Not sure if the person you’re buying for likes having a smartphone in the first place? Consider a phone made for them that encourages them to stop looking at their phone.
Almost everyone you know probably likes (or loves) their phone in some capacity, but that’s not the case for everyone. While a smartphone may be an excellent portal to the world, for some it’s a portal to perpetual doomscrolling and endless time wasting.
In fact, the past couple of years has seen some make the move to something lesser, supporting an idea of “digital detox”.
Instead of buying a phone to let them keep their digital life as savvy as it can be with any other phone, they’re intentionally buying devices made to help them cut back on the doomscrolling and time-wasting seemingly reinforced by using those devices.
We won’t judge — each to their own — but since we’ve written a guide for Android owners and for folks who love their iPhone, this holiday season we’re adding to the list with a guide to buying for folks who don’t love their phone, and want a year or two without the urgency of a smartphone impacting it.
Aspera R40 rugged phone
Price: $129
The downside of smartphones is they don’t tend to be all that rugged. They’ll survive the odd drop here and there (maybe), but there are times where they’ll completely crack and break from a small fall.
And that’s before you take into account the time wasting they can bring in.
An Australian take on that solution comes in the form of the Aspera R40, a rugged phone made with buttons in mind. The handset includes one of the classic T9 keypads for calls and texting, and a design that makes it IP68 and shock proof. What’s more, it still technically supports some apps you might need, but not many, with YouTube Facebook part of the package.
You’re not using this phone for time-wasting, that’s for sure. This is for phone calls, texts, and the occasional bit of boredom on its tiny 2.4 inch screen.
HMD Barbie Phone
Price: $199
Easily one of the more clever takes on the digitally detoxed phone this year, the Barbie Phone came a little later than expected, launching well out from the release of the Barbie movie, a logical tie-in.
However, the phone isn’t technically connected with the hype of Greta Gerwig’s excellent film, but rather the toy. Much like how Barbie drives a pink car, she’d also use a pink phone, but one that encourages her to live her life.
And that’s largely what the HMD Barbie Phone 4G is all about: it’s a button-based phone with minimal smart functions, a mediocre camera, and yes, it’s pink. It comes in a package that screams Barbie, complete with stickers, charms, and a bracelet, and the idea is to provide people with a phone that’s less about apps and living the modern digital world, and instead using it for calls, texts, and actually living that life.
Apple Watch LTE with TinyPod
Price: from $479 for the Watch, $79 USD for the TinyPod case
A watch isn’t a phone, but they can actually do phone-like things, particularly if that person already owns an iPhone.
TinyPod’s take on the Apple Watch kind of works like that, offering a compact iPod and iPhone experience, but in a clever case designed to look and feel like the old click-wheel iPod Apple no longer makes.
There’s a catch, however, and one we need to get out of the way immediately: this gift idea only works if the person already owns an iPhone. An Apple Watch needs an iPhone for set up, and since you can’t make one work without, this gift idea needs an Apple Watch of some sort.
If the person you’re buying for already has one, find out what size and grab right case. But if they’re an iPhone owner sans-Watch, consider opting for the least expensive Apple Watch of the lot, a Watch SE with cellular access, as well as the TinyPod case. And then tell them this combination could just turn their doomscrolling lives into something arguably less distracted.
They could try it on weekends to start with.
Spacetalk Life Connect
Price: $659
Australia’s Spacetalk may well be known for its watches for kids, but it also offers an option for adults in the Life Connect.
Primarily focused on seniors, the idea is a 4G phone built into a watch complete with GPS tracking, heart rate monitoring, and fall detection. In short, it’s all the things you might normally associate a phone for, except in a type you can wear.
You won’t find a camera here or even specific apps for doom scrolling, and for some, that will be all they really need.
Kobo Elipsa 2E
Price: $699
A book is about as far from a phone as you can get, and Kobo’s best take on the book could just keep you from using your phone in the best possible way.
The Elipsa 2E is one of our favourite eReaders in capability. It’s a large 10.3 inch eBook reader with up to two weeks of battery life, plenty of storage, and supports a pen to let you scribble notes on books, or just take notes on a digital notepad in general.
Like other Kobo models, the Elipsa 2E supports Australian libraries using the Overdrive and Libby apps, meaning you also don’t need to necessarily buy books for the Elipsa, but can borrow them from your local, too.
If throwing your head into a book takes away the need to doomscroll, the Elipsa 2E could be just about one of the beat ways of doing that.
