Phone Recommendation (attractive, not smart)

December 5, 2015 1:48 AM

I would like a new dumb-phone. It should look good and work in Chile.

I can buy the phone here in Chile, or in the USA or UK. Telecom specs for Chile are here and here - it seems like support for GSM 1900 would be appropriate.

Style is harder to describe - I'd like something fairly simple, and relatively small (but not "credit card" - see comment at end of post). Probably black. The kind of thing you might find in the shop of a modern art or design museum. Candybar, not clam. The closest I have found locally are this (too clunky, with fiddly details) and this (better, but looks a little cheap).

Both those phones are "old people phones", which I guess is OK, but I have no need for an inbuilt torch(!) or panic button.

Previous, similar question is now 4 years old. John's Phone looks pretty good (but a bit pricey and really my partner would prefer I at least have SMS support). Others mentioned in the text tend to be ugly. Others linked from the Amazon page (prev link) that are "ultra thin/slim" seem like they will have (relatively) poor battery life (in dumb-phone land we expect standby of a week or more) and be less durable.

Thanks!

posted by andrewcooke to Shopping (8 answers total)

Response by poster: MP01 is not bad, but more than I want to spend.

(I guess I am searching more for "looks good for a mass produced item" than "designer object")
posted by andrewcooke at 2:09 AM on December 5, 2015

Best answer: I'd go with a simple candy bar phone from Samsung or Nokia.
Personally I'm happy with this refurbished Sony Ericsson c702 which has the added benefit of being pretty sturdy.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:44 AM on December 5, 2015

Nokia 105?
posted by knapah at 4:07 AM on December 5, 2015 [4 favorites]

3rding Nokia candy bar phones. Mine looks like this; it's a workhorse, cheap to buy, easy to use, battery lasts a long time, and is unfazed by drops on tile floors.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:10 AM on December 5, 2015

Response by poster: The Nokia 105 looks perfect except that it's "Dual-band GSM 900/1800 MHz" and I need 850/1900.

EDIT: Oh wait, the amazon.com link from Too-Ticky is 850/1900 (so seems like I need to buy in the USA, not UK).
posted by andrewcooke at 5:36 AM on December 5, 2015

My husband has a Nokia 105 (in the UK). I wouldn't call it a design classic but it works fine for calls and SMS, is very cheap and looks unremarkable.
posted by altolinguistic at 10:14 AM on December 5, 2015

If you are not getting a 3G phone, get a quad band GSM device. They are typically the same price as a dual band phone, yet will work anywhere in the world. If you get a US-spec dual band GSM phone, it will be of no use in at least 4 or 5 countries in the western hemisphere and in approximately all of the countries in the other.

Some places, like Brazil and the Dominican Republic, have networks on both the Euro bands and the NA bands. Given the usual difference in price of pretty close to nothing, take the quad band.
posted by wierdo at 11:15 AM on December 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

Have you checked out a Kyocera DuraXT? It's got rubber armor and intended for rough service applications.
posted by dlwr300 at 6:12 AM on December 7, 2015