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Long story short, I'm looking to buy a new feature phone/dumbphone, possibly within the next 12 months. However, I'm finding it difficult to find a dumbphone with my list of preferences:

  • Price under $100 AUD.
  • Must be strong/durable, and able to keep working for a long time (i.e. it's feasible to see it still holding together and functional up to 10 years from now, even if this includes battery changes when the old battery stops holding a charge).
  • Good battery life.
  • Telstra specific or network-unlocked, and must be able to work on Australian 3G network or higher.

Bonus points for:

  • Price under $50 AUD.
  • Having a waterproof or water-resistant design.
  • Handling being left outside overnight.
  • Being a more recent model (i.e. the more recent the model, the better, but "old" models are still fine if they match the other criteria).

Must not only be able to work on 2g network, as 2g is being retired by Telstra in late 2016.

Any form factor (e.g. candybar, clamshell/flip-phone, slide-out keyboard, etc.) is acceptable.

Any good recommendations out there? Even a recommendation which meets most of the preferences, but not quite all? From your recommendation, please state if it doesn't meet any particular preference(s), and/or has additional features not stated.

RPBCL
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    Something worth considering. A lot of places are dropping 2g support sooner rather than later. That might be as much of a factor as anything else on hitting your 10+ year lifespan. Might be worth including if that's the case in your question. A pity really, my old nokia did something like 3 weeks on a charge, but would be unusable at the end of the year since my country is dropping 2g support. – Journeyman Geek Oct 20 '15 at 09:34
  • Hmm... Okay. Thanks for the info. Will look into how soon this is happening for Aus. – RPBCL Oct 20 '15 at 22:33
  • @JourneymanGeek Yup, looked into it, 2g is being retired in Aus in late 2016. Will edit the question. Thanks again. – RPBCL Oct 20 '15 at 23:14
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    Have a look into Doro. I don't know if they ship in Aus, but they do good simple phones, and there's a (more expensive) smart(er)phone in their range too. Also, I seem to recall that JCB are doing rugged phones these days. – ArtOfCode Oct 21 '15 at 21:29
  • @ArtOfCode Had a look into Doro. They look pretty good and simple haha, but couldn't find anything on how tough they are... I assume not very, given they're targeted at seniors? Also, looks like only their newer models run on 3G. As for JCB, they look like good contenders, but possibly a bit more expensive than I'd like... Couldn't find 3G handsets from them below $100 in/ordered into Australia, but possibly I just wasn't looking hard enough? – RPBCL Oct 22 '15 at 02:27
  • @Ricky Doro's phones aren't too bad on toughness. They should survive knocks and bumps, and probably being left out. JCB are indeed quite expensive, though you do get for what you pay for. I saw a video of them driving a JCB tractor over their phone recently. The phone still worked fine. – ArtOfCode Oct 22 '15 at 06:58
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    So you want a strong, durable phone that costs you less than $10 per year for the hardware? (10 years, $100) That seems like a stretch, particularly when all your other needs can be met with a Telstra Tough 3. Unfortunately that will cost you $25/year, or about 7 cents a day for the hardware - quite a bit more than the 3 cents a day you're aiming for... – Adam Davis Nov 04 '15 at 16:05
  • @AdamDavis Indeed, hence asking a question here about any hidden options out there I may not have found. I've actually found one which almost fit the bill perfectly. Everything on that list was ticked, including costing about $90 AUD. Unfortunately, it's made overseas, and it's 3G band is for 950 MHz instead of our 900 MHz (or possibly the other way around). So once 2G is retired, it wouldn't be able to work on it's 3G band! So close. But yes, I realise it's a big ask, and at this point I've simple decided to keep my... – RPBCL Nov 04 '15 at 22:04
  • @AdamDavis ... Telstra T96, and create my own custom thick-genuine-leather case for it, which will mostly do the trick - or at least help with accidental drops - with thin, see-through plastic for the screen and keypad, which will offer water protection, and will be cheap and easy to replace if it breaks. I just haven't put it up as an answer from myself, because it doesn't technically answer the question as proposed. I'll leave the question up for now, because someone else might have an answer in future. Given enough time though, I may delete the question if it's an impossible ask after all. – RPBCL Nov 04 '15 at 22:09

1 Answers1

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Kyocera's "Dura" line of phones and Casio's "G'zOne" line

  • frequently ~$100 new and ~$20 used.
  • Waterproof and "military grade" specifications for impact resistance and dust resistance.
  • Easily go for a whole week on a single charge.
  • Easy to find these unlocked; not sure how Australia's mobile network works, but I think any GSM phone will work.
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