The Nokia 105 4G is the cheapest phone on this site and the cheapest one we would actually recommend. Around £24, the price of a couple of school lunches, for a phone that makes calls, sends texts, plays FM radio and does nothing else at all. It sits at number seven in our line-up, and it is there for parents whose brief is exactly that short.
It comes from HMD, and it is the most stripped-back phone we recommend. No camera, no browser, no app store, no Wi-Fi. Unlocked 4G with VoLTE, so it keeps working as the old networks close. The absolute minimum, done properly.
The price is the point
Most phones on this site ask you to weigh what a child gains against what they’re exposed to. The 105 4G barely has that conversation. There is nothing on it to misuse: no WhatsApp, no social media, no internet of any kind. The published UK and US coverage (TechRadar, Tech Advisor, GSMArena) treats it as the reliable bottom rung of the market, not a toy.
The price also answers the other worry, loss. At around £24, a phone left on the school bus is the cost of a takeaway, not a family crisis. That is why it earns a second role on our list too: a spare phone for the car or a coat pocket.
What it does
Calls and texts on unlocked 4G with VoLTE. An FM radio with a 3.5 mm headphone socket. A microSD slot that takes cards up to 32 GB. It weighs 93 g, and the battery runs up to 22 days on standby. With light use, a few short calls and texts a day, you’ll charge it about once a fortnight. That standby figure is consistent across HMD’s specifications and the credible UK and US tech reviews.
What it doesn’t do is the longer list, and the reason to buy it. No camera. No web browser. No app store. No Wi-Fi. Calls and texts, full stop.
The trade-offs
The missing camera cuts both ways. For some parents it’s the whole appeal. For others it means no proof-of-life photo home from the school trip, ever. If the occasional photo matters, the Nokia 110 4G or the Nokia 235 4G is the step up.
The 1.8 inch screen and T9 keypad are as basic as phones get, and this is the most basic-looking phone on our list. A child who would mind carrying it should look at the Nokia 3210 instead, where music and Snake make a basic phone feel like a treat.
Price and where to buy
Around £24 on Amazon UK. That’s the buy button on this page.
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Pair with
A ParentShield SIM for first phones. The 105 4G suits ages 8 to 10, the first-phone age ParentShield is built for. If you’re still weighing it against the rest of the field, the full ranking covers every phone we recommend.
The honest summary
The 105 4G is the honest floor of the market: the phone for a genuinely tight budget where the only requirement is calls and texts that keep working after the old networks close. That judgement is an editorial synthesis of the published UK and US tech coverage (TechRadar, Tech Advisor, GSMArena) and HMD’s specifications, not hands-on testing. The coverage agrees on the essentials. Reliable bottom rung, not a toy.
The specs that matter
- Price from
- £24
- Network
- Unlocked 4G with VoLTE
- Battery
- Up to 22 days on standby. Charge it about once a fortnight.
- Camera
- None
- Storage
- microSD up to 32 GB
- Weight
- 93 g
- What stands out
- The cheapest here by a distance, with weeks of standby battery.
Where to buy
Buying through the Amazon UK button earns us a small Amazon Associates commission at no cost to you. Read the full disclosure.
Where the reviewers differ
Coverage agrees this is a stripped-back feature phone with no camera, long battery life and value at around 40 euros. The UMPCPortal review of the 2023 model is the main caveat: it rates battery and call basics well but calls the Opera Mini browser useless for normal sites and the 1.8-inch screen the worst part, while GSMArena shows the 2023 refresh moving to a larger 1450 mAh battery and Bluetooth 5.0 over the camera-free, Bluetooth-less 2021 original.
The published reviews we read
- GSMArena Nokia 105 4G - Full phone specifications
- GSMArena Nokia 105 4G (2023) - Full phone specifications
- UMPCPortal Nokia 105 4G 2023 Review: Browser, MP3, FM and more, in under 80 grams
Notes from Ansa-Phone, when there is something worth saying.
Short notes on simple phones, the parent conversation and the school side. New subscribers get our first-phone series, four short emails over eleven days, then occasional notes when there is a piece worth sending. Unsubscribe with one click.
How the Nokia 105 4G sits next to the others
We keep a tight list of simple phones on the shelf at any one time. The Nokia 105 4G is one of them. Here are the others, and the short reason a UK family might pick each one instead.
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Nokia 3210 (2024), from £79
Our first recommendation for almost every family. It looks like the phone your child's friends will think is cool, which matters more than parents often admit.
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Nokia 8210 4G, from £35
The cheaper sibling to the 3210. The same idea, a phone a child is happy to be seen with, on a bigger screen and at a lower price. The trade is a plainer build and a weaker camera.
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Nokia 235 4G, from £40
The starter pick for under-tens, and the no-fuss phone for anyone who genuinely does not want anything beyond calls and texts.
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Nokia 2660 Flip, from £55
The one for a younger child, or anyone who likes the satisfaction of closing a phone to end a call. The flip protects the screen at the bottom of a school bag, and there is nothing on it to fall down.
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Nokia 225 4G, from £45
The middle of the cheap-Nokia pack. A little more phone than the 105 or the 110, a little less than the 3210. The 2024 version adds USB-C charging, which the older basics lack.
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Nokia 110 4G, from £25
The cheapest phone we list that still has a camera. A pound or two more than the 105 4G, and you get a basic camera, Bluetooth and an MP3 player. The floor of the market, with a little extra.
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HMD Barbie Phone, from £99
Half novelty, half genuine simple phone. It says 'Hi Barbie' when it boots and the buttons glow in the dark, but underneath it is a proper 4G flip with no app store, no browser and no social media. For a child who would carry a fun phone but not a plain one.
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Pinwheel Plus, from £279
For families who need a smartphone-shaped device but want a hard boundary on what runs on it. The portal lets you whitelist apps from a curated list. There's a monthly subscription for the Caregiver Portal.
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Punkt MP02, from £259
The keypad alternative to the Light Phone III. A beautifully made minimalist phone for an adult or older teenager stepping back from a smartphone, with Signal-based messaging and 4G tethering, but no app store and no camera.
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Light Phone III, from £399
Quiet, minimal, slow on purpose. The Light Phone III ships from the US, which means import VAT and a longer wait. For the family who is sure this is right and is willing to pay for it.
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Refurbished iPhone SE (3rd gen), from £169
The fallback for parents who have decided a smartphone is the answer (often because of a specific school or medical reason) and want the cheapest, longest-supported route in.
The full ranked list, with the trade-offs spelled out alongside each phone, lives at /best-simple-phones. If you'd rather a ninety-second picker that points at one phone for your specific family, that's at /which-phone. If you'd like the catalogue at-a-glance, the Phone-dex is at /phone-dex.
Questions UK parents ask about the Nokia 105 4G
Does the Nokia 105 4G have WhatsApp, internet or social media?
No to all three. The 105 4G has no camera, no web browser, no app store, no Wi-Fi. Calls, texts and FM radio. It is the most stripped-back phone we recommend.
Is the Nokia 105 4G good for a child?
Yes, particularly for under-tens on the tightest budget. At around £24 the 105 4G is the honest floor of what we would put in a child's hand. It also makes sense as a spare phone for the car or a coat pocket.
What is the battery life on the Nokia 105 4G?
Up to 22 days of standby. With light use (a few short calls and texts a day) you will charge it once a fortnight. The standby figure is consistent across HMD specifications and the credible UK and US tech reviews (TechRadar, GSMArena, Tech Advisor).
Read next
- The conversation, in seven moments, the kitchen-table script built from published UK parent testimony. Free, no email gate.
- For teachers and carers, a letter from the head, an assembly script, the SLT one-pager. The school side of the conversation.
- What the research says, calmly, the plain-English read of the evidence behind delaying a first smartphone.
- The research, every claim Ansa-Phone makes, with the primary source attached.
- UK pricing guide, the £24 to £400 ladder and the hidden costs.
- The best UK SIMs for a child's first phone, ParentShield first, the cheaper alternatives below.
