I have an iPhone 6s that I am given by work. This replaced my iPhone 5, which sucked beyond belief. I have little interest in my 6s, and am thinking of giving it to Mrs SR while I, myself, dumb down.

I really like the looks of this rugged phone, what with its real torch, and apparent indestructibility. The fact that it is also dual sim is nice.

I suspect it’ll also temper my tendency to want to constantly look at my phone when other people bore me.

Anyone else done this? Any rugged phones to suggest? Pitfalls? Benefits?

It’s not a ‘dumb’ phone, it’s a shit smart phone.

Have I done it? Nope, but I applaud anyone who does – if I have to read another rose tined post about how **** great 90s Nokias were I think I’ll cry – YOU CAN STILL BUY THEM, go ahead – they have better reception than most smart phones and the batteries last a long time – if all you do is take / make calls – great.

It might just be worth asking your boss if they’re happy you’re giving away your £600 worth of work supplied kit, the ability to read e-mails and access your diary on the move in exchange for a non branded smart phone bought online from someone in Israel. Sounds secure to me!

I’m not actually sure what you just said there, P-Jay. But thanks.

In any case, I put up the link to the one on ebay as an example. I know that others exist.

Finally, I am thinking about giving it to Mrs SR; not selling it to a stranger. And I am one of the bosses, so I think it’ll be okay.

Ah cool then.

We’ve sourced a few ‘tough phones’ for clients. They’re not cheap – £300-£400 for a beefed up, waterproof Android phone.

If you just want a mobile that’s fairly robust – £15 for a Nokia, you can get them in supermarkets etc.

Spend £60 or more and you can get a JCB or CAT branded tough mobile – despite the names they’re made by the same people, British too. They can sometimes have some ‘smart’ features like MP3 players, but that’s it. They’re really tough, waterproof etc.

Can still find Nokia 3310s for sale.

Makes calls, sends texts, plays Snake, can survive a nuclear bomb.

Battery will last weeks on standby.

How have you been given it from work? Is it intended to be your work phone or just a phone they’ve given you? If the former then the chances are they’ve restricted some of the features of the phone – this is the case with my work issued iPhone 6, which would be a PITA if I were using it as my personal phone.

Nokia still make their “normal” phones, you know, phones that are not tablets just slightly smaller

I use an old ‘dumb’ phone. Not rugged, but then it’s not delicate either, but that’s kind of the point; I’m not precious about it. If it breaks I can buy another for £30. I like the fact that it’s small – ‘Smart’ phones are massive, and I don’t want or need to have the internet on me all the time. Also, it lasts forever battery-wise. Mine even has a half-decent camera which is great for bike rides.

I should say that I never ‘dumbed-down’… just never ‘smarten’d up’. I never liked the lack of clicky buttons and the massiveness of the new phones.

Swerve the CAT phone, I have one. It is just crap. Battery discharges completely without warning. Have to reinsert battery to turn on.
Wholly unreliable.

Stick it in a life proof case and ignore the smart bits.

Is there such a thing as a half-decent small phone with conventional buttons that runs Android rather than some proprietary system? Thinking about an upgrade for my mum’s, pretty sure she’d not get on with a touch screen.