I'm thinking I may have to get a smart phone

Apart from using the app, unlike a lot of people I don't like taking my phone out in public places. I have been told however that no one would want to steal my cheap android. 

Age UK isn't across all the UK, it's England only, the devolved nations have thier own seperate versions and North Wales one all of it's own, and they're totally useless.

I can't do youtube videos, theres something about them that just hits my inner kill switch, i've tried numerous times with them and I just can't get on with them, I don't know if it's about it being video, the music, the constant adverts or all three.

Sorry to sound so negative, I'm trying not to be, I think the smart phone I had before was a smasung galaxy.

Yes! I hadn’t said about verification on a dumb phone. I was thinking of the tablet but my fingers didn’t keep up with my brain.

Yeah, payment verification can also be done by the bank sending a code by text to a dumb phone.

That’s what I said, but I don’t know if TheCatWoman saw my reply.

Banking verification can be done by email only.

I have a Samsung Galaxy phone, and if I get stuck with it I ask Google. A YouTube video of how to use the phone you choose might be of help - it won't lose patience with you, and you can pause and replay it as you wish - for example, I found this video which explains how to use a Samsung phone:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bDtqORX8fzc

If you decide to start using online banking, some banks now offer help with getting set up and showing you how to use it, and Age UK have a guide too:

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/work-learning/technology-internet/online-banking/

I hope that they don't get rid of online banking. I do have a smart phone - I need to use apps to pay my rent and to access my home insurance, unfortunately - but I'd much rather access my bank accounts through their website.

Yes there's no choice anymore at a lot of carparks you either use the app or you phone them and pay via your online banking, it's never occured to them that many people don't have either. You see a lot of particularly older people reading the car park payment signs and turning round and driving off again, they may have a smart phone, but it dosent' mean they know how to use it and downloading something maybe beyond them. I think businesses in tourist areas must be losing business because of it. The last government promised to have alternattives to apps, for car parks, but it's either an app or mobile banking, so much for cunsumer choice? Your choices are use the app, use mobile banking to call the company, don't pay and risk a fine or go home. I'd hate to go into one of those carparks that don't let you out again until you've paid, only to find that you have to do it by app.

I hope they are not getting rid of online banking, as I don't want a banking app on my phone.

It is just as well I don't drive now as where I live you have to use an app to pay for parking.

I'd heard that online banking was being wound down in favour of smart phone app's?

I'd love not to have one, but so many things are asking for mobile numbers and try and send me something that requires more than my phone will do, like photo's or some kind of zoom thing. I'd quite like to have something thats totally seperate from my laptop, in case I do one of my "I don't know what I did but it crashed" things. I manage to do these things in such spectacular fashion that the machine won't work, I've already been asked by Iain and a couple of others to let them know in advance if I get online banking so as they can liquidise their assets before I do something like accidently crash the world banking system, which whilst unlikely is entirely possible given my previous history.

Do you really need a smartphone? Unless you really need it for a sat nav and parking app, you can use your dumb phone for calls & texts and a tablet or laptop for emails, shopping & online banking.

I'm not very good at reading the destructions tha come with stuff, I rarely understand them and they always seem to want you to do stuff like facebook as a first option.

I'll see where we get to with it all, I don't know when the kids are coming down and if they'll be here long enough to show me what to do. One of the probem I have is certain types of information get transfered straight to my long term memory without ever staying in my short term memory, so there are no synaptic links, therefore although I know I've done C&P loads of times, I still can't remember how to do it and every time is like the first, repition dosen't seem to help either, much to the frustration of everyone around me, they rarely seem to think it's frustrating for me and htat I'm not doing it on purpose.

Does anything come with destructions these days? Everything's supposed to be intuitive, which it might be if you've had every model since the begining which I didn't because of living somewhere with no signal for 9 years, right through the time smart phones were coming out.

Forgot to mention, the Motorolas don't come with a user guide (just a little quick start guide), but you can download a very extensive printable PDF manual from their website.

I have a cheap Motorola g06 which I got last year (£70) as well as a Sony Xperia which I got second hand.

The Motorola and Sony ones just tend to come with "stock" Android, with no "rubbish" added in, so they are quite easy to get started with. You will have to take some time to set them up and learn how to operate them as it may not be obvious if you are not familiar with it.

e.g. - 

To make a phone call, you have to press the phone button, then press the keypad button, before you can dial.

They will try and get you to set up a finger print or PIN number which it will ask for every time you press the button to wake it up. You may want to do this for security, but if not, you can switch it off and then its much less hassle.

There is some odd combination of buttons you have to press to switch the phone off, but you can change this so its just a case of "hold down the big button on the side for a few seconds".

You can change things like the font size, colour scheme, ring tone, etc, to suit your preferences.

With Android you can get apps from where-ever you like (with Apple you are forced to use their App Store). I use F-Droid, which is mostly open source software which does what it says on the tin and doesn't require you to sign your life away to Google in order to use it.

The Motorola g06 is very low end hardware wise, but I just have it set up as a telephone, music player and web browser, and it does these very well. The sound quality on phone calls is very good. If you switch off mobile data and close any apps, and just leave it switched on but not doing anything, the battery will last well over two weeks.

I've found the key really is to set them up in a way that you find usable, then to not get overwhelmed by apps. e.g. If you just want it as a music player, its probably no good having it full of supermarket apps, taxi apps, delivery apps and goodness knows what else. Just stick to what you need.

I have an android and a lot of things I learnt by trial and error, or looking at the dots for options. The lack of any instruction booklet is frustrating. One thing I have learnt with a smart phone is not to hover my finger near the screen, as it can do things you didn't ask it to. 

If you want an iPhone Argos do them second hand with guarantees. My son has one and has not had problems.

I personally find iPhones easier to use, your idea of getting your son and daughter in law to help is a very good one. I use an older iPhone with a plus size screen, it just makes it easier to see the screen, the keyboard being bigger helps as my motor skills are poor. 

Okay using your phone as a frisbee sounds like fun…I’ve never had the urge myself to indulge but hey if you feel the need to when the time comes go for it.

It sounds like you are in capable hands and around people who want to help you make the right choice.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the android/apple question, either way you’re definitely not going to regret buying one.

Just take bite sized chunks when you get it, don’t try to learn everything at once.

CEX is a company that sell second hand tech you get a 5 year warranty with phones too. Most towns have one in the north and they have an online shop too. In my experience they are a good company.

I am thinking that you probably have WiFi Broadband. If the smart phone would remain in your house and you aren’t going to use it for calls, you could connect it to your broadband rather than connecting to a mobile network. You can choose not to sync your phone with other devices, there would be an option to turn it off. 

TheCatWoman said:

But I'm afraid I'd forget how to use the different apps, passwords etc

One way around this may be to keep a notebook and write down each press, click, swipe and other finger actions and it corresponding place on your phone screen that somebody may instruct you to do. If your instructor tells you to “Go to the App Store” for instance, you could write down something like “Find app with ‘off set A shape’ on top right hand corner of home screen”. This can be done for each action that you need to do.

I used to write down all my passwords and disguised them in address books. Now I use a ‘password manager’ which is an app that comes with the phone and automatically inputs the password for me. The app uses facial recognition to do this. 

Regular repetition makes remembering easier for most people.  If you don’t want to do that you would have your notes to fall back on. 

If you aren’t going to use a smart phone for calls, you could consider a Tablet instead. Most work just like a smart phone and the bigger screen might be helpful. 

Newer smart phones have AI embedded into the functionality. It is easy to find and you can either ask it something with your voice, type something or cut and paste text from elsewhere. If you don’t want it you can turn it off. It could be very useful once you get used to it. 

The iPhones and probably other smart phones have a straightforward search space where you can ask the phone where to find an app or how to turn down the volume, brighten the screen etc.

I don't know what CEX is and I'd have to have some idea of how to use the handset before being able to use chatgp or something. It dosen't feel like niggles, but an epic everest style climb. I couldn't set up my doro dumb phone by myself, when you put contact details in and press save it dosen't tell me if I'm saving to the phone or the sim card, I didn't even know this was a thing until some numpty in a phone shop lost all my contacts as well as my credit, how is anyone supposed to know this stuff?

I talked to my daughter-in-law and she and my son are going to discuss ways to help me, choosing a handset etc, but the first thing I had to do was to tell her to stop telling me that I ABOLUTELY shouldn't get and apple, and I should ABSOLUTELY have an android, I told her that one of the problems is that some people really get on with one and not the other and who should I listen too, and that I feel like I'm sat inbetween two loud hailers both shouting opposing things at me that shound very similar.

I'm starting to get the colleywobbles again about the whole thing now and getting competing advice isn't helping and if I do get one it'll probably end up being frisbee'd.

I have always been a die hard One Plus android user, usually I’d have my sons cast offs and the when he left home I’d purchase them from CEX.

After seeing how much easier other students at college with iPhones found scanning, uploading and sharing information, I decided to buy a iPhone 14 from CEX. 

This is the first phone I have set up on my own, that tells you how straightforward it is because I am definitely not tech savvy.

I used the phone without a sim for a week to get used to things and whenever I got stuck ChatGPT helped tremendously.

I explained I had autism and I needed simple instructions and it worked.

I don’t think you’ll regret getting a smart phone once you overcome some possible initial niggles.