The need to find a suitable new phone for my dad was made very apparent when he needed to ring the AA while travelling and instead rang me to get me to ring them on his behalf….because his own phone has a very shite battery. He has a clamshell feature phone by…wait for it…Binatone! Anyhow, finding a suitable replacement wasn’t straightforward. Smartphone was out because it’s for my dad. I decided against a candybar phone because after many years using a clamshell, I can’t trust him to learn and remember to lock the phone after every use; he’s a really hopeless case and getting worse. And nearly all clamshell phones are 2G and I was worried that his network would shut that down at some point in the future.
So, are there any 4G clamshell feature phones? I think I did find one but the 4G bit only works in North America. So, any 3G clamshell phones? Hardly any. I found two or three. One didn’t work in Europe and of the other two I much preferred the Ruggex Rhino V. But damn it, the U.K. reseller listed it as discontinued and wouldn’t let me buy it. Stymied! Ah but then I noticed they had a refurbished, traded-in one. It was described as B+ condition but with a new battery. Buying a scuffed, second-hand thing to give to someone else is potentially unclassy but I risked buying it. It turns out to be in very good condition, much better than you’d think for B+. I’m not used to such grading generosity after years of buying stuff on eBay (the phone was from an independent site). So that’s a satisfying, small win.
