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The Doro 8035 smart phone measures 14.5x7x1cm and weighs 171 grams. The viewable screen is 11x6.4cm which gives the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 5inches. The screen and surround is black while the sides and back are blue grey.
Above the screen is the selfie camera. The normal show all, home and back controls are below the screen and do require a press to activate which will take time to adjust to for those coming from a standard SmartPhone.
The right side has the micro USB connection. The base is clear; the left side has volume rocker buttons while the top has on/off button and 3.5mm headphone socket. This leaves the back that has speaker towards the bottom and in a line towards the top with the camera, LED flash and emergency button.
It runs Android 7.1.2 so any third party Apps should run without problems.
Bootup is a slow 40 second plus while shutdown is also slow at over ten seconds.
By default – using the near normal Android screens the front screen will show two lines of four icons towards the base of the screen. These are Google, Play Store, Settings and Assistant on the top line and Phone, Messages, Camera and Internet on the lower line. Towards the top is the normal line of actions battery state clock etc. and below this the Google bar.
The settings will appear slightly different but if you scroll to the last one and click it a more normal Android set of Settings will show.
Around one third of the 2GB of available memory is pre used, and about the same of the 14.56GB of storage is also used. However you can add a Micro SD card when you insert your Nano SIM below the battery that requires the back of the phone to be removed – you need a strong fingernail – a full day of use should be achieved between charges.
The keyboard is easier to type with than a lot being that little bit larger and having bright white letters on a black background.
There is plenty of volume both for normal use and indeed for making and receiving calls.
All the installed Apps and any you might add are shown by name letter at four lines of four with the name clearly shown under the icon.
Doro have always had an emergency key here it’s on the back so take the time to fill in yourself or get a friend or family member to do it for those less able so assistance can be at hand quickly and also remember to fill in the ICE (in case of emergency) details which in the case of allergies can be lifesaving.
A nice phone with bright easy to read screens even in strong sunlight, it has plenty of volume but for those of us still vain enough to claim ‘normality’ it still has that normal look to it.
The DORO 8035 is available from Amazon for £149.95 SIM free for PRIME users.
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