I've got a bit of a challenge for you guys...

[Knoxville]

I'm after a new phone for my dad, his old Nokia has been on it's last legs too long so with it being christmas and all that I figure it's time he had a new one. This is where the challenge bit comes in...

He's getting on a bit and his hands aren't as nimble as they once were so he could really do with a thick candy bar style handset, something that I can't seem to find in amongst Nokia's or Sony's range. Bigger than average buttons would be a bonus, a simple easy to navigate UI is essential and definitely no tricky K800 style joysticks, touch screens or anything that slides or flips, he'll just break it.

As far as features go, ne needs bluetooth for his hands free ear piece and it'd be nice if it had a reasonable camera, nothing earth shatteringly good but it shouldn't be a step down from what he's got now. Other than that he really doesn't need anything fancy, just a good reliable handset.

Just to make it even more tricky for you.... the price limit is £50 and he needs to be able to put his existing o2 payngo sim card in there...

Is there anything that fits the bill? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Ferral]

Right mate, camera is the thing that you will have to let go for that kind of price. You will be looking at VGA, however FM radio and Bluetooth is normal for even the most basic of phones now.

I would recommend (remember I work for O2 by the way! ) the Nokia 2330 Classic, £40 and worth every penny, looks nice, fair sized screen and the usual Nokia grid type menu. Steal for the price :

http://shop.o2.co.uk/mobile_phone/sp...a/2330_Classic

Next up Samsung E2120, may be a bit of a better choice as the buttons are a bit bigger :

http://shop.o2.co.uk/mobile_phone/sp.../Samsung/E2120

I would take a look at those 2, they both do what is needed and look pretty good also, dont look like cheap handsets. You can pick them up in any official O2 store.

[matty-hodgson]

i have one of these as a 'back-up' phone.. it's a very good phone as well actually.
got bluetooth. decent sized keys. good battery life. and a pretty cool (and fairly bright) light on the bottom of it.

[Knoxville]

Cheers guys

All three of those look almost perfect as far as size goes, the Samsung in particular looks good but I'd rather not skimp and get him something with a worse camera than his current phone (a Nokia 6300) as he does use it quite frequently. How much extra will I have to stump up for something similar to the Samsung but with a 2/3 megapixel camera?

[Ferral]

Get him the Sony Ericsson W395. 2MP camera slide phone, same kind of spec as the Nokia 6300 and it has the usual Sony Ericsson menus. Its not prone to the problems with other Ericsson devices and the software faults either. Never had one returned. Order it online though as I believe the store price is higher.

http://shop.o2.co.uk/mobile_phone/sp..._Ericsson/W395

[mightymouse]

if you want bigger number keys and similar to his current phone then i suggest nokia 6303 although i am not sure how much it is now. is he on contract? maybe you can check out some deals too

[Knoxville]

Thanks again guys, you've made my life that bit easier

I know what I want from a phone but buying one for someone else can be a royal pain. I'm probably going to go for the W395, I've been using Sony Ericsson phones myself for the last four years so I know they'll take some abuse, my only concern is that it's a slide phone rather than his usual bar but hopefully he'll cope