Not everyone needs a fancy sophisticated smartphone, and in fact for some people all the complexity that comes with tons of buttons, settings and options can make their life a misery. The elderly and physically and mentally disadvantaged people come to mind in this regard. For these and others who would like a simpler life, there are alternatives. The Swedish company Doro, for example, do a special line of products which have simplicity as their aim, and they do their job admirably.

The Doro HandlePlus 334 GSM cellular phone is a good example of a product that turns the whole issue of mobile communications on its head. The handset has only eight buttons in total, of which four are the actual dialers. This means it can be set up to dial four contacts only, and each button can be individually labelled to ensure ultimate ease of use.

There are two brightly colored buttons to allow for call and hang-up, and an SOS button for emergency use, and a very small screen which copes with the minimum information you need to set up and call. It’s an interesting design concept, although the only caveat is you may need to set up your pay-as-you-go SIM card on another phone before inserting it in this handset, in order to cope with all the necessary voice prompt key-presses. Priced at £95.98 for an unlocked model.