Reviewed by Amanda Hayes
If you are looking for a mobile phone for those a little less tech savvy in your life, or those that don’t need or want an all singing all dancing smart phone, then the TOUCHsmart.2 mobile phone from Emporia could be the phone for you.
The TOUCHsmart is billed as “an easy to use phone for older users that want Whatsapp without a full smartphone” so I was pleased to be able to put it to the test, is it is really easy to use, and does it have enough features to make it worthwhile?
The phone arrived in a nicely branded red and white box, with an advertorial stating it has the PLUS X Award for best brand of the year 2021. On the rear it shows a picture of the phone, and states it uses a USB C charger, has the messenger app installed and has an 8MP front/2MP rear selfie camera. All sounded good so far.
Inside were paper versions of the user manual and WhatsApp user guide. I was really pleased to see that an item advertised for older people gives a paper manual and doesn’t expect them to look up the instructions on-line. Also, inside is a charging dock, an USB C charger, a set of in ear headphones and a replacement back for the phone.
The phone itself initially looks quite small but flips out to double in size giving a good size screen and keypad with large buttons. The screen is a touch screen and gives six clear pictorial options, contacts, messages, WhatsApp, calendar, camera, photo album, settings and applications. Regardless of which one you click into, the instructions are clear and guide you along, I had to add my details to get WhatsApp working for example and it was very simple by following the on screen prompts. The keypad has five pictorial icons, camera, contacts, WhatsApp, green telephone to call & a red telephone with on/off symbol to hang up or turn the mobile phone on or off. Below this are the numbers 1-0 with letters from the alphabet beneath, as per an old style mobile phone.
When the phone is closed it has a front information screen which shows the time, date day of the week & battery level by pressing the torch button on side. Press down longer and the torch to turns on, a very useful feature as it can be done with one click. When open the main screen shows the same information plus the ambient temperature. Within the applications tab on the main screen, it has the weather forecast, which you can set to your location, FM radio, spaces for emergency numbers, calculator and an easy to set alarm clock. It also has an internet section which has pre-set internet pages. The main pages are Google, weather, BBC news, Wikipedia and Amazon, these are so much easier than searching for each one separately but id prefer to see that internet section on the main screen and not hidden within applications.
The contacts section can hold 1000 phone numbers, more than enough for the most avid phone user, and can be imported from a sim/storage or just typed in manually.
The 8mp camera takes good quality pictures but I found it awkward to use as you tend to cover the camera when you hold the phone in the normal place, so you have to hold it lower down which is unsteady and the pictures are more likely to be blurred.
Making calls is easy with the large keypad buttons, you can type the number in directly or use your contacts list using the green phone icon.
For a mobile phone that sells itself as basic I think it has everything you need, calls Whatsapp, internet access and camera. Everything is easy to use and more importantly easy to see using the large buttons. It’s a bit of a hybrid between the old and new with the buttons and the touch screen, but the mix is about right. Too much touchscreen and it makes it complicated, all manual buttons and there aren’t enough functions.
I really like the size of the phone; it folds down neatly to fit in your pocket and the rounded edges keep it smooth. The charging dock is great, so easy to use rather than fiddling with tiny cables, it means not only is the phone easy to find it shows the time, day and date whilst on the dock working as a clock.
There are lots of simple but useful features within the Emporia TOUCHsmart.2 mobile phone and I really recommend it as a straightforward and user-friendly phone that covers all your current tech needs. The perfect Christmas gift.
Rating: Recommended 4.5 out 5
RRP: £149.00
More information here: – https://www.emporia.eu/en/products/overview/emporiatouchsmart
This product can be purchased from Amazon here.
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Emporia For Her Christmas Gift Guide 2022 Tech Lovers Christmas Gift Guide 2022
