Has the backlash against technology begun? Last year sales of ebooks dipped, while those of paperbacks rose. At the same time the popularity of vinyl has reached a 25-year high, with more than 3.2 million LPs sold in 2016, the first time that spending on old-fashioned records has outstripped digital downloads.
It looks as if expensive iPhones could be heading the same way, as more people “downgrade” their smartphones for something that only makes calls, sends texts and has more than 24 hours of battery life.
Early this year at the Mobile World Congress the hype was not about the latest smartphone, but rather the relaunch of the classic Nokia 3310. This seemingly indestructible phone, which was the must-have in the early 2000s, is £59.99 from Carphone Warehouse. The new model, available in grey, blue, yellow or red, has a camera, a colour screen and an updated version of the cult bus-stop game Snake. Leave it on standby and the battery should last for 25 days.
Nokia has also launched the second of three new Android smartphones — the one with the highest spec, the Nokia 6, costs £199.99 and is being touted as a low-cost, but reliable entry-level smartphone with 32GB of storage, a 16-megapixel camera and a fingerprint scanner.
The cheaper Nokia 3 costs £129.99 and offers a more budget experience, but you can still stream video, listen to music and it supports 4G.
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Techies rate the performance of the Motorola G5 budget smartphone, at £169.99, much higher. It comes with a fingerprint scanner and a metal body.
Even more basic is the Vodafone Smart Mini, which costs as little as £29 on the Vodafone network. It’s a no-frills smartphone with SMS, phone and internet, and a 3.5in screen.
If you want to shun the internet completely, the Alcatel OneTouch 10.16G costs from £13.95, can be used for calls and texts, and has an FM radio and a battery that lasts for six days.
Doro pitches its simple phones, which start at £35, at older customers. They offer quality loud sound and are hearing-aid compatible. The phones’ large, separated keys are easy to use, and you can adjust the font sizes for text messages.
The newer models, Doro 6520 and 6530, are internet-enabled, so you can check emails or Facebook, and they have GPS, so you can send your location as part of a text message.
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Proof that shunning expensive smartphones is appealing to a younger, design-conscious demographic, however, is the marketing for the Punkt MP01, a stylish, minimal-looking mobile phone on which you can only make calls and send texts. Although some may balk at the price tag of £229.
A little more affordable is the Light Phone, a white credit card-sized “second phone” that has the same number as your smartphone, enabling you to leave the latter behind when you fancy a digital detox, but still need to be contactable. It is available to international buyers online from the US and costs $150 (£114).
