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Re:John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone by some1else on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @08:35AM (#2143197)
If you want simple SMS, albeit with a retarded UI, check out Motorola F3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_FONE_F3
Re:John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone by bryanlarsen on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @09:34AM (#2143365)
That is a fricking awesome phone. Dirt cheap, indestructible, and a battery that lasts for 2 weeks between charges. Unfortunately, it has the worst UI ever, and is completely unsuitable for Grandma duty.

It does have an excuse for being so bad -- it's designed to be used by people who cannot read.

Re:John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone by daten on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @10:00AM (#2143446)
This is the first thing I thought of when I saw the headline "minimalist phone". The wikipedia page confirms it's not available from Motorola in the US. I'm curious if anyone has had luck using an unlocked one?
Re:John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone by calloc on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @11:10AM (#2143684)
They were available from TigerDirect. I used to own one, and it was pretty good. I quickly got annoyed with the screen though, so when I had the money I purchased a Nokia phone.

However I found something just about as cheap from NewEgg, this one has a colour display:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16875209...

Re:John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone by runjake on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @11:07AM (#2143669)
They can be eBayed for very reasonable prices. They do function fine with US GSM voice networks. Data is out, obviously.
Re:John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone by smackfu on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @10:25AM (#2143535)
Isn't this phone pretty terrible for SMS, since it basically uses a calculator style display?
Re:John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone by pak on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @11:36AM (#2143781)
You can read about 8 characters at a time, but since most SMS's are pretty short if you have good fingers and get used to the buttons it's not as bad as you might think (kind of like a pager). I know a guy that uses this phone as his primary. For composing, there's no T9, btw.