Education Smart phone for 74 year old - suggestions please

Looking to replace my partners Mot G 3rd Gen with something similar.

Must have at least 32Gb storage.
5.5+ screen
Not looking to pay Iphone/Samsung silly money.

Any suggestions before I start my Googling.

 

define 'not silly money'

 

I think we all know what silly money means when it comes to Iphone or Samsung phones. I would be looking for something around the £250 mark perhaps a little more.

 

Ulefone Power 3:
In budget, 6" 18:9 screen, 6080 battery, dual front + rear cameras, face id, nearly stock android, promised upgrade to android 8 and so on.
Only thing missing is NFC.

You could have that with the Oukitel K6 (which is almost identical, but no promise of Android 8)

 

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5.5” is very highly regarded, has good battery life, 64gb storage and all the gadgety tech.

https://m.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_701791.html?wid=91

This link includes shipping from EU so no VAT/customs to pay and arrives quicker too. £139 ish. You can usually get new customer vouchers for gearbest or topcashback/quidco.

 

I'd also suggest the Redmi Note 4 as well. I'm not a big fan of MIUI as it's crap at handling some notifications and is too aggressive shutting down apps for battery optimisation but rooted and with something like Resurrection Remix (Nougat 7.1.2) installed is highly impressive.

Edit: Make sure you get the Global version (codename mido) and bear in mind that when it comes to accessories that you need the ones for the 4X.

 

I actually have one of these bought though Eglobal and I certainly would not use that company again as it has a pretty naff customer service ethos. And to be honest I am not overly impressed with the phone.

As I have mentioned above I have one of these but not sure I bought the global version to be honest. I agree about the notifications issue.
Have never rooted anything but might have a go at this phone as it does need tweaking somewhat.

Edit: Can you link to the rooting instructions mate?

 

Presumably you're looking for new as opposed to second hand? The original Nexus 6 is still an excellent phone if you'd consider second hand

 

Not necessarily George.

 

In that case my suggestion stands Although typically 'older' phones tend to be smaller so you might not find as many 5.5"+ phones as newer ones.

 

The Wileyfox Swift 2X is a 5.2” phone. Currently cheaper to buy it with a dot than standalone by £20 and you could just sell the dot.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B075CJQBKJ/

Past that I’m then not really sure what else to suggest other than a secondhand Galaxy 6 or 7 or secondhand HTC phone or a OnePlus of some version again secondhand (and as already suggested above, the Nexus).

The issue with rooting and unofficial ROM is that a lot of apps notably banking for example, detect it and won’t run.

 

Have you tried and made sure they use a smart phone, our parents all use a Moto G4plus with text upped a bit, I'd imagine a Moto G5 would also fit the bill, new enough to have good tech and uncluttered on the OS side. 5.2 G5s or 5.5 G5s+ should fit the bill and are in budget.

 

That looks quite a nice phone and at least support if things go wrong which of course is tricky with a Chinese phone.
I would quite like to root my Redmi but unfortunately it looks far to complex, due to many sleep issues my mental faculties have been seriously impaired (some cruel folk say they always have been,lol) so what should be reasonably straight forward process is fraught with difficulties.

Definitely add that one to the list though thanks.

 

Prefer to stay away fro Lenovo given my experience with their woeful customer service I have occasion to use recently.

 

There's a few steps involved in rooting starting with getting the bootloader unlocked. Although it mentions the Note 3 it's the same process. The reason I gave was that MIUI doesn't work properly with a couple of apps I need.

Then you install a custom recovery, I use TWRP and root with SuperSU.

This is the guide for installing Resurrection Remix. I like this ROM as it's pretty much stock Android (7.1.2) but with a lot of tweaking options if you want to use them. Note that it won't do OTA updates.

It looks complicated but if you take your time and slowly work through it you'll get there in the end.

For a bit of extra optional tweaking you can create your own splash screen

I agree about Lenovo support, it's non-existent

 

I have so far got as far as unlocking the dam thing which because most of it was in Chinese was troublesome. Moving on to TWRP or in my case TWERP because that is what I am for attempting this.

 

I forgot to mention, just in case (I needed it), how to unbrick it in case it all goes horribly wrong.

Check it's rooted with Root Checker

 

Given up on the whole rooting nonsense, even following links and videos to the letter I cannot even get my device listed in 'adb devices.' And then I did manage that but it was just one nightmare after another so finally admitted defeat and given up. Fortunately I still have a phone.

 

Back to my good lady I still have not found a phone. The Wiley Fox was a contender but there seems to issues with Facebook app.
Now looking at the Honor 6X which with case and screen protector comes in at around £225.

 

It's not been mentioned yet, and it does have a few flaws [slow to charge iirc] but - Nokia 6