In part, being nagged by my son for being so old fashioned 😉 Due an upgrade shortly, so after a phone that
– makes phone calls easily
– can pick up emails (and poss link to Outlook Express?)
– Google
– is smallish, doesn’t weigh a ton
– good battery life
– simple to use … I struggle with touch screens which may well be as I’ve v seldom used them
– always had Nokia block phones so am vaguely familiar with Nokia

Anything good … my O2 package is c.£35 month so guess I’ll have some half decent phone choices?

Thanks

i’ve just got a Nokia N5, ticks your boxs. No good like any with qwerty keyboard if you have fat fingers.

Nice phone quiet like it.

iphone is the only one I would call simple. Even my mum can use them!

Nokia E71

Not very smart, but very simple.

I love it and can see it becoming a cult hit…

http://www.johnsphones.com/

Actual size!

Simple smartphone = iPhone. End of.

My seven month old daughter was flicking through photos on mine this morning.

My HTC Wildfire is as simple as an iPhone and less than half the price. Neither are any good if you don’t want a touch screen though.

Nowt wrong with HTCs but simple they ain’t.

Their entire raisin dettery is to be customisable, flexible, open, hackable – which is all lovely but doesn’t make them simple.

Their entire raisin dettery is to be customisable, flexible, open, hackable – which is all lovely but doesn’t make them simple.

If you hack and customise them. If all you do is use it as a phone and for apps, they’re dead simple 🙂

You want a simple smart phone; by definition, they’re fairly mutually exclusive criteria. I’d suggest perhaps that what you’re looking at isn’t a smartphone at all. But, at £35/month, the world is your mollusc as far as choice goes.

If you do want a “smart” phone, the iPhone is probably the obvious choice here. I’d also perhaps consider more regular Nokia-type choices. It might be worth rocking on up to a high street store and poking and prodding some display models.

can pick up emails (and poss link to Outlook Express?)

It doesn’t really work quite like that; OE is an email client, and a smart phone will also have an email client. It may be possible to have them both linking to the same email server though; it depends who your email provider is currently as to how you’d best go about that.

Nowt wrong with HTCs but simple they ain’t.

Their entire raisin dettery is to be customisable, flexible, open, hackable – which is all lovely but doesn’t make them simple.

my mum is 56 ive just shown her round her new HTC, shes loving the angry birds!

Ok, talk me through how you: add music/videos to your phone, backup the contents, restore everything to a new phone if your current one gets nicked/lost, update the phone with new software?

When I see people talking about HTC there is always talk like “install a new web browser, use a file manager, mount it as a drive, install a task manager”.

All fine – but not “simple”.

That johns phone is genius, particularly the no battery address book feature, not cheap though unfortunately…..

The palm pre 2 is due out. It’s a cracking phone though the app catalogue isn’t as good as apple or android. WebOS is nicer to use than android too.

The iPhone is far and away the most simple to use, that’s partly the point of it being locked down like it is. My 4 year old can navigate it like you wouldnt believe. Couldn’t do that with the desire I had.

Stay away from Android. Although very good in the loing term they are anything but simple when you get one. Half the apps are missing half are crap etc.

You have to build the phone software yourself when you get it!

What utter nonsense!

If you can post on a forum, I’m sure you can manage an android phone.

Battery life is generally around a day though on most big smartphones – is that enough for you OP?

thanks all … showing my ignorance in the title. Not sure I know what a ‘smart’ phone is. Basically would like a phone that I can Google/ pick up emails and that’s prob about it

oxymoron? 😀

Got to say the iPhone again, I’m rubbish with anything tech or computery, I only got a computer 3 years ago for the first time, my last nokia thing made me want to smash it up and launch it out the window on a regular basis but my iPhone just works,
And the touch screen works even with my sausage fingers
All apps and address book are backed up on iTunes and setting it up was a piece of p**s even for me who’s a technological cripple 😳

iphones do just work – they really are very good. I was dubious at first, but mine has been used sooo much for the last 20 months. A really useful tool, far from an exotic toy for me. (I don’t do exotic toys, everything has to be justified to the nth degree!).

I held out for ages due to the image/price/fanboi bollox, but if it broke I’d get another tomorrow
I tried a htc thingy but the smash it and launch it factor was still happening, good but complicated (for me) so I sent it back

That johns phone is genius, particularly the no battery address book feature, not cheap though unfortunately…..

Yeah – I am sure that is entirely down to production costs – if the concept takes off it could be produced for peanuts.

Surely they could (should) do a solar-powered version though – then it could sell in bucketloads in developing countries.

exotic toys

Aren’t they fist-shaped and vibrate?

Nokia E72 I love mine works and has a keyboard and the battery lasts a long long time.

i-phone looks like the way … my son will be delighted, I feel full of trepidation 😐

I was too, but it’s idiot proof
I proved it 😀

Ok, talk me through how you: add music/videos to your phone, backup the contents, restore everything to a new phone if your current one gets nicked/lost, update the phone with new software?

I’ve never done that on any phone, so no idea.

What about a Sony Ericsson Elm?
Review here

HTC gets my vote for simplicity, but it’s also very hackable if that’s your thing 🙂

how many mins and texts are you getting for £35?

I find blackberrys pretty easily to use, have much better battery life than an iphone, have a keyboard and are way, way cheaper

on the flipside, the screens aren’t as good, and web browsing is less fun.

£20/month would get you 200 minutes/unlimited texts/unlimited internet on virgin mobile..

how many mins and texts are you getting for £35?

£35 pm that the OP is currently paying now will get a 600mins, unlimited texts, 500MB data, unlimited wifi (BT OpenZone) and an iPhone 4 16GB for £139.

(step down the contract after 9 months if you are not using all the minutes)

Ok, talk me through how you: add music/videos to your phone, backup the contents, restore everything to a new phone if your current one gets nicked/lost, update the phone with new software?

1. Plug the phone into the computer.
2. When the file explorer box opens, copy the files from my computer to the phone.
3. Click on the icon at the bottom and select disconnect
4. Unplug the phone.

All the contents are on Gmail, so updating would be automatic.
The phone updates automatically.

My 6yr old loves Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, no problems using them, ner ner ner.

To the OP: Either an HTC Desire or an iPhone will do you fine. Both are just as easy to use.

Can’t someone make this a sticky thread?

Can’t someone make this a sticky thread?

That would be a good idea if the answer were the same every time it was asked.

Let me rephrase that.

That would be a good idea if the correct answer were the same every time it was asked.

What makes these threads turn from helpful advice to making want to eat my own spleen is the inevitable “you want what I have, there is no other option, I’m right and everyone else is wrong, ner” posts followed by mass squabbling as everyone else lines up to say the same thing only about a different platform.

I own an Android phone. For me personally, it’s a superior platform to the iPhone. However, I think in response to the OP’s question, the iPhone would be the better solution in this case.

Can’t you lot see beyond your own biases and preferences, and look at something objectively?

However, I think in response to the OP’s question, the iPhone would be the better solution in this case.

Where he states that he struggles with touch screens?

1. Plug the phone into the computer.
2. When the file explorer box opens, copy the files from my computer to the phone.
3. Click on the icon at the bottom and select disconnect
4. Unplug the phone.
All the contents are on Gmail, so updating would be automatic.
The phone updates automatically.

Right so you just mount the phone as a USB drive (think you missed the step where you have to press “Disk Drive” on the phones Connect to PC screen) then it appears in Windows Explorer, and you can drag and drop your files onto it. So can they just go anywhere or do they need to go in certain folders? Do you need to call them certain things? How do you backup the phone contents (apps, settings, texts, mms, photos, movies, documents)? How do you sync it with Windows Contacts?

All these things are do-able, but not “simple”.

On iPhones the answer is just “iTunes does it”.
Simple, see?

The iPhone also has a touch screen, which the OP struggles with.

We get it that you like your iPhone, but it’s not always the solution to every “what phone” question.

Simple Smart phone? A contradiction in terms – rather sums things up.

If you want a simple phone, buy a simple phone!

We get it that you like your iPhone, but it’s not always the solution to every “what phone” question.

As per Cougar’s point: the OP asked for a SIMPLE smart phone. The answer is an iPhone.

If the OP asked for a smartphone that was very customisable and hackable then I would have recommended an HTC phone.