19 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I still haven't worked out how to hold mine when taking a call.

Turn on speaker phone and just lay it on the desk.

Noel

It's hard to believe now but this is a true story. Back in the early 1980's I was one of those poor grunts working 100-hour weeks splitting up the Bell System. Remember, that was the thing called "divestiture" which was a breakup of the AT&T telephone monopoly. The stuff I was involved with was dividing up the assets...billions and billions of dollars of them. Everything from large office buildings to screwdrivers. One of the things which had to be decided was whether or not to also breakup the AT&T cellular service and give all those assets to the local telephone companies also. I remember well sitting in the back row of a large conference room with the other grunts listening to the AT&T Chairman discuss the issue. He proclaimed that, after much deep thought, the cellular service would be given away to the local companies because, after all, only a few large businesses will ever use it and there just isn't any money to be made in that business. And that kind of bold decision making was why he was paid the big bucks.

Edited May 2, 20215 yr by W2DR
kant spel

4 hours ago, n4gix said:

I had to stop using my flip-phone, which only made phone calls and SMS messaging, because it became "obsolete."

Do a search for feature phones. Nokia and a couple others still have some available that work on modern networks.

https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_us/feature-phones

5 hours ago, n4gix said:

I had to stop using my flip-phone, which only made phone calls and SMS messaging, because it became "obsolete." My carrier planned to stop supporting this "old technology."

That was probably when your carrier switched from 3G to 4G. But you don't need to use a phone provided by your carrier. You can buy any unlocked 4G flip phone (assuming that your carrier, like the majority, is 4G). There are a lot of different choices still available. Just search for "flip phone" on Amazon for a taste of what's out there. The current network "thing to have" is 5G but most of us will never need all that speed. The conversion to 5G is going rather slowly and it appears that 4G will be available to use for at least several more years.

9 hours ago, martin-w said:

Noel you naughty man! I know what you're up to. Pretending not to know how to use your phone so you can get your hands on those nice young ladies. Crafty trick. 

I don't have to pretend I don't know how to use the phone.  All I need is a box of Oreos.

Noel

6 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Modern mobile phones are amazing information devices, but they are terrible phones. I still haven't worked out how to hold mine when taking a call.

Hold it up to your ear just like you would with a land-line phone. The 'speaker' is at the top and the 'microphone' is at the bottom.

1 hour ago, W2DR said:

But you don't need to use a phone provided by your carrier. You can buy any unlocked 4G flip phone (assuming that your carrier, like the majority, is 4G).

My "carrier" is whomever SafeLink has a contract with. I believe it is T-Mobile, but I'm not certain. In any case it's totally free service thanks to a certain President who cared enough to make the free service available to all us poor folks.   I was delighted that was something that wasn't screwed up by the former guy, and that our current President has kept the service available.

I actually did buy my own 4G unlocked smart-phone since at that time 4G flip-phones were not available.  Battery life is excellent. I can go four or five days between charges. Sweet! I'm growing happier with it the more I use it.

4 hours ago, W2DR said:

And that kind of bold decision making was why he was paid the big bucks.

And, if he's still alive is feeling a proper neutered donkey now... 

6 hours ago, birdguy said:

The other problem I have is trying to get back to the main screen after answering or making a call. 

Check the far bottom of the screen and see if there's  left arrow <-. If there is, pressing that should take you back one level to your "Home Page."

4 hours ago, n4gix said:

Hold it up to your ear just like you would with a land-line phone. The 'speaker' is at the top and the 'microphone' is at the bottom.

The shape feels all wrong, and I end up pressing buttons on the side by accident.

When I retired a few years ago I stopped using them.  I have no service but by law the phone must have 911 active.

I don't miss it one bit. Rather spend the money on something else.

14 hours ago, birdguy said:

I have trouble swiping the screen too.  I usually press to hard I am told.

The other problem I have is trying to get back to the main screen after answering or making a call.  I swipe and I swipe but nothing happens.  Then I turn it off and back on again and get back to the screen I was trying to leave.  I turn the phone completely off and then back on again to get the main screen.

I just don't seem to have the right touch.

Noel

 

 

Pressure when swiping shouldn't be an issue. Ive been able to swipe with any pressure on any of the last four Samsung phones Ive had. I suspect its not a very good quality phone at all. 

Enter the name of your phone into Google or YouTube, there must be plenty of instructional stuff.

 

What is the make and model? 

4 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

The shape feels all wrong, and I end up pressing buttons on the side by accident.

 

Which phone Chris? 

9 hours ago, n4gix said:

And, if he's still alive is feeling a proper neutered donkey now... 

Maybe knowing his name it would provide some additional understanding. His name was (drum roll) Charlie Brown.

17 hours ago, n4gix said:

Well, not so fast. For some reason touch screens don't work very well with my body chemistry, which makes "swiping the screen" to answer an incoming call pretty much 'hit and miss'

Screen touch sensors work on capacitance. Apparently, you have a low dielectric constant!