New Phone with wi-fi

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

My wife has lost her phone, so I thought I would take the opportunity to become more modern. I will give her my old phone.

Now can I get a phone with screen that will send and receive emails and also allow me to read and reply to the forum while away if the hotel has wi-fi and work on my home wi-fi or does it have to connect to the web via Vodaphone etc. Or can it do both. A decent size screen that can give a readable keyboard. Any recommendations. Or should I just get her a cheap phone and take my laptop.

Sorry to be a dinosaur.

[Daniel Quinn]

for me touch screen typing on a phone is a pain up the arse , excellant for reading but most in fact all of the time i wait till a get to a keyboard to post .

[Clive]

Typing on touch screens is much better on tablets. There's little to beat a Blackberry for serious email. Not good for viewing websites though. A largish phone can be ok for typing, eg samgsung siii. Or go large - samgsung note.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Where does a phone end and a tablet begin I am afraid the whole market confuses me. I can get a decent phone for £30 on ebay, where as that Samsung smartphone cost as much as a decent tablet - signed, Confused Dinosaur

[Clive]

A high end smart phone can be thought of as a small form factor tablet. There's little functional difference.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Can you make and receive phone calls on a tablet.

[Clive]

If it's equiped with a 3G card then yes. You might want to use a bluetooth headset though.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

WTF is that.

[Clive]

It's a modern version of 2 tin cans and wet string. You may not be a great candidate for a smart phone...if you mainly want email with some web access capability the a blackberry is easy to use.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I absolutely hate having to type on a mobile so I don't even text. It looks like the Blackberry doesn't have one of those on screen keyboards, do you have to have a tablet to get one of those.

BTW thanks for your patience Clive.