artfone Big Button Mobile Phone for Elderly, CS181 Upgraded GSM Mobile Phone With SOS Button, Talking Number and Torch

I am so glad that I bought this phone for my Mum who is ninety but very spritely, but as time has gone on she is not able to see so well and I introduced her to a Mobile phone some 5 years ago, and after sitting and teaching her how to work it and how to send messages, she was very good with her phone, sadly, it lost its microphone facility so I had to buy another and I thought she was going to have a problem relearning another phone and once I stopped her to referring to her "other one" we soon had the confidence to try different things and after only a few days she is mastering the new phone very well. It is a nice size phone and the edging near the bottom is very good for grip. The keys are very good size and it is easy to raise and lower the volume and to turn it on and off, that took a bit more getting used to, but we mastered it in the end. Excellent value for money Phone. Very well made, has multiple SIM and can take any size of SIM. The only thing that was a bit of a nuisance was that? there was not a plug-in charger, which is essential for an elderly person as they do not usually have a USB port in their house. The phone is easy to hold and is very user friendly. I am very pleased with the purchase and would buy one again.

Nice and easy phone for an elderly person

Was shopping for a mobile for my 85-year-old Mum, as she was going into hospital: with COVID there's no visiting, she's not good with tech to start with, and due to limited circulation she can't use touchscreen.If you're old enough to remember early Nokias, when having MP3 playback - and a radio! - were luxuries, you'll be pretty happy with this (no Snake game, though.)Solid build, big chunky buttons, and handy features like single button speed dialling. Surprisingly, it also comes with dual SIM capability - full size, micro or nano, but old school full size actually work best.There is one thing that's either a bug or a feature, depending on your point of view. On the back of the phone is a large, friendly button marked SOS. Push that and it will dial your listed SOS contacts in succession, which is good. It will also make a terrifying noise that's nearly as loud as a personal attack alarm. Again, depending on the situation, this *could* be good, but you might want to disarm it for some users as it's not immediately clear and simple how to stop it. (I think there may be a setting for that).Some other issues: instructions need a slightly better translation, and don't include full technical specs. In particular, it would be *really* useful to have the exact name for the cable listed, as they're small and easily lost, and you don't necessarily pay full attention during unboxing. (I think it's a Micro-B USB, but there's lots of "micro" cables these days so it's good to know for sure.) You will also need a USB socket or a plug with one, but most people who've had smartphones lying around have spares coming out of their ears by now.Otherwise, a solid choice for either an elderly user, or if you're after a discreet spare/burner phone for travel, espionage or other activities - with a great battery life worthy of its Nokia ancestors.

Easy to explain to an 84yr old how to use as his first phone ever!Great price. Full instructionsEasy to get started and use.If you've an elderly person youre looking out for, this is a great flip phone to get them started and peace of mind.Well packaged.Definitely recommend

Got this for my Gran, she found it really easy to use but after four years of having it she could no longer call. I had a look and the battery had expanded and would still take charge but fortunately we noticed before anything dangerous happened.

Bought for a friend who has had some eyesight problems. Large keypad is good (but all of these phones have that). Feels very cheap and plasticky. Although that may be reasonable at this price, we have now bought a different one which feels a lot better made for not a lot more cash (TTfone, review to follow).This phone doesn’t actually come with a charger. The dock is just where the phone goes, you need to plug in a charger with a micro USB cable. Two other phones we tried for about £12 more did have chargers included. Dock is much easier than trying to plug a cable in however.The back is very thin plastic which you just prize off starting at one corner. It feels very fragile. The SIM holder is for a full sized SIM. Most of these type of phones seem to take full sized, but not all, so worth checking in case you need to ask your network operator for a different SIM. The holder is also similar to other phones. Not a type I like. You just have to slide the SIM in under the holder (in our case scratching the SIM as you do), but you’re not doing that often so not a big deal.We tried in a weak signal area with my Honor Smartphone on the same network to compare. We also tried this phone back to back with an older Nokia after swapping the SIM. Ability to pick up the weak signal seemed about the same, no issues.Call volume was good. My friend got on fine with turning on the phone and dialling numbers. It has turn on and off tunes which she did not like, but these can be switched off. After a couple of days testing, she said she found the sound “scratchy”. It had sounded OK to me, but I only tried it briefly. She also did not like the side mounted volume buttons. This seems to be a common design flaw on most of these phones. They can be pressed accidentally by someone less used to small gadgets and possibly with reduced dexterity.A few reviews on other phones mention the same. This IS a big deal as it can be possible to accidentally turn down the volume of the ringer. It does depend on the button design and their sensitivity. I can’t say whether this phone is better or worse than the others, but the buttons are quite prominent compared to others we tried.The user interface seems dated, unattractive and not as easy as it should be. I am a techie and used to gadgets, but it still took a bit to figure out. I think this is weak compared to alternatives.Did not fully try the SOS feature, but I can warn you that when you press it, a loud police siren sound goes off which made me and my friend jump out of our skins.The last thing worth saying is that any of these 2G phones will not work on some networks (inc. Vodafone) from 2025. The 2G network is being switched off completely by 2033. Other networks like O2 have not set their date yet.So either plan on only using any of these 2G phones for 3 years, or look at the more expensive 4G (not 3G) ones.We decided not to keep this phone and are looking at others now.