Simple phone with gMail address book

[Gordon Levi]

I am looking for a featureless phone. An old fashioned flip phone
would be ideal but it needs to be compatible with the latest mobile
phone standards.

It also needs to be able to use the gMail address book although that
does not need to be automatic. I would be content if I could export
the gMail address book and then import it into a Windows program that
can copy the phone numbers into the phone.

[Jeff Gaines]

On 01/10/2016 in message <16luub9q29aa8sg4p...@4ax.com>

Look at the DORO range.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.

[Adrian Caspersz]

On 01/10/16 08:30, Jeff Gaines wrote:
> On 01/10/2016 in message <16luub9q29aa8sg4p...@4ax.com>
> Gordon Levi wrote:
>
>> I am looking for a featureless phone. An old fashioned flip phone
>> would be ideal but it needs to be compatible with the latest mobile
>> phone standards.
>>
>> It also needs to be able to use the gMail address book although that
>> does not need to be automatic. I would be content if I could export
>> the gMail address book and then import it into a Windows program that
>> can copy the phone numbers into the phone.
>
> Look at the DORO range.
>

I wonder what DORO stands for. Dorothy?

--
Adrian C

[Jeff Gaines]

On 01/10/2016 in message <e59a3d...@mid.individual.net> Adrian

Caspersz wrote:

>I wonder what DORO stands for. Dorothy?

Don't call me Dorothy surely :-)

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK

Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.

[Gordon Levi]

"Jeff Gaines" <jgaines...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>On 01/10/2016 in message <16luub9q29aa8sg4p...@4ax.com>
>Gordon Levi wrote:
>
>>I am looking for a featureless phone. An old fashioned flip phone
>>would be ideal but it needs to be compatible with the latest mobile
>>phone standards.
>>
>>It also needs to be able to use the gMail address book although that
>>does not need to be automatic. I would be content if I could export
>>the gMail address book and then import it into a Windows program that
>>can copy the phone numbers into the phone.
>
>Look at the DORO range.

The 623 looks fine and is available locally (Australia) but I could
not find anything that would enable me to import a phone book from any
source. Is there DORO software for their non-Android phones?

[Whiskers]

What you describe sounds like what I'd call a 'feature phone'; something
between a 'dumb' phone that just does phone calls and SMS and can
remember numbers you've dialled, and a 'smart' phone that has
computer-like tools and internet access. There isn't a global standard
for 'feature phone' features or operating systems so all you can do is
talk to people selling feature phones; but I don't think you'll find
what you're looking for.

The nearest thing might be a feature phone with a web browser that can
handle the Google webmail pages. You'll need a SIM with 'data' of
course; I don't think any feature phone does WiFi (although some have
'bluetooth' for connecting to gadgets).

It is possible to store limited 'phone book' information on the SIM so
that it's transferable from one handset to another, but that won't
accommodate all the detail and formatting of Google's address book, and
may only have room for a few names and numbers.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Jeff Gaines]

On 01/10/2016 in message <5j3vub9sjho82dpog...@4ax.com>

Gordon Levi wrote:

>The 623 looks fine and is available locally (Australia) but I could
>not find anything that would enable me to import a phone book from any
>source. Is there DORO software for their non-Android phones?

I have a feeling it may not do what you want with GMail. If your numbers
are on a SIM you can put the SIM in and transfer them to phone memory. May
be worth down-loading the manual.

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK

The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant

[Gordon Levi]

Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com> wrote:

>On 2016-10-01, Gordon Levi <gor...@address.invalid> wrote:
>> I am looking for a featureless phone. An old fashioned flip phone
>> would be ideal but it needs to be compatible with the latest mobile
>> phone standards.
>>
>> It also needs to be able to use the gMail address book although that
>> does not need to be automatic. I would be content if I could export
>> the gMail address book and then import it into a Windows program that
>> can copy the phone numbers into the phone.
>
>What you describe sounds like what I'd call a 'feature phone'; something
>between a 'dumb' phone that just does phone calls and SMS and can
>remember numbers you've dialled, and a 'smart' phone that has
>computer-like tools and internet access.

My old, featureless, Nokia had a Windows application that would allow
me to back up the phone and maintain its address book on my Windows
computer. I don't recall if the Windows application allowed me to bulk
import a suitably formatted address book but it is certainly possible.
The feature phones I have seen are bad imitations of a smart phone
including an on-screen key pad and fiddly swipe motions to answer or
reject calls.

> There isn't a global standard
>for 'feature phone' features or operating systems so all you can do is
>talk to people selling feature phones; but I don't think you'll find
>what you're looking for.
>
>The nearest thing might be a feature phone with a web browser that can
>handle the Google webmail pages. You'll need a SIM with 'data' of
>course; I don't think any feature phone does WiFi (although some have
>'bluetooth' for connecting to gadgets).

All phones are required to have a USB port and many old phones used
that port to transfer data as well as power. I don't need Bluetooth or
WiFi.

>
>It is possible to store limited 'phone book' information on the SIM so
>that it's transferable from one handset to another, but that won't
>accommodate all the detail and formatting of Google's address book, and
>may only have room for a few names and numbers.

I don't need all the data from the gMail address book. I'm happy to
reformat the data exported from gMail to a simplified format
acceptable to a program that can transfer a phone book to a dumb cell
phone.

[VanguardLH]

Not so simple. You never mentioned whether you want a cell phone with a
plan (locked in), prepaid phone (locked in), or an unlocked phone. You
won't get a featureless phone for what you specified as your criteria.
To connect to Gmail means Internet access either via cellular data or
wi-fi connectivity along with running an app on the phone to do the sync
and local management of your contacts.

A dumb flip phone will already provide Internet access via cellular data
using a very crippled web browser with minimal features shown on the
tiny display of the flip phone. So you could use up your data minutes
connecting your cell phone to Gmail; however, that will let you see your
contacts, not dial them from your flip phone. As I recall (I never used
it), you can look at your contacts in your Google account and have
Google call that number. It asks for which phone to call you. You use
their web UI to start the call, it calls you, and then it calls the
contact's number. So, indirectly, you could use your Gmail contacts to
make calls by using the web browsing in the flip phone to connect to
your Gmail contacts. I'm pretty sure the outdated and crippled web
browser in the flip phone, slow cellular data service, and tiny screen
on the flip phone are going to make that experience suck.

Another criteria you didn't mention is price. What is your top price
that you will pay? Are you willing to wait until there is a sale on a
smartphone? I happened to grab the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime when
BestBuy had it on sale for $50 (along with a Samsung EVO 64GB microSD
card for $20). I think it was some Samsung sale for a week. Far
cheaper than anywhere else that I had looked. Also, a phone by itself
is worthless. You'll need a cellular carrier provider. Are you willing
to buy used to reduce the price? See, there are more criteria than you
mentioned when getting a phone.

I don't much use my cell phones so I get Tracfone-locked cell phones
because that service is cheap. Minutes rollover indefinitely, I never
use up all what I buy. You can get triple-minute phones where what you
buy gets tripled, so I buy the 400-minute airtime annual card which
gives me 1200 minutes per year for only $100 (they used to have an
option to pay $150 for the 400 minutes but it lasted 2 years), plus I
usually got a bonus code that added another 200 minutes. For me, 1400
minutes per year is far more than I need just for talk minutes. I don't
do Internet on dump flip phones because the web UI sucks. The phone
will be cheaper if you buy it with a service but I don't know if you
want an unlocked phone.

The problem with a flip phone is screen size. How are you going to see
the web page on such a tiny screen? How will the page appear using the
limited web browser fixed inside the flip phone (you won't get a choice
of web browser)? How fast (er, slow) is your cellular data service?
Are you willing to eat up your cellular data minutes connecting your
flip phone to the Internet to get at Gmail? You won't have use of much
faster wi-fi hotspots to use which could be free, like at home, work,
restaurant, stores, etc. You could try browsing to Gmail Contacts on
your existing cell phone to start a call from there to see if the web UI
is usable.

[Gordon Levi]

I don't care about any of the stuff I didn't mention. I'll worry about
how I pay after I find I find the right phone. All I want is a
featureless phone to which I can transfer a gMail address book. I
definitely don't want to use the phone for mail or browsing, just cell
phone calls and text messages. It does need a USB data connection to
my computer and a supplied computer program that allows updates to the
phone's contacts.

Ideally the phone would update its address book from my gMail account
when it was plugged in to my computer via USB but that does not need
to be automatic. I don't mind exporting the gMail address book and
reformatting it to suit the Windows software supplied with the phone.

[VanguardLH]

Gordon Levi wrote:

> It does need a USB data connection to my computer and a supplied
> computer program that allows updates to the phone's contacts.
>
> Ideally the phone would update its address book from my gMail account
> when it was plugged in to my computer via USB but that does not need
> to be automatic. I don't mind exporting the gMail address book and
> reformatting it to suit the Windows software supplied with the phone.

USB was not mentioned when I replied and I did not consider it as a
transfer medium. I wasn't aware you wanted to sync only when you were
at home. I was thinking about doing a sync anytime anywhere. In
another subthread, you said "many old phones used that port to transfer
data" Often you didn't find out if the vendor disabled the USB port
(for data transfer) until after you bought the phone.

Verizon provides a backup service between the phone and their service.
You can then export the contacts from your Verizon account to a CSV file
to import them into Gmail (or any e-mail service or e-mail client that
supports import from a .csv file). Alas, they don't mention if the
reverse procedure is possible: to import a CSV file into the *phone*.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT14DGN42WY

At timemark 0:40, the sync options look to allow export and import of
contact data out of and into the non-smart Samsung phone. There is no
audio instructions. It looks like the export sync from the phone is
sent to phonecopy.com (so you need an account there). Then you sync
some other device to your phonecopy account. Because you wouldn't have
a smartphone to run their sync app, you would need to find a dumb phone
that includes a sync-to-server feature. Since I saw nothing about USB
in the video, the sync will eat up your cellular data minutes to connect
to their sync server.

http://lifehacker.com/400440/back-up-and-sync-your-cell-phone-with-bitpim
(an 8-year old article but mentioned that USB sync was available)

At http://bitpim.org/help/, their Phones section lists the phones they
know works with their software. I did not bother reviewing every phone
they list to see which are flip phones (which would necessitate a tiny
display) and which are bar phones (which can have larger screens).

[Frank Slootweg]

Gordon Levi <gor...@address.invalid> wrote:
[...]

> I don't care about any of the stuff I didn't mention. I'll worry about
> how I pay after I find I find the right phone. All I want is a
> featureless phone to which I can transfer a gMail address book. I
> definitely don't want to use the phone for mail or browsing, just cell
> phone calls and text messages. It does need a USB data connection to
> my computer and a supplied computer program that allows updates to the
> phone's contacts.

I think that if a 'feature phone' has a USB connection for *data* -
i.e. not just for charging - it will come with such software.

So I advise to search for a phone of your liking and the download the
documentation to see if it comes with such software.

> Ideally the phone would update its address book from my gMail account
> when it was plugged in to my computer via USB but that does not need
> to be automatic. I don't mind exporting the gMail address book and
> reformatting it to suit the Windows software supplied with the phone.

Assuming Gmail can export its address book (in another response you
hinted that it can do that) and that you are indeed willing to reformat
the exported Gmail address book to a format which suits the software of
the phone, I think that's quite doable.

Case in point: I have a Telstra/ZTE T95 [1] 'feature phone' and that
comes with the "Join Me" software, which can import an address book (the
phone/software uses the term "Contacts") in CSV or Outlook format.
"Contacts"),

So this phone can do what you want, but since it's 2G/3G only, it
probably doesn't meet your "it needs to be compatible with the latest
mobile phone standards" requirement, assuming that means (also) '4G' and
assoiciated frequency bands.

[1] Before that, I had a Telstra/ZTE T6, also with Join Me. AFAIK, the
Telstra/ZTE T95 is the T95 replacement.