My Samsung Nexus S also drops calls and sometimes doesn't ring when I'm at home and have a weak signal.
There are only a few Quick Messaging Devices on the website that are not smartphones. They may have more in an ATT store for you to look at.
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/quickmess
Here are the flip phones that you may have seen that are not smartphones.
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/cellphone
I would suggest, just going to a corp store and checking them out for yourself since everyone has a different opinion and only you know what you'd like in a cell phone.
Peeps!! Thanks Dcookie...for the response. I did just what you suggested. Headed for the local AT&T company store. Unfortunately I did not get to talk to the really nice young lady who took so much time with us when we were buying my wife's iPhone. This time I drew the runt of the litter. A scraggly haired "know-it-all" who kept interrupting what we were discussing to assist another customer. The longer I tried to work with him to find a phone that would meet my needs....the more ticked off I became. We finally turned on our heel and walked out. But the consensus was that simple "dumb" phones of any quality are really hard to find.....at least at our not-so-friendly AT&T store.
Luckily...Best Buy is just across the big parking lot so, on a whim, we went over there. Our associate simply could not have been any nicer or more accomodating. But the problem of finding a good quality "dumb" phone still remained......unless I wanted another Samsung.....which I definitely did not. By this time my wife is beginning to hint that I should just go ahead and get a smart phone. Eventually that is what I did. She thought I should go with the iPhone 5. Well.....just yesterday morning....I had been involved in a very frustrating exchange with Apple CS over the problems the wife is having with the new iOS 6 on her iPad 3. So....in addition to my pre-existing dislike for anything Apple....I was in no mood to even consider an iPhone. I have had such excellent service and performance out of the Motorola phone in the past that I decided to get another one. They did not have any Motorola's at the AT&T store but BB had some and I decided on the Motorola Atrix HD. It comes with the Android 4.4 OS.....has more darn features than I'll ever use or even figure out how to use. I think the front facing camera is an 8 megapixel version. The phone is fairly large.....better for my old eyes to be able to read what's on the larger screen. Of course it's a 4G unit. Also has the Wi-Fi capability so it switches over automatically to our home network when I am here...for web access. But...this shoe leather sure tastes awful. As longer term acquaintences here on the forum know....I have carried on at some length, in the past, about how crazy it is to have a cell phone that does anything more than just make and receive phone calls. I've also railed on about that extra cost per month. Now....well....once again I find myself eating my own words. Now I just hope this Motorola product is anywhere as durable and trouble free as that Razor V3 was. The only real negative I've been able to find so far with the phone is that the battery is not customer replaceable.
Oh well....chomp, chomp....yuck!
So there has to be something about those old phones. Good luck with your Atrix. I also bought my current phone from BB since ATT didn't carry this one and I love the fact that it's not loaded with all of the ATT bloatware.
ATT, IMO, should have a better selection of dumbphones. Not everyone needs/wants a smartphone. To tell you the truth, I'll never use all of the features on MY smartphone but it's kind of fun always discovering something new that I can do with it.
Posted from Google Nexus S
The only thing I can say that I don't like about my Nexus S is the fact that it does not allow me to use a memory card. So, I know, kind of, what you mean about your Atrix battety.
Posted from Google Nexus S
I moved my micro SD card (4gb) over from my Samsung and it slips right into the slot right next to the spot where the micro SIM card goes. Some pictures of Alfie that I had on that SD card made the trip just fine and are accessible on the Atrix. I'm still playing around with it. It is so loaded with stuff that the owner's manual is 107 pages long in the PDF file. I may take it to Office Depot or Staples and have it printed and bound. It isn't very expensive...about $12 to $13 if I restrict it to black ink only....no color. That gets expensive. I want to import a couple of new ring tones also. I like my first few measures from Beethoven's 5th Symphony.....full orchestra...... dit-dit-dit-dah. Morse code for "V" so I think that's how it got it's nickname of the Victory symphony.
I can only WISH my phone had a place for a memory card! That's just the way the Nexus S is, though, unfortunately. You're a funny guy...I'm still laughing about what you said about the owner's manual. 
I actually have my PDF manual downloaded to my pc and to my phone but STILL haven't read thru it all the way and probably never will. I used to like when there were manuals that came with the phones, in the box, but most of the time, they never told you anything anyway. If you're serious about having it printed and bound, that's a GREAT idea and better than using your own printer and ink.
There are apps that I use for getting ringtones/music and for making my own ringtones. I think I've finally figured out how to use both of them. I never had a problem downloading a song that I wanted to use as a ringtone but I never knew where to find it after that! I think I'm good now, though.
Your Beethoven's 5th would be a great ringtone! Go for it!
Dcookie wrote:
I can only WISH my phone had a place for a memory card! That's just the way the Nexus S is, though, unfortunately. You're a funny guy...I'm still laughing about what you said about the owner's manual.
There are apps that I use for getting ringtones/music and for making my own ringtones. I think I've finally figured out how to use both of them. I never had a problem downloading a song that I wanted to use as a ringtone but I never knew where to find it after that!
Your Beethoven's 5th would be a great ringtone! Go for it!
Oh yes. I AM thinking about it. First time I had a manual printed and bound for easy access was after I gave my wife her first iPad. She found it very convenient to keep by her chair for reference as she used the pad. Since then I've done the same thing with two other owner's manuals. This would be #4. Believe me....it's money well spent. Actually quite cheap I think. A lot better than trying to print it out myself. I can imagine how much the ink would cost.
It's always nice to have some pages to refer back to. I did the same thing once with the online manual for my camera...printed out what page I needed at the time and just kept them together. Personally, I hate reading thru manuals on my phone OR the pc....
Let me know how it goes.
Just a quick report on how my new Motorola Atrix HD is doing. I have not had even one incident of dropped call or failure to ring through since I put this phone into use. So that pretty much tells me it was the Samsung phone which was at fault. The Motorola is physically larger so the 4.5" screen is easier to read. BUT....like all phone cameras I've tried....this one is extremely lacking in picture quality. I've also used the rear-facing camera once on SKYPE and it seems to be OK for that purpose. At least the friend I was talking to reported the picture looked OK. Can't do anything to help the subject matter however. Using a smart phone is infectious. I knew it would be. That's why I resisted getting one for so long. But now I'm hooked.
That's good!! Glad you're liking your phone.
