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Which phone is easiest to use?

Apple fanboy

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Original poster
Feb 21, 2012
59,547
60,383
Behind the Lens, UK
Hope you can help with this one. My dad is 65 and looking to replace his Blackberry Bold. He lives at the other end of the country from me and I'm basically his tec support. He needs a smart phone for email and the web but isn't really into music on his phone or apps. In short he is a complete technophob. He never really got on with the Blackberry and had lots of problems with it. He is thinking of getting an iPhone as he likes the look of mine and see's the thing's I am able to do with it. As I don't have any experience with any other smart phones can I ask how do the different platforms compare for ease of use? I think IOS is pretty easy to pick up but that's just me. How does it compare with the Windows or Android platform? Remember this is someone who is not good with computers and picking up new things.
 
If all he literally needs is the phone and the web, I would say any of the top three (iOS, Android, WP7) would fit his needs very well.

I would also say that WP7 is the easiest mobile OS I have ever seen to pick up. If he is one who likes minimalism, WP7 is where it's at. I would say iOS is a close second, followed by Android. I only put Android last because it tends to look very different depending on the manufacturer of the phone. All iOS phones will look identical outof the box. All WP7 phones will look (nearly) identical out of the box.

HTH
 
lordofthereef said:
If all he literally needs is the phone and the web, I would say any of the top three (iOS, Android, WP7) would fit his needs very well.

I would also say that WP7 is the easiest mobile OS I have ever seen to pick up. If he is one who likes minimalism, WP7 is where it's at. I would say iOS is a close second, followed by Android. I only put Android last because it tends to look very different depending on the manufacturer of the phone. All iOS phones will look identical outof the box. All WP7 phones will look (nearly) identical out of the box.

HTH
Click to expand...
I'd say iOS is the way to go. Android is definitely understandable, but definitely not the easiest one. I'd say to settle with iOS. I have found that older people still have trouble to easily understand Windows Phone 7.

And I recently went to visit a local phones retailer (from the biggest telecom provider in my country), and they told me that currently a lot of people are returning their Windows Phone 7 phones because of terrible battery life complaints.

iOS will also get the most and biggest upgrades compared to Windows Phone 7 and Android phones.
 
Funny; I've found my Blackberry Bold to be very easy to use (because it doesn't work!)

In all seriousness, my dad is about the same age and, while he's not so much a technophob, he definitely appreciates the software side of things more than the hardware/gadgety side of things.

I convinced him to get a 4S after he was unpleased with his Blackberry Storm. He loves it and has become comfortable with downloading apps, maneuvering about, etc.

I think it's definitely a good option.
 
lordofthereef said:
Really? I don't see how. There are fewer icons on the homes screen than IOs has. And the icons are WAY bigger (easier on the eyes).
Click to expand...
If I compare older people with iOS devices with older people with Windows Phone 7 device, than I can easily see that the iOS users learn much faster.
 
ios can be strange to use at first but the key to ios is that its intuitive , its easy to figure out
 
Most of you seem to agree the iPhone is the way to go. I would prefer it because at least I'm familiar with the system. On the other hand I think I'll get a lot more calls because he knows I've got one. At least I could FaceTime him and give him video tutorials.
 
My 80 year old father used BB for a long time until trying Android... never tried WP7 but switched to iOS and after getting over the learning curve - he is extremely happy with the feasibility of it.
 
In my experience, older people that are used to Microsoft software (i.e. Windows, Office etc.) find the Windows Phone 7 interface more familiar than iOS or Android.
 
Problem is my dad is not really familiar with any computer OS. He has a laptop from the ark. It has a 20 gig hard drive and looks like a brick. I have to pair his Bluetooth headset for him on his phone and help him with all his computer problems. I've even had to help him tune his car radio before!
 
Apple fanboy said:
Problem is my dad is not really familiar with any computer OS. He has a laptop from the ark. It has a 20 gig hard drive and looks like a brick. I have to pair his Bluetooth headset for him on his phone and help him with all his computer problems. I've even had to help him tune his car radio before!
Click to expand...

Sounds like my dad. He wants an SGSII, but my mom and I won't let him get one until he figures out how to use an iPod Touch and a computer, as otherwise he won't use it.
 
ThatsMeRight said:
And I recently went to visit a local phones retailer (from the biggest telecom provider in my country), and they told me that currently a lot of people are returning their Windows Phone 7 phones because of terrible battery life complaints.

iOS will also get the most and biggest upgrades compared to Windows Phone 7 and Android phones.
Click to expand...

BS on the battery life. My lumia 900 is better than 4s in terms of battery life and thats with LTE radio. Whats a biggest upgrade? IOS6? So far Windows phones have all been upgraded to mango and will possibly get upgrades to apallo. Thats has yet to be decided.

To the OP. Make sure your dad is comfortable with resolution of iphone. Since its high resolution 3.5" screen it might be hard to see for older people. My dad has trouble with my sister's iphone. I showed him my lumia 900 and it was much better for him because of lower resolution and bigger screen.

I would say that WP7 is easier to use but ios is also easy enough. I mean its just rows of icons on home screens :)
 
If mail is a big thing for him be aware that the native mail app don't show your replies in the same thread in the inbox. To see your replies you'd have to navigate to the Sent box. Its not fully threaded like it is on Gmail or blackberry mail.

In terms of convenience that was disappointing about iOS mail.
 
My questions would be: does he really need email and web on a phone? And how's his eyesight?

I think an iPad or other large screen tablet (or medium screen phablet) would be infinitely better if he's used to mostly doing those things at home on a laptop. Especially for surfing the web.

As for being his tech support across the country -- been there! I've found that iOS is not nearly as intuitive as people think, especially if you're not there in person to point out things. You WILL need to go through some not-so-intuitive basics, such as why app settings are sometimes in the app, sometimes in the system settings panel.

Heck, I've met and experienced a fair number of iOS owners who had no idea what caused their icons to go "wiggly" once in a while. It's not exactly intuitive that you hit the Home button to get out of that mode, either. Then there's the poor folk who turn on TTY mode, or use three fingers at once and get into the weird handicapped mode.

In other words, once someone knows about all the "secret" things that you can accidentally activate in iOS, then it's "easy". That goes for ALL the OSes, btw.

It's a good thing he's not into family photos or apps, because then there's the whole pain of iTunes to transfer photos, and the number of times that the App Store asks for your password. Other OSes are easier.

I keep meaning to take back the iPad I got my mother, and give her an Android tablet with one of the available "old people's launchers" which limit the amount of trouble they can get into :)

Just some thoughts. Good luck!
 
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kalex said:
BS on the battery life. My lumia 900 is better than 4s in terms of battery life and thats with LTE radio. Whats a biggest upgrade? IOS6? So far Windows phones have all been upgraded to mango and will possibly get upgrades to apallo. Thats has yet to be decided.

To the OP. Make sure your dad is comfortable with resolution of iphone. Since its high resolution 3.5" screen it might be hard to see for older people. My dad has trouble with my sister's iphone. I showed him my lumia 900 and it was much better for him because of lower resolution and bigger screen.

I would say that WP7 is easier to use but ios is also easy enough. I mean its just rows of icons on home screens :)
Click to expand...
The higher the resolution, the more comfortable on the eyes. You are talking about screen size.

And it's not BS. Over here there's a very high return rate because of extremely bad battery life.
 
He runs his own business so needs email when he is out and about on site (he is a PAT tester).
Battery life is a concern as he will need to charge it every day. However if I get him a USB adaptor for his van he should be good to go.
 
If i had to recommend a smart phone to a elderly person for ease of use it would be a windows phone
 
My Dad had always used Nokia Symbian phones, his first smart phone was some horribly underspecced Android device, which he struggled to get around.

I gave him my old iPhone 4 after getting my 4S, and he loves it. After the initial "How do I do this? How about that?" He's really gotten to know how to use it.
 
I would say go with an iOS device. They're simple. If he would prefer a larger screen, one of the newer Android devices would be my second suggestion.
 
Cant go wrong with iOs or WP7. Android is a great OS but simplicity is not its strong point. It is highly customizable but because of that sometimes certain settings are hard to find.
 
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