Due to the constant growth in the popularity of smartphones for several years in a row, it may seem that ordinary push-button phones have long been forgotten by everyone, but this, oddly enough, is completely wrong. Yes, in monetary terms, it is smartphones that occupy most of the market, however, in the number of devices sold, simple phones, albeit inferior to smartphones, still occupy a significant share. According to various sources, in Russia in August of this year, the share of smartphones ranged from 60 to 70 percent of the market, and the share of ordinary phones – from 30 to 40 percent. As you can see, this is a significant amount.
Classic push-button phones are bought for themselves as a second or even a third device, for travel, people who do not need the capabilities of smartphones buy, they buy for relatives and friends, especially for grandparents, finally, they buy as a gift for friends who also do not want to go on smartphones. There are many options.
New Year is the time of gifts, they are given and accepted, but most of all difficulties arise for us, I am just sure of this, with the question 'what to give?' and that is why I decided to write this small material with the main idea – you can donate an ordinary push-button telephone. At the same time, oddly enough, there are even options here: buy a modern device in a communication salon, or buy, order a refurbished or new classic phone of the past years. I want to talk about exactly this method – not buying a new phone, but one of the old models released five or even ten, fifteen years ago. Why is it in the pro section Android? Because it is instead of Android (and iOS) that you can choose as a gift a real useful phone that works for a week, calls so that the dead will wake up and withstand ten out of ten hits on the asphalt.
There are several options for buying good old phones.
Foreign online stores ('flea markets'). The first, and easiest, is probably the large online stores such as Ebay and Aliexpress. The advantages of this option are a very wide selection of 'tubes' and accessories for them (replaceable cases, batteries, chargers, and so on) and low prices. Cons – it is difficult to predict in what condition you will end up with a phone. Yes, many people honestly write that they sell used pipes, but there is also a 'used' device to 'used' strife. Perhaps you are lucky and you will receive a phone in good condition, without obvious problems, clean, tidy, or maybe, on the contrary, everything will turn out to be bad, and after unpacking the package, you will see a spattered, dirty phone, maybe even with goats in the cracks. You can focus on the reviews or choose only among the recovered pipes, but, as always at such sites, you need to rely on luck and an honest seller as well.
Russian online store ('flea markets'). It may seem to you. that there is no difference between our and foreign stores and it was worth including them in one category, but this is not so. Let's take the same site avito.ru. It has a selection of different old pipes, but, unlike ordering on a foreign site, here you are free to choose a seller in your city and pay for the order in person. And this immediately removes all the disadvantages of online stores from the first category. We met a person – examined the device, turned it on, installed a SIM card, checked everything and only then paid. There is only one drawback in this version, in my opinion – you need to look for the required phone among different sellers, call them, check the details each time, and so on. That is, you need to spend a certain amount of time to buy.
Internet shops selling old phones. The next option is specialized sites. The Russian site 3310.ru immediately comes to my mind, where I myself bought one phone. There is also RarePhones.ru and others, I think you yourself can share in the comments if you know trusted stores. The advantages of such sites are that you can immediately see all the devices presented in one place and you can choose the one you are interested in, you do not need to switch between sellers and each time repeat the details and questions anew. In such online stores, the devices are usually of the highest quality. If you see that the phone is new, then most likely it is a really new device (but very expensive). If it is a restored handset, it will be clean, with a new battery, a new charger, which is important if you buy a phone as a gift. There is, in fact, only one downside to such sites – prices. Sites like 3310.ru, for example, usually give a guarantee on the devices being sold, plus new cases, batteries, and so on – all this will have to pay more than at some flea market. That is, you pay extra for not getting a pig in a poke, to put it simply.
Picture from the site 3310.ru
Here's an idea – if you don't know what to give to a close friend, dad, mom, uncle, son-in-law, and so on – pay attention to old phones. It doesn't have to be a Nokia 3310 'brick', it also includes more expensive (in the past) models from Nokia and Siemens, the first smartphones and even premium handsets like the Nokia 8910, but this is already a very expensive and unusual gift.