Everyone has a phone, but not everyone likes using one. So what do you buy for someone who hates smartphones?
If there was one gadget that occupied the very centre of our lives, it could well be the phone, also known as the smartphone, and known by its other name: the time sink device that you doomscroll on while waiting for anything else to happen.
For many of us, smartphones are our everything. They’re our music player, email reader, web surfer, social networker, digital wallet, always ready camera, portable game system, movie player to go, pocketable eReader, and a whole lot more.
You can do pretty much anything on a smartphone, including wasting a lot of time.
No wonder there are folks out there who don’t like smartphones.What do you buy for that person?
Nokia 8210 4G
Price: $119
A reinvention of a classic, the recent incarnation of the Nokia 8210 may well be the most un-smartphone-like phone you can find, and that will be a-ok with quite a few people.
Built with the mentality of being a phone first, HMD has brought this one back from the dead as part of its use of the Nokia brand name, and building it anew.
The old Nokia 8210 wouldn’t work on current networks, but the new variation is 4G and is just fine. It’s a 2.8 inch phone with buttons, 128MB storage, and a 0.3 megapixel camera that is so meh, you probably won’t even want to use. It’s a phone, plain and simple. Almost as simple as it gets.
Opel Mobile BigButton
Price: $129
Another button phone, the Opel Mobile BigButton has a totally different audience: seniors and people who need big buttons. It’s right there in the name, with the Opel “BigButton” being just that: a phone with huge buttons, especially when compared with other mobiles of the day.
There’s not a lot the BigButton really does beyond calls, though it does work as a torch, as a 2 megapixel camera, works with Bluetooth, and even supports hearing aids. And it comes with a charging cradle, making it handy for people who also don’t like USB plugs.
Spacetalk Life
Price: $399
A variant of the Spacetalk smartwatches normally for kids, the “Life” is less about the little ones and more about regular adults. That could be you, or it might even be your mum or dad.
The idea of the Spacetalk Life is to provide a 4G phone in a watch, with a little bit extra thrown in. It can technically support GPS location sharing like the kid-friendly Spacetalk models, but this variation on the theme also include fall detection, fitness tracking, reminders, alerts, oh, and it’s all found on the wrist.
Onyx Boox Palma 2
Price: $679
Easily one of the more curious gadgets we definitely want to read, the Book Palma 2 looks like a phone… only it’s not.
The Onyx Boox Palma 2 is 6.13 inch eReader that uses a colour-capable eInk display, runs on Android, and comes with support for mobile data using a SIM slot, making it like a phone, even if it clearly isn’t one.
Running Android means you could probably use the Onyx Boox Palma 2 with mobile calling apps like WhatsApp and other messaging services, though this is more like a small tablet with data support.
It is very much the anti-phone for people who don’t like smartphones, making it a clever little compact eReader for people who mostly want to stay away from doomscrolling with a device that would make doomscrolling seem like weird paper printouts.
Apple iPad Mini with 5G
Price: from $1049
Apple’s smallest tablet (at least until a foldable iPhone turns up next year) is a little like the Onyx Boox Palma in that it is also not a phone, and yet can run mobile data and use it for calling and messaging apps.
The compact iPad Mini from last year delivers an 8.3 inch screen, fast chip, and two 12 megapixel cameras with one on the front and one on the back. It even supports an Apple Pencil, making it a cross between a portable content creation and content consumption device.
And while it can do a lot of things phones can do, it is clearly not a phone, making it ideal for people who don’t like smartphones and yet want something just as versatile.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Price: $2999
Okay, so this one is a phone, but it’s also technically a tablet, making it ideal for people who aren’t fussed on phones, but do happen to like sizeable screens like a tablet.
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of a few foldable phone-tablet hybrids Australia saw this year, but it’s also one of the most impressive phones and tablets you can find.
As slim as a regular phone and packing much of the same tech as Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, the Fold 7 may well be overkill for someone who doesn’t like smartphones, but it’s just right if they love tablets.
It’s an 8 inch tablet you can fold up and put in your pocket, and even make phone calls on.
