Doro PhoneEasy 410gsm Cell Phone Review

Using the PhoneEasy 410gsm

The PhoneEasy 410gsm opens to reveal a clear and crisp 2-inch 176-by-220 pixel color LCD screen, which performed well in bright sunlight. Although you cannot control the size of the text on the screen, as seen in Figure 10, the text is large and readable. Above the screen is the speaker; below it is the Doro label.

 Figure 10: The screen

The main functionality of the phone is controlled by the keypad, shown in Figure 11. Two soft keys at the top are used to make on-screen menu choices and the up and down arrow keys are used to scroll through menu choices. The arrow keys are flanked by a call key with a green icon on the left and an end call/power on/off button with a red icon on the right.

Below this is a typical 1-2-3 phone pad. The biggest difference between this Doro phone and others is that the keypad has large black raised keys that are clearly marked in large white numbers. Each key is spaced so that it is surrounded by a white background, making the keys very easy to see. At the bottom of the keypad is a small opening for the microphone.

 Figure 11: The keypad

Using the PhoneEasy 410gsm is pretty straight-forward. As shown in Figure 12, icons on the screen are large and easy to recognize. The signal and battery indicators on the screen are also fairly large. 

Figure 12: The phonebook menu choice

Several customizations are available. You can choose between 20 melodies and eight wallpapers. The phone can be set to 14 different languages including Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, and Danish.

This phone has all the expected cell phone functionality including an alarm, calendar, calculator, call-waiting, speaker phone, 3-way conference calling, caller-ID, voice mail, ten speed dial numbers, voice mail, SMS (Short Messaging Service for texting), MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service for texting photos), and room for 300 contacts. We found the calendar a little difficult to use on a daily basis, but the other functionalities worked well. Although nothing terribly exciting, this Doro even comes with two simple games, Robot and UFO.

We found the speaker louder than most, and the phone is also hearing-aid compatible. Call quality was good on both ends of the conversation.

Since the Consumer Cellular backend service is provided by AT&T, if you get a good signal from AT&T in your area, this phone will also get a good signal.

Although it is difficult to text from most phone keypads, we found if fairly easy to text from this Doro. Although not obvious, there is a function called Spell Support in the Settings under the SMS heading. When turned on, the Spell Support will surmise what you are trying to type, so instead of pressing the “9” key four times to get the letter “z” or pressing the “2” key three times to get a “c,” you can simply press each key once. As you type, the phone will “guess” the word that you are trying to type. We found this worked quite well.

As expected for a simple phone, battery life was good. Doro projects that the phone has a battery life of four hours of talk time and four days and 14 hours standby. We found the phone with only occasional use lasted for about a week without recharging.

This Doro phone also includes an FM radio. You need to listen via the headset, since it acts as an antenna. We were surprised by the good sound quality that we heard when using the radio, which also includes presets for nine stations. You can also use the included headset for hands-free answering. There is a small answer/terminate button on the headset cable to control calls.

We were also able to use this phone with several Bluetooth headsets. The phone has no voice dialing, but we didn’t expect to find voice dialing in a phone in this price range. Other than that, the Bluetooth worked well.

The Doro PhoneEasy 410gsm sells for USD 25 at the Consumer Cellular website. They do, however, also charge a USD 35 activation fee. Consumer Cellular has no-contract monthly fees that range from USD 10 per month with no minutes to USD 60 per month for 2,400 minutes, with additional minutes ranging from USD 0.10 a minute to USD 0.25 a minute. They have family plans and give discounts to AARP members. Some resellers such as Walgreen’s sell the phone for USD 60 which includes the activation fee.

Since this is an unlocked phone, if you can find a place to purchase it without the Consumer Cellular activation, you can use an AT&T, T-Mobile, or with other carriers that use a GSM SIM card.

Doro and Consumer Cellular expect this phone to be used by seniors and others who may be using a cell phone for the first time,so they have produced a series on detailed How-To videos which are available on the Consumer Cellular website. This website also provides a useful downloadable Quick Start Guide and full User’s Guide.