A 'Phoney tale

[Davey]

Some five years ago, I went to Carphone Warehouse and bought just about their cheapest mobile, an Alcatel, and a £5/month Talkmobile SIM. For my limited requirements, the combination is great. I stuff the 'phone in any convenient pocket, along with wallet, keys, car key-card, etc, and it does not object. Recently, turning on the 'phone has been giving a warning, an error code. Alcatel could only suggest that the battery might be failing, but there is no other indication of that. Because of the 'phone's age (!), they have no Help available. Since the death of the mobile seemed a possibility, and I often wished it had a camera, I bought a very cheap 'phone, a Fonerange, and switched the SIM over. Lo! The same error code appeared, so it must be the SIM. I contacted Talkmobile, whose name is on the SIM, and after several attempts to connect, and finally getting to talk to somebody whose native language is clearly not English, it was determined that Talkmobile could not help, and it would be best if I contacted Alcatel. Hmmm. Well, the SIM was still working, so I left it in the new 'phone, and today went shopping, carrying it exactly as I used to carry the Alcatel. And the first time I pulled it out of my pocket, I saw that the screen was totally useless, ie visually cracked under the outer layer, and shows an image like a Jackson Pollack painting, but nothing else. The cracks start at a point which may be where the house keys pressed against the edge of the screen. The buttons seem to work, but I can't follow what is going on, and the camera function is unreachable, as I can't remember the sequence to get to it; and if I could, I would not know what it was looking at. So it's back to the Alcatel, and a request for a recommendation for what make of mobile will withstand what I consider normal treatment, such as being put into pockets with other items. Did I just get what I paid for, ie very little, and most 'phones would have no problem with this life, or is this typical, and the Alcatel has been better than I should have ever expected? I see people pulling their smartphones out of back pockets, which must be subject to some compression forces, so it looks as though there is normally some resilience built in to them.

[Andy Burns]

Sorry, I can't help my rules of phones are

1) don't bother with a case 2) never put it in the same pocket as anything else.

[ARW]

Can you put more than one mobile phone in the same pocket?

I have three mobile phones - four if you count the the PAYG phone I keep in the van glovebox for emergencies.

[Clive George]

There's a very cheap Samsung clamshell dumb phone - 15 quid or so, can't remember the model but it shouldn't be too hard to find. Hiding the screen ought to make it more resilient. For phone-type stuff it seems to work, though I reckon the cheap Nokia's interface is way nicer.

[tabbypurr]

Aldi do a robust phone. I don't like the look of it.

NT

[The Natural Philosopher]

I think there are groups you can join to get help with this.

[Fredxxx]

Is the one in your glove box for the emergency girlfriend when the others are doing their hair?

I hope you phone her at least every 6 months or the number might be taken out of service!

[Bill]

I and her indoors have had at least 2 clamshell phones each. She drops her Motorola all the time but it has survived. My last one was a Nokia, which was surprisingly expensive - £30 something - had a very mediocre camera and developed a non-critical clean break across the glass plus the battery life went down to only about 2-3 days, so

I went onto ebay and paid under £30 for this s/h Blackberry Z10 smartphone, which I carry in the same pocket as the cash, credit cards and sets of keys for two houses that we check daily for the "children". Without any cover, and no screen covering, it has survived fine. It emulates Android 4.2 as well as running the excellent but now obsolete Blackberry OS. Battery life is better than the Nokia, but not a lot. The flashlight /magnifier app is extremely useful.

A cheap Nokia that looks like an older Blackberry that Tesco sold me for a fiver, was great, but only worked for about 5 months before dying completely.

I suspect that late-model low end Nokia's were not well built.

The other thing that has caught me is to check the size of the sim card.

I always like to confuse!

[Davey]

Thanks for replies. I thought that clamshell 'phones had ceased existence, unless they are all 'old stock' or e-bay units.

I'll take a look at the Aldi one, too.

[F Murtz]

Put a glass protector on any new phone (cheap from ebay dear from dealers.)

[Brian Gaff]

I'd be very careful. I know that Tescos mobiles get cracked screens just sitting on the sideboard, but I suppose you get what you pay for. it really depends whether you are willing to give the phone a break instead of breaking the phone.

The Doro ones look and feel substantial, but to me, expecting the phone to put up with locallised pressure from steel objects is asking for trouble. Also of course, the tendency for the human bottom to expandwith age unlike coloting, can increase the potential damage risk. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Yes but don't mix their sexes or unwanted pregnant phones can result. Brian

[harry]

I have a cheap (possibly fragile) phone. I keep it in a rigid spectacles case. Anyone who has specs can give you one I should think.

[PeterC]

Doro. I've a 612 thats been carried around (in a showerproof, padded case for about 30 months. With no use it'll go about 10 days or so to 2 bars charge, then I top it up.

[Vir Campestris]

Samsung make some tough phones - used to be sold under the JCB brand. IIRC Sony do tough (ish) smartphones.

Andy

[John Rumm]

Or go for one of those really tiny mobiles:

Probably quite hard to get much leverage on it!

[Andrew Gabriel]

There are a number of Android phones which can take two sim cards.

[Bob Martin]

also some non-Android phones