[Sbiriguda]

My mum is jealous of her sister who uses whatsapp and now she wants to upgrade to a smartphone LOL

Until now she used only ultra-cheap mobiles with no functions that look like the Nokias from the late 1990's...

She needs a cheap smartphone, very readable and simple to use, and she would use it almost only as a phone and for whatsapp and similar. She doesn't need a good camera or good audio

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks

[mustang7757]

Hi, Moto phones are pretty good won't break the wallet.

[Javier P]

I agree with Mustang, Moto phones are great value for money. You can check the price for the Moto G7, excellent mid-ranger.

[Morty2264]

I see you are a newer user here - welcome to Android Central! Moto is a great idea!

Another idea is to look at a Pixel 2. They will be at a lower price point now and I'm sure you'll be able to find used ones at a great bargain. It's also a very simple and uncluttered operating system so your mom wouldn't have to get used to any bloat or weird configuration.

Let us know what you decide!

[B. Diddy]

Nokia phones are worth looking at as well. They're all Android One, so they get reliable monthly security and feature updates, and they run "stock" Android (meaning that there's no manufacturer skin on it).

[Sbiriguda]

Thank you very much for your suggestions, I will check them
I noticed that there are several models of Moto G7

Motorola Moto G7 Play 32GB at 157 Eur
Motorola Moto G7 Plus 64GB at 185 Eur
Lenovo MOTO G7 POWER CERAMIC BLACK (PAE90014IS) at 212 Eur

Google Pixel 2 G011A 64GB 4G LTE GSM at 186 on the Ebay

The last one is the Nokia at a very low price 84 Eur

NOKIA 2.1 14 CM 5.5 1 GB 8 GB Double SIM SIM 4000 MAH

I believe all of them might be good for my mother's needs... Perhaps apart from the price it would be good if the screen is "not to small" because dialing would be easier and "not too big" so that she would not find it clumsy

Which one would you suggest among the ones above?
Thanks

[mustang7757]

Moto g7 plus 64gb

Thank you very much for your suggestions, I will check them
I noticed that there are several models of Moto G7

Motorola Moto G7 Play 32GB at 157 Eur
Motorola Moto G7 Plus 64GB at 185 Eur
Lenovo MOTO G7 POWER CERAMIC BLACK (PAE90014IS) at 212 Eur

Google Pixel 2 G011A 64GB 4G LTE GSM at 186 on the Ebay

The last one is the Nokia at a very low price 84 Eur

NOKIA 2.1 14 CM 5.5 1 GB 8 GB Double SIM SIM 4000 MAH

I believe all of them might be good for my mother's needs... Perhaps apart from the price it would be good if the screen is "not to small" because dialing would be easier and "not too big" so that she would not find it clumsy

Which one would you suggest among the ones above?
Thanks

[B. Diddy]

Even for basic use, I'd stay away from the Nokia with the 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage. 8 GB is way too low these days, and 1 GB of RAM will make performance pretty bad.

[Sbiriguda]

Okay...
I will get her a Moto g7 plus 64gb like you said
Thanks

[mustang7757]

Okay...
I will get her a Moto g7 plus 64gb like you said
Thanks

Let us know how you like it when you get it .

[Javier P]

Okay...
I will get her a Moto g7 plus 64gb like you said
Thanks

I am sure both of you will like it. I used the G7+ for a while, until my son broke his phone and inherited it, and I really liked it

Let us know if you have any question setting it up.

[Morty2264]

Okay...
I will get her a Moto g7 plus 64gb like you said
Thanks

That's awesome! Let us know how your mom likes it!

[BrianLightManBruce]

Hello,
You/Your Mom might try the LG Stylo mobile device lineup.
They're easy to use right out of the box with a gradual learning curve. Too, the Stylo comes with a stylus...
It's a real bargain through MetroPCS.

[Sbiriguda]

Before pulling the trigger and getting the Moto g7 plus 64gb I am reviewing some alternatives. There seem to be many in this price range
For example I am quoting from the article at the link below
https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/test-c...phone-3473395/

1. Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
2. Oppo A9 2020
3. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
4. Oppo A5 2020
5. Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
6. Honor 10 Lite
7. Motorola One Macro
8. Moto G7 Power
9. Nokia 7.2
10. Xiaomi Mi 9T

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T seems to be very impressive and I even found it at 160 Eur in the version 4 Gb + 64 Gb
May I ask why do you suggest the Moto g7 plus 64gb instead?
Thanks

[Javier P]

Before pulling the trigger and getting the Moto g7 plus 64gb I am reviewing some alternatives. There seem to be many in this price range
For example I am quoting from the article at the link below
https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/test-c...phone-3473395/

1. Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
2. Oppo A9 2020
3. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
4. Oppo A5 2020
5. Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
6. Honor 10 Lite
7. Motorola One Macro
8. Moto G7 Power
9. Nokia 7.2
10. Xiaomi Mi 9T

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T seems to be very impressive and I even found it at 160 Eur in the version 4 Gb + 64 Gb
May I ask why do you suggest the Moto g7 plus 64gb instead?
Thanks

Xiaomi/Oppo/Honor phones come with a very heavy skin on top of Android with lots of bloatware and unnecessary "features". This complicates navigating through the settings and are a cause of conflicts many times.

Moto phones only add a couple of proprietary features on their phones making them faster, simpler and more fluid. Moto Actions and, specially, Moto Display are great additions to stock Android.

All my family have been using Moto devices for many years and they age very well. Right now my wife is still using her G5+ after three years of use and it's running quite well.

But you know, it's all personal

[Morty2264]

Xiaomi/Oppo/Honor phones come with a very heavy skin on top of Android with lots of bloatware and unnecessary "features". This complicates navigating through the settings and are a cause of conflicts many times.

Moto phones only add a couple of proprietary features on their phones making them faster, simpler and more fluid. Moto Actions and, specially, Moto Display are great additions to stock Android.

All my family have been using Moto devices for many years and they age very well. Right now my wife is still using her G5+ after three years of use and it's running quite well.

But you know, it's all personal

I'm a huge fan of Moto and I love their Moto Display.

[Javier P]

I'm a huge fan of Moto and I love their Moto Display.

Yes, me too. I'm using a OnePlus 7 and gave my G7+ to my son. The OP7 is a better, and more expensive, phone but I still miss Moto Display. For me it's the best way to handle lock screen notifications, by far.

[t8ntlikly]

Definitely the Moto G Series

[Coach David B]

Sadly I can't recommended any Android phone as a first. But only because of the app store loose app policy. A newby, even an experienced user can easily become infected with malware.

Also Google needs to review app permissions. I use humidtrack on my Pixel, but it asks for permissions to the camera, camera location(precise and background access), read and write shared storage, full network, and 11 other permissions.

I also have a iPhone for work. The same app has no permissions other than to use Bluetooth.

Come on Google?

[Mike Dee]

Sadly I can't recommended any Android phone as a first. But only because of the app store loose app policy. A newby, even an experienced user can easily become infected with malware.

Also Google needs to review app permissions. I use humidtrack on my Pixel, but it asks for permissions to the camera, camera location(precise and background access), read and write shared storage, full network, and 11 other permissions.

I also have a iPhone for work. The same app has no permissions other than to use Bluetooth.

Come on Google?

I cut my teeth on Android and never had an issue.

[Javier P]

Sadly I can't recommended any Android phone as a first. But only because of the app store loose app policy. A newby, even an experienced user can easily become infected with malware.

Also Google needs to review app permissions. I use humidtrack on my Pixel, but it asks for permissions to the camera, camera location(precise and background access), read and write shared storage, full network, and 11 other permissions.

I also have a iPhone for work. The same app has no permissions other than to use Bluetooth.

Come on Google?

A general rule when downloading apps from the Play Store is to avoid those with not many downloads, with bad reviews and unnecessary permissions. Just like the app that you downloaded.

[Javier P]

Oh, and never, ever download any app that claims to clean or boost your battery/memory/storage/performance ... I mean ... Never.

[Dylan Bacon1]

I see you are a newer user here - welcome to Android Central! Moto is a great idea!

Another idea is to look at a Pixel 2. They will be at a lower price point now and I'm sure you'll be able to find used ones at a great bargain. It's also a very simple and uncluttered operating system so your mom wouldn't have to get used to any bloat or weird configuration.

Let us know what you decide!

I found a renewed (Very much new in all regards, not a single scratch and battery still works great) Pixel 2 on Amazing through a vendor called Certified Smartphone. The Pixel 2 was $100, and the flagship specs are still higher than any 2019 midrange that are triple the price. Pixel 2 is a great choice if you can find an unlocked variant, as they are cheap now and pack the power and camera you'd want to use on the daily.

[obarthelemy]

I've been handling smartphones for seniors around me.
1- The best phone for seniors depends on a number of factors: eyesight and hearing (the huge Xiaomi Mi Max 3 might be a good choice), country (Xiaomi doesn't work on half the US carriers). As long as you stick with the major brands, there are no really bad phones, just make sure to get something with ARM A7x cores, not A5x. My default reco is a Xiaomi Redmi Note.
2- The most important thing for success is spending a LOT of time prepping the phone for easy use: import contact lists (phone, mail...), make an easy single-page home screen (lock it down, put a couple of widgets ie weather, mail,... ; maybe 1-2-3 heavily favored contacts; and 4-5 apps to start ie phone, texts, whatsapp, a game, a browser, banking ?), tweak font size.
3- in extreme cases of computer illiteracy + bad eyesight, Big Launcher dumbs things down a lot, and its font screams at you ;-p
4- maybe a tablet would be a good alternative, my 80yo moms uses it more than her phone.

[B. Diddy]

Sadly I can't recommended any Android phone as a first. But only because of the app store loose app policy. A newby, even an experienced user can easily become infected with malware.

Also Google needs to review app permissions. I use humidtrack on my Pixel, but it asks for permissions to the camera, camera location(precise and background access), read and write shared storage, full network, and 11 other permissions.

I also have a iPhone for work. The same app has no permissions other than to use Bluetooth.

Come on Google?

Welcome to Android Central! I'll disagree with you about it being easy to get infected. Malware has to be installed by the user, so as long as the user has some degree of common sense, the risk of malware is low. Here are my usual recommendations:

1. Avoid shady websites that deal with things like porn, gambling, and "free" (aka pirated) apps/music/movies.


2. Never ever tap on a link that appears in a popup while browsing, especially if they're warning you that your phone is infected -- they're just trying to scare you into installing some bogus "antivirus" app that is probably malicious itself.


3. Only install apps from well-established app sources like Google Play Store or Amazon Appstore. Read a bunch of app reviews before installing an app to look for any complaints about adware or suspected malware.


4. Turn on Google Play Protect features in Settings>Google>Security (or in the Play Store settings). This allows Google to periodically scan your phone's apps to look for malware.


5. Turn off "Unknown Sources" in Settings>Security (or in Special App Access on newer phones). This prevents any app that wasn't obtained from Google Play Store from being installed (which could include malicious apps that are inadvertently downloaded).

Unnecessary permissions don't always mean a developer is up to no good -- most of the time, it's due to laziness. You mention a good habit of checking an app's permissions before deciding to install it, so if it asks for permissions that seem unnecessary, that can be a good criterion not to install it. But if you know the developer is legit, that's a good reason to contact them and ask them about why those permissions exist -- there could be important reasons why they're there on Android and not iPhone.