artfone CS182 2G Big Button Mobile Phone for Elderly丨SOS Button丨Speed Dial丨Easy to Use丨SIM Free Unlocked Senior Mobile Phone丨Charging Dock丨1800mah Battery丨Bluetooth丨FM丨Dual SIM丨Keyboard Lock - Black

So far so good. Easy set up. Good feature of the SOS button at the back if the person needs to call someone in an emergency. There is a light flick switch at the side for a touch. Big font on the buttons which is nice and clear. the sound quality is great goes up to level 9. The charging feature is good you can use the usb into the phone or use the phone stand charger. We had to change my mom's phone because her Tesco SIM card wasn't working in her old phone only picking up 2g, so this phone is a perfect swap.

future proof, unlike some phones still being sold 2g or 3g. I bought this for an elderly relative, so she can call me for help and so I can check up on her. It is as simple as it looks, but can be confusing for some elderly people and we are having to practice with the phone quite a bit to get the hang of it. The green button answers calls, but if you press it too long it goes to unavailable. The red button terminates active calls, but also is used to switch on, if off, and off, if on; when switching off, you also have to use the soft button to select OFF. This can all be confusing for older people ! You can set speed dial onto button A, B or C, etc. This is good, however pressing the button for the right amount of time needs practice for the call to go. The worst aspect of the phone was removing the cover (to install battery and SIM). The diagram wasn't super clear, and there was a worry about breaking it. Basically you prise the cover away until it snaps off. I also found it quite fiddley to insert the SIM, a delicate touch required here. Once set up, it all depends on how quick and reliably your elder can learn the button presses. The accompanying manual was rather brief. I later discovered that, if the phone is closed, it will answer an incoming call just by opening it...nice and easy, but again, not stated in the manual.

I bought this phone to act as a second phone for use in Ireland. I already had an old Nokia clam shell phone which I had got in Ireland, where I have family and visit often. My Nokia was no longer being supported by Vodafone, so the Artphone seemed like a great replacement. I ordered it on 5 August and it arrived promptly. I had to wait for a SIM card from Vodafone Ireland to be brought to me by a family member. It was easy to activate with my old number. Very satisfied.It duly arrived at the end of last week and I had no trouble in inserting it and going online to activate. All seemed to be perfect. The controls and functions are all very similar to my old Nokia so I felt very comfortable with it. Until I came to write a text.I selected “Write text” and then pressed on of the keys. A number was inserted. For those who are not familiar with this style of keyboard, it is a bit quaint. Each key represents one number and three lettersPress the number 2 and you get A. Press it twice and B appears. Three times for C and four times for 2.Except, on this Artfone, press the number 2 and 2 comes up straight away. Similarly for every key - just the numeral. Obviously there must be some way of changing the keyboard mode. No mention is in the little instruction manual, or on-line. I experimented with every combination of keyboard stoke and menu option I could think of.I emailed the email address for customer service. Email returned undeliverable. We have just had a Public Holiday weekend in the U.K. so I waited until this morning to phone the number given on the website. Number unavailable.Now what do I do.

All I wanted was a basic functional phone for phone calls and texts, anything more would be a bonus.This fulfils requirements whilst looking reasonably attractive/modern and feeling sturdy, and being compact enough to fit in any size jacket/coat/shirt pocket.Additional benefits in no particular order:1) Long battery life when fully charged, apparently. If this turns out to be untrue I'll be back with an update.2) Takes two SIM cards. Useful for me as I recently had to get another SIM on another PAYG account as a stop-gap.3) Torch. Might be useful for such close-up things as locating a key lock in the dark, but doesn't work when the phone is switched off.4) Nice big buttons and a clear display so my slightly dodgy eyesight doesn't deceive my brain.5) Takes the upgraded Virgin SIMS (the reason I had to buy this as the new SIM wouldn't work in my old phone). It will take small SIMS but apparently the full-sized ones are preferred.Things I don't like (again, no particular order):-1) The noise it announces itself with when switching on is too loud, too long and just HORRIBLE! I can't locate a way of turning its volume down, changing it or stopping it happening. There is a similar but shorter cacophony when switching the phone off. EDIT: Have since discovered how to stop the noise from happening.2) Limited selection of ringtones for calls and text alerts. Only a handful in total, and most of them are embarrassingly unmusical and off-putting.3) Radio. Nice to have but I didn't need it. Only appears to receive BBC Radio 2, which I listen to anyway almost daily, but the reception and sound aren't great and the phone has to be oriented at a certain angle to keep the signal.4) Camera. Didn't want a camera but if it's included I would expect it to take reasonable quality images. This one approximates to a prehistoric cave painting so they needn't have bothered.5) The sound quality when making a phone call isn't brilliant --- a bit muffled and not loud enough (and no, I don't have any hearing problems!).6) No charger. I can charge this from my laptop, but if I'm out of the house I may need to charge it directly from the mains. Needed to purchase an additional adaptor for this (less than a fiver but an additional expense nonetheless).I don't know if I would use the "emergency" function but I might put a couple of numbers in anyway just in case.It also does other things that I'll probably never use.OK for the price, I suppose.UPDATE 14 AUGUST 21:After only seven months of use the phone refused to properly switch on one day. The screen lit up but none of the menus were available so it was effectively useless. I tried everything I could think of to bring it back to life but to no avail. Contacted Amazon customer services and they reached the same conclusion as me, i.e. it was f****d! They offered me a full refund and I accepted.I have changed my star rating from 4* to 1*.

Although I do like this phone it does seem to have some problems. I can't set a reliable daily reminder in calendar. Sometimes it works sometimes not. It won't recognise my SD card and has limited space on the phone for music. No trouble with signal strength, colour not important to me. I like that it has a charging cradle. if you just want a basic phone for calls and texts it's fine.

Bought for my mom who is 90 years young. Set it all up for her, then showed her how to use, she was really pleased.