Dumbphone Suggestion

[hairbag1]

I have a distant relative who's avoided cellphones until now. Can anyone suggest a dumbphone brand for a senior use that has no experience with cellphones. Data is unimportant...strictly talk and I can MAYBE teach her to use sms. I live in rural BC so would be excellent if the cell you suggest is available for purchase on Amazon. New or refub'd is acceptable. Thanks in advance.

[Chalupa_Batman]

Hey @hairbag1 

Nevermind....  Amazon's tricky sales techniques messed with me. Carry on sir...

[xiv]

@hairbag1 You and your relative could look into Sunbeam Wireless. They have a complete lineup of flip phones and you get to pick how many fancy features you want (camera, touch-screen, SMS, and so on.)

Based on what you wrote, I think the F1 Horizon "Chickadee" would be the right choice : this is a no frills, no camera, not even SMS, talk only phone. If your relative has difficulty holding on to small devices, the "Pro" line is more rugged and can withstand more abuse.

Edit: forgot to mention that all their phones support LTE, so they will work for a while. If you shop on Amazon, look out for that. You may end up with a 3G phone.

[computergeek541]

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@golfball wrote:

SMS is hard to use on a flip phone that doesn't have dedicated letter keys. A smartphone might be better if texting is important.

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Back before about 2010 or so, it's wasn't considered hard to use text messaging on numeric keypads.  Many users got quite quick at composing messages by using T9, custom dictionaries, or even just pressing a key up to 3 times to select the correct letter.  It wasn't all that long ago that phone users were saying that it's harder to type a text message when using a touchscreen.

[Chalupa_Batman]

Hey @hairbag1 

If you're OK with Amazon would you be OK with Amazon in the US?

Nokia 2780 Flip | Unlocked 

I myself have purchased phones from Amazon US that were unlocked with no issues on PM. 

[golfball]

SMS is hard to use on a flip phone that doesn't have dedicated letter keys. A smartphone might be better if texting is important.

[Rastin · Accepted solution]

The cat ss22 rugged flip. Is a decent flip phone a little heavyer then the standard flip phone. Runs an android 11 go. It's smarter then the average dumb phone. The screen is touch but not all that useful as the screen is small and I always end up hitting the wrong things. Most dumb phone are not the best for texting as they use the number keys to text. So unless you had a phone in the 90s it will hard to get used to. So if you really want them to lurn to text get them an entry level smart phone. If calls are all you need the cat is a good choice. Amazon around 80$.

[hTideGnow]

HI @hairbag1 

and this one:
https://www.telus.com/en/mobility/phones/sonim-xp3plus?INTCMP=tcom_mob_phones_card_XP3plus&sku=NLSMX...

[EB0]

Flip phone with keypad search for it in Amazon 

[hTideGnow]

hi @hairbag1 

many "dumbphone" sold on Amazon might not have all the bands we have, so get one that sold by Bell or Telus

I just suggested this one to another member

https://www.telus.com/en/mobility/phones/zte-cymbal-2