Help me find a phone for my Dad please!

January 14, 2015 8:57 AM

Wanted: Simple phone with a couple bells/whistles for my technologically challenged paternal unit

My Father can turn on the computer and figure out how to get on craigslist or look at classifieds or websites online. Beyond that and he harasses the nearest technologically capable person to ‘get me on the ____ site’ or ‘make it do ___’.
He currently has a 7+ year old smartphone that is quickly biting the dust. He utilizes the contacts feature and camera on his current phone. I even customized his ringtones so his buddies are duck/turkey calls and everybody else is a standard exceptionally loud ringtone. My Dad isn’t deaf, he just doesn’t pay attention or tries to talk on the phone with about thirty other things going around him that are very loud. Thus, good volume is a key factor.
He keep saying he wants a Jitterbug or flip phone. I think a flip phone would work well because he has very large hands and couldn’t work the buttons/touch screen on previous phones too well. He is hard on things as he has a blue collar job that involves being in and out of trucks and being outdoors in all weather. Generally, I find Samsung products have seen me through thick and thin (as I too am hard on things, and my last phone ended up in a lake twice and stepped on by a horse before dying at a ripe old age several years later).
So here are the specs I am looking for:
Something with large buttons
Fairly good volume
Camera
Small enough to fit in his pocket or case that can attach to a belt

Can anyone recommend a fairly simple phone that I could purchase? My Mom has them on AT&T and ideally I’d like to just buy the phone and switch out the sim card or something so they can keep their current plan. My Mother has a smart phone and while she certainly isn’t a pro, Facebook and texting get a hell of a work out on her device.
Thank you oh Hivemind.

posted by Driven to Technology (5 answers total)

An iPhone 6+.

Really, down to a 4s would work just as good but the huge 6+ screen makes it much easier to select apps and punch in #'s. You can move nonessential apps to a different screen for him.

Here's the reason it's really the best: Siri. Old people love siri. My dad uses siri all the time. You just tell siri what to do, and she does it. Call frank. Wake me up tomorrow. ETC.

That's assuming cost isn't a factor. I don't have any experience with older people using flip phones/jitterbug, except personal use, and I think that the camera isn't nearly as good so if that is a core feature of the phone, you might want to choose something else.
posted by bbqturtle at 9:05 AM on January 14, 2015

Best answer: I think the Pantech Breeze IV is just about what you're looking for.
posted by General Malaise at 9:14 AM on January 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Both the galaxy S4 and S5 have an 'active' version (look for S5 Active) that are ruggedized and IIRC, water resistant. Also, most galaxy phones have an 'easy' mode (you could check this out on yours to see what it's like) and google now does all the things siri does without the cutesy voice on it (hold down the home button and it's the G logo right above it. Also, (and this took me going 'hm what's this button do?') on the call screen there's a button for loud mode (on my note 2 it's on the right just under the picture of who I'm talking to) also there's a craigslist app and you might want to show him Zedge, the ringtone app that has just about anything you can think of.
posted by sexyrobot at 9:52 AM on January 14, 2015

I bought my parents and mother in law LG A340 flip phones and they love them. Loud, big buttons, tough, has an alarm, keeps it's charge a long time.
posted by nickggully at 11:38 AM on January 14, 2015

2nding the Pantech Breeze IV. My dad is a technophobe, hard-of-hearing farmer with big bearpaw hands and he's had his for a couple of years and seems to like it as much as he's capable of liking a cell phone. I had the original Pantech Breeze for about 6 years before it finally crapped out on me, and it was my favorite phone ever.
posted by jabes at 1:40 PM on January 14, 2015