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posted by martyb on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the do-the-jitterbug dept.

I'm just back from a holiday which included dropping my phone and cracking the screen. The phone is a UMI Super which has served me very well, with the exception of a spotty GPS. However I found myself with a very real problem. The crack was across the top right corner of the screen about 1/2 an inch in from the top. It had the unfortunate side effect rendering the whole right hand side of the screen 1/2 an inch in unresponsive. This prevented me from unlocking the phone with the PIN (the fingerprint scanner on the back worked fine, however I forgot that I had set the phone to shut down during the night and it requires the PIN when the phone wakes up).

This effectively left me without a phone for the remainder of the trip and while I will get the screen replaced and continue to use the phone, I'm also considering getting a backup feature phone, or another smartphone, or when I change phone in the future move to a feature phone entirely.

In examining what I was missing out with the loss of the phone, I realise I only use it to message (the very odd call), Internet, Navigation and Netflix. However, with Netflix now allowing downloading of many shows, I can use a tablet better for this, and I can consider using a phone with hotspot for streaming and messaging.

What feature or smartphones do you suggest as a move away from large flagship devices? I have unlimited 4G data and am living in Ireland. My understanding is that most feature phones are aimed at the older generation (large buttons, loud speakers etc) and not for "I just don't want something that breaks easily" people. Budget is in the 100-150€ range, though I will entertain more expensive devices if the recommendation comes with good reasons.


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  • (Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Thursday August 10 2017, @03:47PM

    by Rivenaleem (3400) on Thursday August 10 2017, @03:47PM (#551683)

    Thanks for this. The 150€ is to enable me to buy a device that has 3/4G connectivity, to allow it to work as a hotspot for a tablet or some other devices, and I would like potentially to use it as a navigation device, hence why smartphones are in scope of the recommendations.

    I have almost always in the past had a mainstream flagship, until their features outstripped my needs, and now I just want a phone that be used to navigate, steam music (while cycling) and do Netflix (though Netflix can be done on a secondary device like a tablet). Whizzbangs now like NFC for android pay or fingerprint scanner or 20MP selfie cam or LED strips along the side that ensure I can never lie about not seeing that notification from the wife can all be ignored.

    The UMI Super's only real flaw was that it had very poor GPS. I may just get another one or something similar to it and have a 20€ feature phone as backup to make calls if I ever run afoul of breaking it sufficiently that I can't make calls even in an emergency.

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