Advice humbly requested choosing new phone.

[mattofdoom]

Hello there,

I've been trying to find a new mobile phone for myself for quite a while, and after seemingly limitless poking around on the web and in shops, I can't find one that meets my hopes.

I've eventually decided to register on this forum and ask the question because I noticed people with similar requests being helped out.

I'm looking for a bottom-end or emerging market handset, without camera, social networking, internet, apps, and so on. My hopeful requirements are:

- Battery life that lasts for a week or more.
- Can play audio files competently.
- Low price

... and if I get carried away with myself, I'd love a flashlight in the end!

Being a big Nokia fan (my last lasted over a decade) I looked there first. The Nokia 101 and X1-01 both seem to fill the spec perfectly, but further research showed the audio playing function to be half-arsed, without proper navigation of folders, or seeking within a file, making audiobooks a misery.

Oh, I'm in the UK if that matters?

Does anybody have any experience with other low-end phones that make a passable stab at being a music player too?

My thanks in advance.

[CrowdAds]

[saratoga]

Its going to be hard to find a dumbphone thats much good as a music player.

[sideways]

For a week or more you have to go seriously dumb. It is unrealistic to think you'll get those kinds of run times if you are also using the device to listen to music. You need to get the dumbest phone you can find and leave it in standby most of the time, only making the occasional call or text. Look for small screens that sip battery power and disable anything but 2G connectivity.

http://www.esato.com/phones/Samsung-E2370+xcover-630
http://www.esato.com/phones/Samsung-B2710-811
http://www.esato.com/phones/Nokia-E5-615

None of those will be very good mp3 players. You'd probably be better off getting some cheapo beater like a nokia c2-01 or a samsung whatever model you can get cheap and a sandisk clip plus or zip mp3 player.

In my experience the flashlights you get on phones suck. You get just as much illumination turning on the screen and switching to a white background. Failing that you can get a keychain light for not a lot of money as a fix if you find yourself in need of more illumination.