[carax]

(Gawd, I hope she never sees that thread title.)

My mother has for years bought PAYG dumb Nokias and been very happy with their durability and battery life. She was only ever interested in calls, texts and taking photos.

They're not so easy to get now though, and now that she's used to touchscreens (Kindle, Hudl) and has seen what smartphones can do she might be willing to go down that route.

Sadly she can't be persuaded to buy an iPhone (she refuses to pay that kind of money for something she'll only use sporadically) and I will disown her if she goes down the Android route , so I was thinking her best bet would be a Nokia Lumia 435. She is familiar with Windoze 7, so it wouldn't all be totally alien, although she is not a techie by any stretch of the imagination and is easily frustrated/intimidated when her laptop or tablet don't work as they should.

Is this a reasonable plan? Or does anyone have any caveats / alternative suggestions?

TIA.

[Stig]

If she gets on with an Android tablet then an Android phone wouldn't be a terrible choice.

However, I have always liked Windows Phone 7/8 and I think it is simple to use. Things are complicated by the imminent arrival of Windows 10 Mobile.

[JasonWatkins]

For whatever it's worth, we got my 75 year old mum a Lumia 635 from CEX for around £60 quid. She's absolutely the least technical person you'll ever find but she seems to get on fine with this more often than not.

I still occasionally get the odd call along the lines of "It's not working!" and I have to try figure out what she means, but for the most part she seems to cope with it. I think the large tile-based operating system helps as she can see it without her glasses and the little mini stylus i got her means she's been able to master the on-screen keyboard as well.

[timebug]

I am an O.A.P myself, and have previously only owned
'mickey mouse' PAYG phones, but a year ago I was in
the position of needing a 'contract' phone with good
service and no restrictions on where and when I could
use it. So I got myself a Sony Xperia E3 smartphone.
Considered a 'basic' model, it does all I needed it for;
Phone calls, emails, internet and loads of stuff I never
use, already pre-installed! I chose 02 as my service,
but most of my family tend to either EE (or whatever)
and I have had no problems at all. It is an android based
system and I found it easy to use from the word go!

[oilman]

DORO do smartphones designed for elderly and less dexterous persons.

[carax]

She's not that decrepit - just a bit of a technophobe! But thanks for all the input so far. I maybe need to investigate the imminent arrival of W10; silly me, I assumed all new phones would ship with it.

Of course the decision will ultimately be hers (inevitably with input from my father) but her offspring would prefer her to steer clear of Android.

[alanwarwic]

Grannys and children, they all get treated similar.

Growing old, aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!

[carax]

Not at all, the kids in our family are smart enough to know that the only credible option is iPhones.

(NOT that they're old enough to have mobiles. A Wifi iPad is as good as it gets.)

[Stuart_h]

If she has (or is used to) a hudl already then surely something like a moto g would be the most sensible to keep the look and feel the same. Mixing her tech just because of your preferences seems a little odd .....