TTfone TT970 Whatsapp 4G Touchscreen Senior Big Button Flip Mobile Phone - With 8MP Camera and Hearing Aid Compatible - Easy and Simple to Use

I really don't need a full-scale smartphone. In fact, having owned a number of iPhones and Android phones in the past, I suspect most people don't. When it came to the time to upgrade, I realised I don't play computer games, I don't watch movies or TV shows on my phone. I listen to music on my iPod... and smartphones are getting stupidly large! As an avid book reader, I had already realised that smart devices really mess with my concentration. I resented having to pay hundreds of pounds essentially to make calls and send WhatsApp messages!Looking for something simpler, I started out with a Nokia 2720 Flip in 2020, which runs with the Kai OS operating system. After two years of shaky functionality and increasingly erratic operation, I got fed up with it. If a name brand like Nokia couldn't be trusted, I'd look elsewhere.My search for a replacement led me to the TTfone TT970, which, with 4G, looked promising. TTfone markets its products on their simplicity and they aim a lot of marketing at the elderly. The phones include emergency buttons and health information. I'm not old and I love gadgets, but I hate unnecessary complexity.I've had the phone for three days now. First off, it has a charging cradle, which is great, as it stops the side USB socket getting damaged. The phone is plastic, but solidly built. The operating system is Simplified Android - basically Android without all of Google's intrusive bloatware. I haven't had to sign into any accounts to use the phone: I merely put my number into WhatsApp. Transferring numbers via my old phone's SD card was easy. Photos also imported automatically from the card.The operating system is far better than Kai OS was on my Nokia 2720 Flip. TTfone's Simplified Android OS variant is very simple and the menu not very customisable - quite why emails are stored in a folder called 'Social Media', rather than on the main menu, I can't say, and it's a shame I can't move it on to the main menu, but it's not the end of the world!WhatsApp works fine. Messages arrive when people send them (unlike the 2720, where I didn't receive messages until I opened the WhatsApp app) and WhatsApp phone calls work. The ear speaker is LOUD. Even on a low volume, I pulled it away from my ear at one point while talking to a client. The alarm works fine. I also downloaded Telegram and have had no problems there.The combination of keypad and touchscreen is great. Sadly, the phone lacks the ability old Nokias had of triggering a capital letter mid-sentence by tapping the hash button once - the 2720 didn't do that either - but being able to tap the touchscreen to complete keypad tasks is a bonus.Basically, it's down to what you're looking for. Smartphone lovers will hate this phone. But they're missing the point: the TT970 is a phone. It's sufficiently smart to send web app messages, pictures and videos over 4G and wifi, and it lets you check and send emails. Once it's set up, it's easy to use - older people who aren't confident will likely someone younger to set it up, particularly email - and it's blessedly small.I'm very happy with this phone: until I bought it, I had feared I'd end up having to go back to full-fledged smartphones. I work from home and, if I work away, I have my laptop with me. I've happily opted out of the smart revolution.This phone is smart enough not to do too much, but what it does do, it does well. After my colossal disappointment with the Nokia 2720 phone, this is much more what I was looking for. Recommended for smartphone 'detoxers' and people who simply want to make calls, check emails and send messages. Big thumbs up from me!

I chose this 'dumb' phone specifically as it has WhatsApp and that's the app most people i know use, and I decided I would use the voice note feature instead of texting old school style. I quickly found out the voice note functionality is unpredictable at best - sometimes just sending itself halfway through recording, sometimes just deleting itself after you finish a long message. Frustrating to say the least.Another extremely annoying feature - have you ever heard of a flip phone that doesn't end the call when you flip it down!? This happened to me several times. Needless to say this could lead to a lot of embarrassment... As well as this, I sometimes found that I had accidentally 'pocket-dialled' people - again, how on earth is this possible on a closed flip-phone??To add insult to injury, the battery is about as good as a normal smartphone. There was me thinking I wouldn't have to charge it for a week like any other simple phone...nope, gotta charge it all the time.To add even more insult to injury, it's expensive. for about 30 or 40 quid more you could just get a half decent smartphone anyway. This thing should cost £50 tops.Do NOT buy this phone.

I think this phone could grow on me. It has some good features. Having the touchscreen and keypad is one reason I chose it and that seems fine although the screen has a bit of a lag which is annoying when you are trying to turn off the alarm without waking the whole household! It's a nice size. I was about to give in and get a smart phone but they are all enormous which would drive me mad, and this fits nicely into a small bag or pocket. The torch is bright and could come in useful. The alarm seems ok if a bit fiddly to set compared with the instant ease of my old phone. Basically I really miss my Nokia Asha 300 which was a brilliant phone, so easy yet had loads of features which this one doesn't have such as being able to edit photos, use them as wallpaper, disable start up/key tones etc, and simply access everything immediately. To be fair any phone is going to fall short of what for me was the perfect phone and a beloved old friend (damn you Three for turning off the 3G!).The main reason I might be sending this back after a couple of days of ownership is the absolutely appalling battery life. I can practically see it counting down before my eyes even though I'm not doing anything with it, and according to the manual the charge time is four hours! I'm used to only charging my phone a couple of times a week despite using it all the time, and it only taking about half an hour to do so. I'm disappointed as I thought the technology would have improved in the decade since I last bought a phone so this came as an unwelcome surprise. I'm wondering if it would be possible to buy a better battery.Other things to be aware of: the sound isn't very good. We managed to work out how to get my favourite ringtone on to it but it sounds like someone shaking a bucket of nails. I don't listen to music on my phone so it's a minor point for me but might be important to someone else.Not being able to put a wallpaper on is a first world problem but still surprised me as it's marketed as a senior phone and I'd have thought they'd want pics of their grandchildren or cats to personalise their phones!Last but not least: I thought the emergency button feature was a great idea and it was a selling point for me as I have a horse and cycle, both of which could possibly result in accidents. However, once you get the phone it informs you in the manual that if it tries a number and gets voicemail then it will take it as answered and stop trying to call anyone. If the first person on your list goes to voicemail then you are basically stuffed! This renders the feature a bit pointless to be honest.Anyway, I'll give it a few more days and see how big a problem the battery turns out to be. If that's ok I guess I'll have to suck up the other things that are really just minor annoyances because they aren't what I'm used to and I hate change (when I say minor I mean I had a sleepless night worrying myself sick I'd spent £100 on the wrong phone). It's actually not bad at all but I don't love it. I think I still prefer it to a smartphone.