is a good camera.

I’ve got a work phone similar to the one in Woppit’s pic up there.
It’s bloody awful. Sending a text is like going back to the dark ages. It’s too quiet in the earpiece and I struggle to hear anyone in even a mildly noisy place.
No way I could go back to one of those for my personal phone, but I don’t make many calls anyway, so a smartphone suits me down to the ground.

There can be only one…

But the site is down – perhaps they have gone bust. That would be a huge shame because I never did get to buy me one.

EDIT: Some available on Ebay…

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-New-Johns-Phone-in-White-Snow-in-Box-with-all-extras-/221086263617?pt=UK_Mobile_Phones&hash=item3379c4a941#ht_677wt_1414

you need a ‘johns phone’

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URL button broken? not working for me

MF, you beat me to it!

I never went “forwards” and dont bother with phones most of the time. I remember when you went out mountain biking and there were no phones which was bliss. Trial centres felt like an adventure, a journey. You were out in the wilderness. Now you can be taking in some stunning scenery and somebodys phone will go off and it’ll be their missues asking them where the TV remote is or some other nonsense. I can understand the safety aspect so I have a 10 year old pay as you go phone which is switched off in my pack. And yes, I do have plenty of friends. Does anyone else feel this way about them or am I just a miserable old b*****d?

I have a Smart Phone but I know where the off switch is.

After breaking a couple of phones on the trail, I got me one of these…

Waterproof, dustproof, shockproof, gorilla glass, compass & GPS, a place to attach a clip so it doesn’t fall out of your camelbak, and even a built-in torch!

Edit: Oh, and forgot to mention its a Samsung B2710

Does anyone else feel this way about them or am I just a miserable old b*****d?

I’ve an iphone, but I simply hit the ‘off’ button and deposit it in my pack, next to the Haribo before I set off. I really don’t get the idea of answering the phone while you’re out riding either. Can it really be that important that it can’t wait for a couple of hours?

I have a Smart Phone but I know where the off switch is.

This.

A smart phone – indeed, a mobile phone generally even – can control your life if you let it. The way I look at it is, I carry a phone for my convenience, not everyone else’s.

I’ve waxed lyrical about this before, but I think having such a powerful, well connected mini-computer in my pocket is absolutely incredible and I wouldn’t be without it. But, I refuse to buy in to any sort of obligation to be at its beck and call.

We’ve all had conversations along the lines of “why didn’t you answer the phone” or apologised for missing a call when ringing someone back a whole minute later. It’s madness. With a notable exception (my parents aren’t very well currently), there’s nothing that can’t wait five minutes if the phone rings whilst I’m in the middle of a particularly stubborn poo or something.

If I get an alert, I’ll wait till it’s convenient before checking it. My OH will say “your phone beeped,” I’ll go “yeah,” and she’ll look at me like I’m mad for not running over to it immediately. Chances are it’ll be something and nothing anyway, an app update or a mailing list email or something, I’m fairly sure it can keep for five minutes.

Summary: having a smartphone is ace. You just need to put it down occasionally.

If I get an alert, I’ll wait till it’s convenient before checking it. My OH will say “your phone beeped,” I’ll go “yeah,” and she’ll look at me like I’m mad for not running over to it immediately.

I tend not to pick up calls if I’m busy, eating or reading etc. My kids go crazy if I just leave a phone to ring or don’t run to answer it.
Makes them even madder when I simply say “they’ll ring back if it’s important”

I’ve an iphone, but I simply hit the ‘off’ button and deposit it in my pack, next to the Haribo before I set off.

Wouldn’t it be better to leave it on, but on silent?

That way if you do unexpectedly wrap yourself around a tree then your nearest and dearest can use “Find my iPhone” or similar to locate your mangled body and direct the rescue services.

Wouldn’t it be better to leave it on, but on silent?

… GPS logging?

… GPS logging?

Doesn’t work when it is (properly) off.

Graham – I don’t even know what my ringtone is, as it has never rung. Its always on silent. I check it when it suits me, much the same as Cougar.

Having said that, I can also sit and play with it for hours when at home. I’ve normally got about 20 games of Scrabble on the go

Yer. I just wanted to point out that keeping it turned on (but silent) has some potential safety benefits, especially for lone riders riding off the beaten path.

I like that Samsung. Better than having an iphone rolling around in a camelback / jersey pocket IMO.

Where can I get an unlocked one?

I like that Samsung. Better than having an iphone rolling around in a camelback / jersey pocket IMO.

Where can I get an unlocked one?

I can’t be much help on that I’m afraid, cos I’m in Perth Australia and bough mine online from Queensland!

However, I see Amazon UK has them here, so they must be available elsewhere in the UK…

I’ve an iphone, but I simply hit the ‘off’ button and deposit it in my pack, next to the Haribo before I set off.

Wouldn’t it be better to leave it on, but on silent?

That way if you do unexpectedly wrap yourself around a tree then your nearest and dearest can use “Find my iPhone” or similar to locate your mangled body and direct the rescue services.

I answered my phone on a bike ride, It was the next door neighbour, My mum had an accident and died, extreme example but stuff can and does happen, if the option is there, I’d keep it on…

Plus I have an upgrade available.

So, whats a good non smart phone these days?

Don’t take the upgrade – just go to sim only contract. Only a complete idiot would buy a non-smart phone on a contract – they typically cost about £20, whereas sim only contracts are dirt cheap compared to most with-phone contracts, meaning you pay a fortune for the phone – worth it for a £600 smart phone, but not so for a £20 normal phone.

Even with smart phones it is often a bit of a close thing – I checked recently and calculated someone’s phone was costing him 25 quid a month over the same sim only contract, ie. £600 over the two years, which would have bought him the same phone. And like a lot of people, he probably could have gone down to a £10 or £15 a month contract and still not have used his minutes, meaning that he was really spending closer to £900 on the phone (which as a unlocked phone is approx £500).