Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Dumb Phone? 313
An anonymous reader writes: For those of us who don't need or want a smartphone, what would be the best dumb phone around? Do you have a preference over flip or candy bar ones? What about ones that have FM radio? Do any of you still use dumb phones in this smart phone era? Related question: What smart phones out now are (or can be reasonably outfitted to be) closest to a dumb phone, considering reliability, simplicity, and battery life? I don't especially want to give up a swiping keyboard, a decent camera, or podcast playback, but I do miss being able to go 5 or more days on a single charge.
Have a question for Slashdot's readers? Take a look at other recent questions first to see if someone else has had a similar question. And if not, ask away! The more details and context you include, the more likely your question will be selected.
Ultra Power Saving (Score:5, Informative)
Some smart phones have an "ultra power saving mode" (see Samsung Galaxy 5/6) that essentially turns them into dumb phones. My Galaxy 5 will last 2 weeks in this mode.
Re:Ultra Power Saving (Score:4, Informative)
My HTC One M8 has an Extreme Power Saving mode which replaces the Launcher, drops all network connections, and only allows a few basic functions to work. Not sure how long it will last, but easily over a week.
Re:Ultra Power Saving (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, under what circumstances will you be away from electricity power for more than two days? And that, without considering battery pakcs, a second battery or a portable solar charger...
1) Multi-day backpacking trip. Yes, you could carry extra extra battery, solar charger, etc. But, chances are these are space and weight are at a premium and those items may not make the cut. If one even remembers to bring them along.
2) Traveling to a foreign country where the requisite power adapters have not been acquired or failed to make it into the pack. Bonus for traveling through intermediate countries that have different plugs than your source or destination.
3) Shorter but busy trips where the charging just does not happen. (After a long day, arrive at hotel, go directly to bed. Wake up in the morning. Did I charge my phone? Oops. Oh, well. Gotta run.)
In some of these cases, there is no usable service anyway so you might as well turn the phone off. But I don't always remember to do this and my experience hiking is that it is very easy for me to accidentally turn the phone on and not notice if it still in my pocket.
And, of course, you need to be prepared for battery degradation. Most phones these days do not have replaceable batteries. I always cut the manufacturer's battery life in half when deciding whether it suits my needs.
What is it you want again? (Score:5, Insightful)
So, you want a dumb phone, but you want it to have smart phone features, and a huge battery charge, and lots of doo-dads and stuff ... just like a smart phone?
Well, good luck with that.
Re:What is it you want again? (Score:5, Informative)
No. The person sent in the question wants a dumb phone.
The stupid editor added the second question about a smart phone because TIMMY !
Re:What is it you want again? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Well, good luck with that.
After reading another comment, and looking at TFS again, I concur with the other poster that the bit you are complaining about was added by our favorite [southparkVoice] Timmie [/southparkVoice] and not the OP.
Re: (Score:3)
Smart phones with a huge battery charge? Which are those?
Re: (Score:2)
All of them. Smartphones have much bigger batteries than their dumber counterparts.
Re: (Score:2)
But they don't last half as long.
Re: (Score:3)
Actually with a push of a button my Galaxy S5 will switch to a dumbphone with limited features available which extends it battery life to 14days standby. Better than any dumbphone I've ever had.
Best of all with a push of a button I can switch it back again.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
But then it will have the swyping,camera, and podcast features that the submitter wanted.
Re:What is it you want again? (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly. You can't have it both ways. If you want a good camera, then you're firmly in smartphone territory, and recent phones too. Even my 4-year-old smartphone's camera sucks.
What we need to be doing is figuring out how to make our own smartphones that actually work well. The key to this (since we can't build them ourselves obviously) is to back some of the open-source community projects like CyanogenMod (or any better ones, I'm open to suggestions) and get those working well, just like OpenWrt works well for a lot of routers. If you want a good router that doesn't have any spyware or other BS from the manufacturer, you don't *need* to build your own router from the ground up, you just need to find a cheap consumer router that's supported by OpenWrt and install that, and then you're set. We need to do the same for phones.
There's always going to be limitations, however. Phones only come with batteries that are so large, but by customizing the software some of that can be mitigated, by removing all the bloatware and making very stripped-down builds which don't have much running in the background. Obviously, the phone makers and carriers are not going to provide what we want for us, at any price, so if we want this stuff we have to do it ourselves. And, there's already projects in existence with goals much like this, so it shouldn't be that hard to piggyback onto one of them.
Re:What is it you want again? (Score:5, Informative)
Most of the crappy battery life of smartphone is due to constant network polling by apps. If you just get a smartphone and use it as a dumb phone, then turning off cellular data will give you many days of battery life. Try it, you might be surprised.
Re: (Score:2)
A swiping keyboard requires capacitive touch. Capacitive touch requires more energy than just a hardware keyboard. There are Android phones without touch capabilities and only hardware keyboards, especially in developing countries, but I do not think that's what you want. Also, those phones do get security updates, but they will never go above Android 2.3x because they only have a single core processor.
An FM radio requires a wired earbuds/headset to act as an FM antenna. Phones in developing countries have
Re:What is it you want again? (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, good luck with that.
You mock, but it exists. Samsung Galaxy S5 and S6.
With the push of a button you're in ultra power saving mode. Black and white screen. SMS and Calling only. No background software, no other foreground apps other than your contact list. 12+ days of battery life. WiFi and 3G off. etc. It's quite good for a short trip of a few days where you want to preserve battery life and still receive calls (about the only thing a dumb phone is good for).
NOKIA (Score:5, Insightful)
Those things really are indestructible. I would hop on Amazon or ebay and pick up a used one. Definitely worth it.
If that is not an option, then I would go something candybar. Every phone I have seen broken that had moving parts broke at the moving parts.
Re:NOKIA (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
My vote would go to the Motorola Motofone F3.
It's a very thin GSM candy bar format phone with an eink display.
Many Nokia phones were really good (or so I've heard), but I have little experience with them.
I think my second choice would be to go back to my last non-smart phone - a Motorola Razr (I think I had the v3m version). Size, battery life, usability, durability, and voice quality were all very good.
Re: (Score:2)
I still use an E71 (from.. 2008?). Candybar with qwerty. Symbian so it's not as dumb as S40, but it's dumb by modern standards. I still get close to a week of battery life (on the ancient original battery).
Makes good quality calls, has reception where all of my friend's iphones and androids don't... has real buttons.
Re: NOKIA (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
The 3310 wasn't nearly as indestructible as the 3210.
Anyway, the actual brick was the 6150. The first GSM phone to use an ARM processor, and a convenient blunt weapon for self defense.
why? (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't especially want to give up a swiping keyboard, a decent camera, or podcast playback
Then you're stuck, or get a tablet.
AT&T Z432 (Score:5, Interesting)
White Princess (Score:3)
Wall mount, plug in power block. Totally indestructible in either rotary or touch tone.
Razr v3 (Score:3)
Motorola Razr v3xx is probably one of the best handsets of all time.
That said, its old, uses a now non-standard charge port, and all the hacked tools are no longer readily available.(Motorola PST, Qualcom's tool, etc...)
Re: (Score:2)
Motorola Razr v3xx is probably one of the best handsets of all time.
Which is why I still use my 7 year old Razr. The only problem I have now is that something is sporadically killing the jog-dial (not sure if it is mechanical or electrical or software), which makes a bunch of functionality impossible to use. Fortunately I have my wife's old Razr of the same era as a backup.
As a bonus for my model Razr (depending on your paranoia) .. it also is pre-GPS chip E911.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I bought my wife a Motorola Tundra. She doesn't want a smart phone, but she does want something that will get reception in the boonies and survive the rigors of horse back riding (or falling off said horse). I have seen that phone light up while at the bottom of a 3' deep creek, and she called me on it after taking a dive off a horse and was in need of an ambulance. So it passes my tests ;)
-Rick
I want the same question answered clearly (Score:5, Insightful)
What's the best dumb phone? I want calls, voice mail, text message and battery life. That's it.
Re:I want the same question answered clearly (Score:4, Interesting)
I got a Samsung in the Ukraine for about $10 US at a phone stand in a mall. Once I figured out how to get it into English instead of Cyrillic, it became the most practical phone for travel that I've ever found. The screen is just old one-color LCD with a backlight. The battery lasts for weeks on a good charge. It sends old fashioned texts and makes phone calls with better sound quality than the fancy Android I use now. And I never have to deal with the whole phone "locking" thing US carriers have, I can just buy a new cheap SIM card wherever I travel.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's just a big solid mess, ok?
Technically the liquid crystals are one color.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, I was wrong. It is a color display. There's no particular reason for it to be a color display, since you're not going to use it to do anything interesting, but it is.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
cheap BLU phones (Score:3)
I've been getting a bunch of BLU phones for the kids for about $20 - $30 a pop.
http://www.amazon.com/BLU-Unlo... [amazon.com]
They're by no means nice phones, but they have a good feature set, and we haven't had any problems with them that weren't caused by dropping them into puddles or sending them on a ride through the laundry machine.
BLU also has a slightly larger one with a full Blackberry-like keyboard for texting that also has a broadcast TV receiver instead of just FM radio.
Re:I want the same question answered clearly (Score:5, Informative)
It is a Samsung GT-E1080i. Mine's a different edition from the ones I'm seeing online because it has Cyrillic (and English) on the keys. But who cares. You can get one for $4 + another $4 S&H off eBay right now. It'll be the best $8 you ever spent.
Re: (Score:2)
I have an old LG Cosmo 3. Everything you asked for is all I do with it. I need to replace it though as the screen is now getting too scratched up. I think they still make them. Though I might upgrade to a Kramer.
Re: (Score:2)
Casio G*Zone One. Doesn't even have a camera.
Verizon likes to pretend they don't stock them, but they do - corporate clients buy that model all the time for their delivery drivers.
Re: (Score:2)
Motorola made an e-Ink candybar phone for India at one point, is that still around? Would it be useful in any other countries, given the frequencies? It was supposed to have more or less best-ever battery life, like a month of standby or something nutty like that, and days of talk time.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Related Question?!? (Score:3)
That related question that the editors added to the OP's question is going to screw the thread up.
They are hardly related -- and were obviously written by separate individuals.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That would be timothy, the editor from hell.
I know think of him as [southparkVoice] Timmie [/southparkVoice]
Re: (Score:2)
Not just separate, one is at least mildly retarded.
Oh, sorry, "special". TIMMY!
Model 500 (Score:5, Interesting)
My parents still have one of these in their house, and it still works fine (even if dialing is tedious):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Since it's around 50 years old and still working, I'd say it's the best dumb phone.
Re: (Score:2)
Since it's around 50 years old and still working, I'd say it's the best dumb phone.
I second that as I still using my Touch-Tone Model 500 (Bell System Property, Not For Sale) I've had since 1980s (even has same phone number label from where I used to live). Another thing to note this phone is so rugged it can survive getting dumped in water, dropped from tables, chock a runaway railway car, and withstand a nuclear blast at 50 yards (OK so I made up the last two).
Nokia... still (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
That's still a smartphone (even if it is running Windows Phone).
Not bad on the battery specs for a smartphone, though.
Don't want a data plan? Too bad. (Score:3)
The problem with using a Windows Phone is that AT&T will probably still make you pay for a data plan that you don't use [slashdot.org].
Just researched this for my kids (Score:4, Interesting)
I've done a lot of research on this, and the Nokia Asha 501 is the best dumb phone I've found: http://amzn.to/1HncbcC [amzn.to]
I purchased it because it was the most smartphone-like phone on which AT&T does not require a data plan (my definition of dumb phone, yours may vary). The battery lasts a few days when using it mostly for music and internet, or a couple weeks (!) when using it for calls only. It's small, but not too small to be useful. With it's built-in WiFi, it's the only dumbphone that I know that will do Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Email, and even a small number of games.
This is not going to touch any iPhone or Android phone by a long shot, but for the price it does pretty well.
Re:Just researched this for my kids (Score:4, Informative)
Sounds like a feature phone.
Re: (Score:2)
As I mentioned in my original post, the definition of dumbphone varies. Any phone that doesn't require a data plan is a dumbphone in my book.
I always like the 5190 (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I always like the 5190 (Score:5, Funny)
tweet about my latest bowl movement from the stall at work
Instead of tweeting about bowl movements, you should get the maintenance folks to tighten the mounting bolts.
Noia E6 (Score:4, Interesting)
s5 (Score:2)
In ultra power saving mode, a galaxy s5 will last two weeks, with very good call quality. Plus it cash become a supercomputer if you find the need.
Nokia 108 - one month standby time (Score:3)
Available in single or dual sim - and an incredible 30 days (yes, one month) standby time.
Nokia N73 (Score:2)
I'm still using the Nokia N73 I bought in 2006. It lasts about a week on a charge, but then again I don't really use it that often. I did have to replace the battery about 2 years back, but 7 years on a single battery seems fair enough. The only reason I'd give it up is the text on the screen is tiny and it's getting hard for my old bastard eyes to read it now.
Maybe you should try getting a second hand handset of ebay?
Get an older phone? (Score:2)
Samsung T245G (Score:2)
Nokia 515 (Score:2)
phone watch (Score:2)
I just bought the Exelvan MTK6260A phone watch (2G) and it's great! Battery lasts 4-5 days, 1-2 days when using bluetooth a lot.
http://www.amazon.com/Excelvan... [amazon.com]
Blackberry bold (Score:5, Insightful)
I submit to you: Blackberry Bold
insane battery life (remember BB was competing with dumb phones not smartphones, so the charge every 8 hours thing hadn't started yet) - 12 days standby 6 hours talk, 50 hours audio playback
camera, sure it has a decent camera
Insanely good Keyboard that openly laughs at "swipe" keyboards.
Podcasts, sure
costs about 80 dollars now.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. The 9930 was the best phone I ever had. Rock solid with no need for a case, touch screen up top, keypad on the bottom. Excellent camera, simple interface, did everything I wanted without all the stupid games.
Re: (Score:2)
The trackball was the weakness of the 8820, any of the later bold models with the optical trackball would be vastly superior from a reliability standpoint.
I need a flip phone with wifi hot spot (Score:2)
then just use my laptop/pad for anything resembling internet usage.
Samsung Rugby III (Score:3, Informative)
How dumb do you want it? (Score:2)
Stop Looking At Your Phones [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Technology evolves. Move on. (Score:2)
Wanting a feature phone makes about as much sense as wanting an old wooden phone with a separate earpiece and the cone that you have to shout into. Technology doesn't stand still, and most feature phones are going to have poor reception since they won't support any of the newer networks. For example, Bell Canada's network is HSPA+, and does not support 2G GSM at all.
With smartphones available for forty to fifty bucks (like the Lumia 530), feature phones just don't make sense.
Makes me think of mech keyboards (Score:2)
Phillips Nexium (Score:2)
Phillips Nexium is a winner, in my view.
Batteries last almost one month, of course less if you will be talking nonstop. Some models have slots for 2 sim cards, some can have three sim cards.
No need to waste time monkeying around with the smartphone.
Blu phones (Score:3)
I'm happy with the low end Blu phones. $20 for an unlocked dual sim phone on newegg. They have dozens of models. I use a candy bar, my wife texts more and used the blackberry style. Run a full week on a charge, and basically bulletproof.
Lg 'slider' phones here.. (Score:2)
http://www.lg.com/us/touch-screen-phones?cmpid=sem%7Cmu%7Cmuao_2014campaign%7Cbing%7Cbr%7Cfeatures%7Ctscreen&s_kwcid=TC-18467-15408061578-bb-2102835509 [lg.com]
the highly rated models i think are good enough. qwerty slider keyboards i prefer to 'swype'
Re: (Score:2)
that link includes smartphone sliders. http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-VN271-extravert [lg.com] is the verizon popular 'feature' phone
Samsung t139 (Score:2)
Samsung t139. It costs about $15 to $20 brand new (unsubsidized). I spend $5 to $10 per month on minutes (T-Mobile).
AT&T 210M Trimline (Score:2)
AT&T 210M Trimline; no battery needed, it gets it's power from your landline so it works in a power outage, never has reception issues.
Hey, if you are going to be retro-technology boy for no good reason, might as well plug your phone into the wall while you are at it.
Answer to the related question... (Score:2)
Answer to the related question... "What smart phones out now are (or can be reasonably outfitted to be) closest to a dumb phone, considering reliability, simplicity, and battery life?".
That's easy: any of them that you don't install all of those crappy, battery-sucking Apps on, and turn off polling for push notifications from Facebook, email, and so on, so they they aren't constantly running the battery down because then they can actually get the application processor into sleep state once in a while withou
Motofone F3 (Score:2)
Nokia 1616 (Score:2)
$7-per-month service (Score:3)
If you're like me, it's the expense of your talk, text and data plan that you dislike, not the features of a smartphone.
I pay $20 every 90 days to Virgin Mobile (works out to $6.67 per month). I'll upgrade to a smart phone if and when the price of a plan that includes a reasonable amount of data drops to $15 per month. Until then, I'll make a mental note of what online content I'd like to consume, and wait until I get home to consume it.
Calculate the annual cost of your cell phone plan; do you find that having instant gratification of your online desires is worth that cost? Not judging; just curious.
Why dumb phones suck (Score:3)
Thing is, I don't want to make or receive phone calls or text messages!
I hate them.
The only reasons I own a phone are because a smart phone is a small handheld computer that can surf the net, play games, play music, show movies, and do other useful tasks (alarm clock, exercise timer - even flashlight). And a smart phone can act as a modem for my laptop to connect to the internet.
So ... remove the smarts - the data, the computer-like features, the hotspot - and all you have left are the two things I don't want: phone calls and SMS.
Re:Extended battery (Score:4, Interesting)
In my experience, Mugen makes the best extended batteries (both in size and performance).
Of course this is not useful if your phone does not have a replaceable battery (e.g. iPhones). But in general any popular phone with a replaceable battery will have extended batteries made for it. You just put the extended fat battery in then use the provided replacement back panel that includes an enlarged area to hold the new fat battery.
I *always* get this for my phones because I get sick of having to remember to charge them.
http://www.mugenpowerbatteries... [mugenpowerbatteries.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I *always* get this for my phones because I get sick of having to remember to charge them.
Why not just charge it at night? If that's hard to remember you can do what I do and use it as an alarm clock, then you end up checking it every night anyway.
Re: (Score:3)
I looked into one of these (can't remember which brand now) for the Samsung S5, and all the reviews said the new replacement back sucked, wasn't waterproof like the old one, and worst of all, killed the speakerphone functionality because they didn't bother putting a hole for the microphone I think.
Your suggestion sounds good in theory, but in practice it seems like the replacement back/battery makers do a lousy job with engineering. It's too bad the phone makers themselves don't offer OEM batteries and mat
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, that's another complaint I read about somewhere. That would make it completely useless to me; one of my primary uses for my phone is for navigation.
best phone: WEco 520 desk model (Score:2)
you didn't say wireless phone...
Re:best phone: WEco 520 desk model (Score:5, Informative)
I have a Motorola W385 flip phone (Score:3)
It's 8 years old. I don't know if you can still buy them. It has had one battery change about 3 years ago and works great. It's a CDMA phone on the Verizon network. I pay $5.94 (including tax and fees) per month for 20 minutes of talk time. I have disabled voice mail and text messaging on the phone. So the phone rings and I talk, but not for long. In an emergency I can make calls... short calls. That's all I need in a mobile phone.
I should mention that I have a google voice number that rings my cell
Re: (Score:2)
I kinda prefer the 500 (like 2500 but dial), little more classy. Not very good when calling a robot that needs you to press "1" for something, though.
Still have one, but killed the landline some years back now...
Moto Razr (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)