Old people phones: Moto G4, Honor 5x, Doro 824, Jitterbug Smartphone.....

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

alright. My mom and dad are killing me with the "this flip phone just isn't working right." It's time to catapult them to at least 2008 or so. I'm just going to buy them phones and figure out the best plan - otherwise they'll just get talked into something dumb. AT&T is charging them $97 a month - don't know details yet, but that sounds high for flip phone plans...

A little research says that these 4 phones are good for seniors. No sense in buying them a $500 phone, they'd never use or even understand most of the features. The Moto G4, the Honor 5X (made by Huawei?) and the Doro 824 are each aroun $200, and the Jitterbug is about $150.

Any of yous been thru this or otherwise have an opinion?

 

[Ron Mehico]

My parents are doing just great with an iphone6, should be a lot cheaper once the new one comes out in September.

 

[TortElvisII]

Hey, I guess they are right. Senior citizens while slow and dangerous behind the wheel can still serve a purpose.

 

[LadyCat92]

Add your parents your plan instead if you can and it will be way cheaper. This is what I did with mine.

Also, if you can't find a basic phone to get them, Samsung had a "simple" mode that is essentially designed for seniors. Bigger icons, fewer apps on the home screen. Keeps it simple for what they need.

 

[BlueThruAndThru_rivals115784]

Agree with the above posters.

You can install a launcher app which will then be the default home screen and interface.

Haven't tried these specifically but I do use a launcher.

http://www.blogsdna.com/25950/5-best-simple-android-launchers-for-seniors.htm

 

[UKserialkiller]

alright. My mom and dad are killing me with the "this flip phone just isn't working right." It's time to catapult them to at least 2008 or so. I'm just going to buy them phones and figure out the best plan - otherwise they'll just get talked into something dumb. AT&T is charging them $97 a month - don't know details yet, but that sounds high for flip phone plans...

A little research says that these 4 phones are good for seniors. No sense in buying them a $500 phone, they'd never use or even understand most of the features. The Moto G4, the Honor 5X (made by Huawei?) and the Doro 824 are each aroun $200, and the Jitterbug is about $150.

Any of yous been thru this or otherwise have an opinion?

Dude, buy them a pay as you go phone with Verizon. I got a ****** *** smart phone ltd hc or some ****. $35 a month. The phone was $79 bucks.

 

[Hank Camacho]

Samsung had a "simple" mode that is essentially designed for seniors. Bigger icons, fewer apps on the home screen. Keeps it simple for what they need.

How do you do this?

I'm going to do it to my phone. I only use about 5 apps, seems cool.

My dad is 65, cantankerous, and runs a small construction business. The business provides employees smart phones for use on jobsites, etc but he refuses to upgrade past his flip phone.

When his flip phone broke, AT&T apparently wouldn't sell him another non-flip phone on the business account and told him that they were in the process of phasing out flip phones all together.

His response? He went and had my mom buy him five flip phones off ebay so he would never have to upgrade to a smart phone.

 

[LadyCat92]

How do you do this?

I'm going to do it to my phone. I only use about 5 apps, seems cool.

My dad is 65, cantankerous, and runs a small construction business. The business provides employees smart phones for use on jobsites, etc but he refuses to upgrade past his flip phone.

When his flip phone broke, AT&T apparently wouldn't sell him another non-flip phone on the business account and told him that they were in the process of phasing out flip phones all together.

His response? He went and had my mom buy him five flip phones off ebay so he would never have to upgrade to a smart phone.

Looking at my Samsung Note you go to settings --> scroll down to personal --> select easy mode and then choose easy mode again on the next screen and select which apps you want available there.

 

[Hank Camacho]

UPDATE!

Changed my phone to Easy Mode. Now it has the weather front and center and only has 6 apps on the first screen. Pretty awesome, actually.

Can't wait to go get coffee at McDonald's tomorrow at 7 am with my peeps.

 

[LadyCat92]

Congratulations, Hank. You'll be wearing your pants high soon.

 

[rmattox]

How do you do this?

I'm going to do it to my phone. I only use about 5 apps, seems cool.

My dad is 65, cantankerous, and runs a small construction business. The business provides employees smart phones for use on jobsites, etc but he refuses to upgrade past his flip phone.

When his flip phone broke, AT&T apparently wouldn't sell him another non-flip phone on the business account and told him that they were in the process of phasing out flip phones all together.

His response? He went and had my mom buy him five flip phones off ebay so he would never have to upgrade to a smart phone.

My kind of guy.

 

[rmattox]

Retired 6 years ago from a job in which I had to be accessible 24/7. I did not want a phone but my wife insisted ....so I found the cheapest thing I could find that could call and receive calls....a "Jitterbug". She then complained that my having a jitterbug made her look "old".

Eventually added texting because that's the only way my wife /kids apparently know how to communicate. IMO, it's total idiocy to spend more than $20 or so a month on a friggin' phone!

 

[Elbridge]

My dad never used the cell phone I bought him several years ago, and it was a Nokia that had become dated. My mother did use her phone, a flip phone that was simple to use and cost about $60 at T Mobile. She died a year and a half ago. I went to T Mobile and had the number and account changed over in my dad's name and cancelled his account with AT&T. His plan costs him $26 a month.

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

ha, forgot I posted this. some good suggestions here, appreciate the opinions.....

 

[UKserialkiller]

"man, Imma get drunk on here and ask the Paddock a question that's clearly on my mind at this precise moment"

 

[Kaizer Sosay]

"man, Imma get drunk on here and ask the Paddock a question that's clearly on my mind at this precise moment"

"man imma get drunk on here and change my avatar to a pic of a bag of human urine because that's what i think of the paddock…its one huge bag of urine wrapped over a urinal" -willy4uk 8/14/16

amirite?

 

[UKserialkiller]

"man imma get drunk on here and change my avatar to a pic of a bag of human urine because that's what i think of the paddock…its one huge bag of urine wrapped over a urinal" -willy4uk 8/14/16

amirite?

:100points:

 

[Perrin75]

Couple of suggestions based on different criteria.

If your parents want a basic phone and if they don't use it very often then pageplus is possibly your best route. They have a plan for $12 a month that might be perfect. But they have others as well depending on their needs. LG makes some pretty good feature phones you could use here. The Exalt II would probably be my recommendation.

If they are willing to use a smartphone, and if they have decent T-Mobile and/or Sprint Coverage in their area then I would probably recommend Project Fi. You can get a 5X very cheap on there and the plans are very inexpensive. Especially if they don't use a lot of data.

If ATT works better in their area then Cricket is a good choice. I would probably suggest picking up a Windows Phone. The 640 or 650 is a great option that I have seen for as low as $30. Rock solid phone that is pretty easy to work with.

Finally, if coverage is the main issue then focus on which major carrier works best in the area and stick them on that. If it's Kentucky then probably Verizon. If they are willing to use a smartphone, then I would probably put them on an Iphone and I would go with a gently used one to keep costs down.

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

Couple of suggestions based on different criteria.

If your parents want a basic phone and if they don't use it very often then pageplus is possibly your best route. They have a plan for $12 a month that might be perfect. But they have others as well depending on their needs. LG makes some pretty good feature phones you could use here. The Exalt II would probably be my recommendation.

If they are willing to use a smartphone, and if they have decent T-Mobile and/or Sprint Coverage in their area then I would probably recommend Project Fi. You can get a 5X very cheap on there and the plans are very inexpensive. Especially if they don't use a lot of data.

If ATT works better in their area then Cricket is a good choice. I would probably suggest picking up a Windows Phone. The 640 or 650 is a great option that I have seen for as low as $30. Rock solid phone that is pretty easy to work with.

Finally, if coverage is the main issue then focus on which major carrier works best in the area and stick them on that. If it's Kentucky then probably Verizon. If they are willing to use a smartphone, then I would probably put them on an Iphone and I would go with a gently used one to keep costs down.

solid - thanks. will look into this....

 

[wildcatsboston1984_rivals]

Moto G is actually a really good phone for the money.

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

Thanks. The more I look into this, the more I think I had the question backwards. I need to find the right plan for them, then figure out the phone. Doing the phone first is kind of tail wagging dog......although, having said that, all the plans seems to be pretty similar at least as far as cost. Looking at unlimited texts and minutes, with around 2.5 - 3 gigs of data, and they are all around $70 (plus the ever loving taxes, surcharges and fees, heh), give or take. AT&T, PagePlus, Consumer Cellular, Prjoect FI, Cricket - they all seem to be pretty much the same......

 

[Perrin75]

The prepaid plans and some of the other services like Project Fi do not charge additional fees. The price is the price. Also, some of them will give you discounts for agreeing to autopay or for adding multiple lines. So, for Cricket, $70 a month gets you two lines. Two lines on ATT is going to run at least $100.

There are some savings to be had, but I agree the first thing is to determine what service will work in their area and what do they actually need when it comes to services. No point in paying for a new Note 7 and an unlimited data plan when all they are doing is making phone calls.