FOLLOW US

Review: Doro 1370

Jasper Hart
June 4, 2019

Available for £26.94 from Amazon

Doro has slowly but steadily carved out a niche for itself in the over-65s market with affordable phones that emphasise accessibility above all else.

Despite this the Swedish manufacturer hasn’t limited its design aspirations, with smart devices such as the 8035 and 8040 offering an accessible 4G-connected experience at the low-end of smartphone prices. Doro’s 4G offerings even extend to its flip devices such as the 7060, and the 6520 is 3G-enabled.

Its trademark design choice has to be its assistance button found on the back of its devices, which calls a list of preferred contacts in case of an emergency.

While the aforementioned examples show off Doro’s favouring of accessibility if not

necessarily simplicity, its safe to say that the 1370 (which is one of its cheapest phones) employs the latter almost to a fault.

While it is undoubtedly easy to use, with a solid design and big protruding buttons, the camera and torch are dumbed down to near pointlessness and the battery life is deceptively short – much shorter than advertised by the manufacturer. There are also questions to be asked about how high the volume can go.

Hardware Specs

OS: Doro in-house
Processor: ARM7 360MHz
Screen: 2.4 inches
Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
Memory: 8GB
Internal storage: 16GB
External memory: Micro SD up to 32GB
Water resistance: None
Rear camera: 3MP
Front camera: None
Video: n/a
Battery: 1,000 mAh
Connectivity: Bluetooth
Cellular Speed: n/a
Dimensions: 100 x 53 18mm
Weight: 106g

What the Manufacture says:

At Doro, we are dedicated to helping seniors live a better life. We care about the seniors – they are our heroes.

Everyone should have the opportunity to live a fulfilling life, without compromises. We want to make ageing an independent, secure and rich part of life. To us, age is just a number. We’d like everyone to be able to take part. That’s why we develop easy-to-use services and products that make it simpler for seniors to keep in touch with friends and family, as well as be active members of society – despite the challenges that can come with age.

Since everyone is different, we are constantly doing research to keep up with a growing variety of needs and demands. Using these insights, we can develop and offer a range of services and products that delivers what people need and want, regardless of age.

When it comes to mobile phones, our focus is on features that make daily life simpler and safer – larger keys, clearer sound, easily read screens and security buttons.

Looking for a phone that makes everyday calling and texting simple, with direct keys for even easier functionality? The Doro 1370 offers you all this plus a torch, a 3MP camera and more, all at a great price.

Our Review:

The Doro 1370 has a nice large design and is generally quite easy to navigate, with its large rubber buttons in particular for its target demographic.

Given its price, the lack of 4G is understandable, and once set up the assistance button works fine, with up to 10 numbers able to be called in the event of an emergency.

The battery life is obviously solid, given that you’re not going to be using it beyond calls or texts (or perhaps radio listening – although the compatible earpiece that enables this did not come with the device), but it definitely does not last as long as the 520 hours listed on Doro’s website, even when lying idle; the real number is closer to 100, so you’ll want to keep an eye on it after a few days. Luckily, it charges extremely quickly.

The lack of radio earphones is frustrating, and the camera, weak as it already is, can’t record any videos. The torch is also quite dim.

Furthermore, although the device is hearing aid-compatible, the volume of calls was quite low, which may make conversations in public spaces quite difficult.

Overall, however, as a no-frills feature device on the low end of the low end, the Doro 1370 still gets the job done in terms of what it aims to achieve.

[wp-review id=”55002″]

About the Author

Share this article