I've been doing a little research for my brother in law on phones that are good for texting and pretty much nothing else. It's a little difficult, though.

At the moment he has a Motorola candybar phone that apparently doesn't even have T9, so it takes him forever to type out a text on it.

What he'd like is a GSM phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, that could be found unlocked for pretty cheap.

Does anyone have any ideas? I don't think he cares if it's used, as he found his current on on ebay. He doesn't want/need smartphone capabilities, as he doesn't have interest in checking email or getting web access, and mostly doesn't want the data plan that goes along with it. He also doesn't want to get into another contract, so he'd rather buy a used phone at a slightly higher cost than some phone they'd give you for free or something through the carrier.

Any ideas?

Some of the Nokia E range phones like the E61 have a full keyboard like the Crackberry. There does appear to be several of them on eBay US.

That's a possibility. Unfortunately I don't quite know his price range. It's certainly below $200, but I'm afraid it might also be below $150, and looking at ebay right now, it looks like the E61 is going for around $170-200. Too bad, I've heard good things about that phone.

There are some here that look interesting.

I'm not sure if they come in gsm, but the LG Envy is great at texting and nothing else (including, as with many modern phone, it's a lousy phone).

For someone who doesn't use T9 now I wouldn't be surprised if it was hard for them to changeover. I know a few people who simply don't get it and continue to use the regular multiple press. Of course it can always be disabled.

Something in the Nokia E range as suggested with a full QWERTY might be an answer to that. An E61 is quite a wide phone. I always found it a bit difficult to line the ear piece of my E61 up with my ear when using it as an actual phone.

Here (Australia) you can buy brand new low end Nokias on prepay for $50-100 and unlocked. They'll have much better battery life as compared with say an E61.

You can (apparently) text with a Peek. I've never handled one, so I don't know how the size compares to a cell phone, but the no monthly fee aspect might be alluring.

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