Best Lumia for Parents

[Black3ternity]

Hi there,

I'm thinking of buying a phone for my mom.
For now she uses a regular prepaid-phone with a tiny numberpad and an even smaller Display.
She turned 60 last year and thus it's getting a bit harder for her to use the phone properly
Additionally, she gets spammed with SMS offers from the carrier and she struggles to properly read and delete these messages.
The battery life is degrading fast (15? phone back in the days) and so I think it's time for an upgrade.
I'm with Windows Phone since my trusty Lumia 920 and now the 1020.
But after Nokia / Microsoft started to flood the market with a ton of phones, I'm struggling to find the proper differences between them and why some cost 30 - 50 euro more than the other one which seems exactly the same.

So I'm hoping to get some help from you guys on deciding a proper phone for my mom.
What she requires:
- Something between 4 and 4,5 inches (4,7 could be a bit much when I look at my 1020)
- If possible capacitive buttons for Back, Home and Search - If not it should be okay (the "display buttons" seem a bit small when compared to my ones)
- Battery life should be as good as possible (I'm thinking of upgrading her to a Internet-Flat so she can use Telegram instead of SMS)
- A good camera with a simple LED flash would be nice to have, but not a must have. (She was a photographer back in her days and she loves tinkering around with a camera and so it would be a fun addition, but not required) So nothing fancy like mega Selfies or stuff like that. Some still shots or landscape at best or one or another Macro.

So all in all nothing special. She needs proper battery life so she doesn't need to refuel the phone every single day.
If she gets the upgrade to an internet flat, she will check telegram once or twice a day - again not a heavy user. Surfing could be a bit tiny on a phone like that. The iPad suits her better for that.
She won't use the phone to do phone calls for couple of hours - a few minutes at max.

Basically it's just an upgrade from her cheap prepaid phone which is used to contact us or just to sound off if anything happens.
I would love to provide her a Lumia phone because the touch concept makes messaging and calling more easy and relaxed.

I was thinking about something like a Nokia 130 or something like that but it's only available in Dual-SIM here so it wouldn't be that good for her and again - it would only be an upgrade to the prepaid-phone in terms of qualitiy. The keyboard would still remain.

Pricing-Wise:
I'm thinking around 80 - 150 Euro (85 - 170 $).
If the features and performance are worth everything, it can be on the more pricey side of the limit.

For now I'm thinking of something like a Lumia 635 or 640 LTE (to avoid the Dual-SIM stuff which would only annoy and confuse).

Thanks in advance,

Regards,
Black3ternity

 

[mnsiw]

I think 640 would be a good choice. I use Droid Mini (Android) as daily driver but wanted to try Windows Mobile so bought Lumia 535, its really nice device, best display, cam and battery in this price range.

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

 

[juliankueh]

+1 for the 640. For the money, it's fast, fluid and has awesome battery life compared to the blackberries, androids and iPhones I've used.

 

[RumoredNow]

Blu Win Jr LTE... Or if the radio is not right for your country/carrier Then Blu Win Jr (1st gen).

It has the flash you ask for and having used a 1st gen Win HD I can say they keep it pretty clean. It's probably right in line with what you want actually not having the Lumia firmware. Blu keeps it pretty lean.

BLU Win JR vs. BLU Win JR LTE - GSMArena.com

 

[TLW3300]

I'll also vote for the 640. Was using an lg g4, but once the 640 came out for tmobile in the US I've been using that instead. The g4 is in a drawer lol.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Lumia 640 would be great

Also check out the lumia 735

Also if you are able to, since she doesn't really need a top of the line phone...perhaps look at the original windows Phone 8 devices such as the HTC 8x or Lumia 920.

But definitely check out the Lumia 640 or Lumia 735

 

[mj0]

Op says that 4.7" will be too much and first thing you guys do is recommend a 5" phone? I'm guessing that people aren't even reading the entire post... they see the title and jump right in, recommending whatever flavor of phone they happen to be using and adoring right now.

Black3ternity, it's true that Microsoft has been flooding the market with cheap devices. However, most of them seem to be using the same 5" panel. Alas, your choice is quite limited. 635 and 435 have a 4" display but both lack an LED flash. The 735 has an LED flash but a 4.7" display. If you want to stay below 4.5" then my suggestion would be the 635.

Maybe you should talk to you mom first and ask her what she really wants. In my experience delighting parents with new technology can go wrong quite massively :wink:

 

[mathsisbest]

Op says that 4.7" will be too much and first thing you guys do is recommend a 5" phone? I'm guessing that people aren't even reading the entire post... they see the title and jump right in, recommending whatever flavor of phone they happen to be using and adoring right now.

Black3ternity, it's true that Microsoft has been flooding the market with cheap devices. However, most of them seem to be using the same 5" panel. Alas, your choice is quite limited. 635 and 435 have a 4" display but both lack an LED flash. The 735 has an LED flash but a 4.7" display. If you want to stay below 4.5" then my suggestion would be the 635.

Maybe you should talk to you mom first and ask her what she really wants. In my experience delighting parents with new technology can go wrong quite massively :wink:

Lumia 635 has a 4.5" screen I think. Not as small as you think. I thought it was that small when I used it, compared to my Lumia 1520 daily driver

 

[mj0]

You're right, my bad. 435 has a 4" screen, 635 has a 4.5" screen, 735 has a 4.7" screen, 535/640/830 have a 5" screen.

 

[Big Papa Smurf]

Pick a 4.5" and let her loose. Maybe she will go up to a 5" later on.

 

[RumoredNow]

I still say Blu. It's the screen size you want in the Win Jr or Win Jr LTE AND it has flash.

If people buffalo you about how bad the camera is, I call BS. Get some camera Apps and you can do plenty with it. Camera360 Sight is a good bet.

 

[mj0]

Blu is good, however it might not be available in Op's country. I think they're North America only, and since op is constantly thinking in Euros my guess is that he lives in Europe :wink:

 

[RumoredNow]

Blu is good, however it might not be available in Op's country. I think they're North America only, and since op is constantly thinking in Euros my guess is that he lives in Europe :wink:

My feeling as well. 1st gen HD does have Euro tuned variants... And maybe Momma only needs H+ so an imported HD LTE might serve.

 

[jsooney]

I think an iPhone is probably a better choice than WP in this case. You need something that just works without having to fiddle around with resets and all that stuff. Although I don't want one, they are far more polished and easy to use for non-techy people. Cost more too though. I wouldn't even consider giving my mother a WP though.

 

[humanhowever]

I bought my mother a Lumia 535 as her first smartphone. She loves it, especially the large tiles and the ease with which she can use it. So as a recommendation for a phone, I think WP is really quite good.

 

[Topataco]

I bought mom an 820 and she loved it. Until she broke it somehow I'd still recommend an 820, parents don't need everything, but if her friends all use iPhones or Androids then chances are some apps won't be available and frustration sets in, at least for me when she calls nagging for an app that doesn't exist... Anyways a 20 series phone would be the best for both her and your budget.

 

[heickelrrx]

Try 625 or 720

Personally i love 735/730 since they feels nice