Mobile Phone?

I have thrown out my 'old' mobile phone (Nokia C5) in frustration.[!][!]

We only get Telecom coverage on the property, and I need a basic mobile phone for the following functions:

prepaid
text and phone
email
banking

i do not download any aps, music, don't take videos, don't want GPS, nor any other 'applications' that keep running and checking in the background.

and i have lost fath into touchscreens.

does anyone on here have a tip for a simple mobile phone that will fulfil these specs, and allow me to delete any other 'services' it comes pre-programmed with?

i too got completely fed up with all the bells and whistles and grabbed a cheep and cheerful alcatel prepay..
the best bit, for us with older eyes and fat fingers, is the keys are realy big, the screen displays are realy big and its realy simple and basic to use.. i have even been txting again ( because i can see the screen [] )

the other feature it has that i think is useful is a little light...cute and handy

I've got my son's old Motorola C118 on Vodafone prepay. Had to replace my Phillips phone that I bought in '99 because I couldn't get a replacement battery for it. Still using the same sim but I had to cut it down to make it fit in the C118.
Shame you only have Telecom coverage where you are Blueberry. They are a pain because they have no consistency of service. We had good Telecom 025 phones in the cars at work and the new Telecom network is crap. The coverage is much less than before while Vodafone coverage is increasing.

Try going for a full qwerty keyboard instead of touchscreen. Have a look at other companies mobiles - you may be able to swap sims.My phone is a palm (one of the first smartphones) from over 5 years ago. I love it and it still works well. It was originally vodaphone, but after my dog chewed the antennae and I moved to a rural area - vodaphone no longer worked so I switched to two degrees.
I have a friend that has a huawei and she has no problem with it. (it is available through two degrees and is an entry level smart phone). If you talk to a salesperson and explain exactly what you want, they should be able to help you. Explain that you don't want the extra stuff, and if you have issues - ask them to help you delete what you don't want.
Remember you can check reviews online as well through cnet and other sites. you could also ask at nzgeek.

I am in the market for a new cellphone - as least I was before today. It seems that this time of year is a GREAT time to go cellphone shopping, and today I picked up my first 'smartphone'. It is a Motorola Defy Mini. It is marketed as being reasonably shock and weather proof, and is fairly entry level.

Just charging it up now - can't wait to begin. I'm one of the techophob crowd (even though I'm under 40). I don't like devices that complicate my life. Will be interesting to see how my new phone goes.

I was with you until you said "banking" and came to a total halt. I know this is meant to be the way of the future but being "old" I would no more do banking on a mobile phone that fly to the moon. No doubt I will be left behind and I really don't care. I do banking and it is on my home PC where I know I am safe and secure.

Having said that, I have a Nokia phone that I bought for a reason - it has large print as the norm and I love it. I too am pre pay, text, call etc but I am not interested in sitting around the table in a restaurant paying my bill. I have Eftpos for that. I am also a long term Voda customer and would recommend then to anyone.

I have to admit that when I was moving house and looked into Telecom, being partially deaf, had an Asian person answer the phone from off shore and I was totally ignored when I asked them to slow down as I could not understand what they were saying.

Please don't anyone take that the wrong way but when you are partially deaf, foreign intonation is like electrical interference. You just can't make out what they are saying and I should add that I find the Queen almost impossible to understand as well - so nothing racist beyond that I can hear a Kiwi accent regardless of whoever is using it. If I get someone from another Nationality with Vodafone, they seem to get it and not be offended when you say, can you please speak slowly as I can't understand what you are saying. Never had a problem - ever - with a Voda customer service agent. I am a 100% supporter if you are making a choice.

Go the smartphone, can read these forums on them using tapatalk as well as email and banking is more secure on a smartphone than your computer at home

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Consumer told me the Telecom R54 had the best reception of everything they tested (10/10, along with the Samsung S5511T), so I bought one when they kicked me of the CDMA network. It is supposedly pretty rugged, will stand a bit of moisture, etc. and it's certainly the only phone around here which will pick up the very weak and fluctuating levels of coverage. It cost $250 and it hasn't annoyed me too much yet. I tried checking my webmail with it the other night in Auckland, but if I were going to do that regularly, I'd be changing my passwords to easier options for keying in by phone!

For the uses you describe, it sounds about right. It has GPS in there, but it comes turned off.

thanks, guys, that'll give me a few more models to cruise the geeksides with - it's easier to have a model, than go read the tech talk, understanding only half of it

Didi, we don't have broadband at our place either. I use the phone in an emergency (weekend or days off) when i need to arrange stuff from home, like ordering and paying for fertile eggs when the broody decides to sit... - life and death sort of things, as you can see.

we're unlikely to have a drive-by hacker from where we live

Sorry Blueberry. Didn't read your original post properly. Our old Motorola C118s (my wife has one too) are just phones. They do phone calls and texting only. That's all we need. Don't know if it is even possible to get something that simple new nowadays.

igor;447158 wrote: . Don't know if it is even possible to get something that simple new nowadays.

and that's exactly it!! why can't they make a tool instead of a bl##y toy? Just one model out of all the others!![?]:rolleyes:

I think they are doing 'simple' again as so many people said they just want a phone for the basics. So ask at your local Telecom shop for what you want. I did at Vodaphone and had a choice of two but one had tiny keys so rejected it.

I have a telecom r54
Ive dropped it many times, gotten it wet & its still going strong I have to have it will me all of the time so I take it all over the farm horse riding, milking, calf feeding, gardening, chasing animals etc

its easy to use & has all of the basics with a few extras if need be
I use mine for calling, txting, the odd photo, the calculator, alarm & sometimes the world time part when the parents are overseas so im not txting at crazy hours if I need to contact them
it does have the internet too which I use occassionally ....mainly for just checking emails

jeannielea;447181 wrote: I think they are doing 'simple' again as so many people said they just want a phone for the basics. So ask at your local Telecom shop for what you want. I did at Vodaphone and had a choice of two but one had tiny keys so rejected it.

I was at the local Telecom shop. Ended up walking out with those parting words "Thanks for being so singularly unhelpful!" to the disinterested sales assistant.

the Vodafone shop guy was waayy more helpful, even though I cannot use the service, he explained the phones pros and cons very well.

Blueberry;447258 wrote: I was at the local Telecom shop. Ended up walking out with those parting words "Thanks for being so singularly unhelpful!" to the disinterested sales assistant. ...

If only they understood or cared. []

(Edit: so my reputation for pedantry remains intact, the sales assistant was uninterested. Disinterested is that other usage for unbiased. - I had to look it up though, because I always forget which way around they are!)