Doro shows Android handset makers how to make a phone simple (pictures)

Smartphones may have changed the way we go about doing nearly everything in our lives, but there's no denying that they're complicated beasts to handle.

For some, the vast list of settings and multiple ways of doing the same thing is just too much to take in. To help the more nervous tech user ease their way into the smartphone world, Doro has gone to great lengths to simplify the Android experience on its new phone, the Liberto 820.

This 4.5-inch phone will be available globally towards the end of September and is set to cost around £250 ($418, AU$449) SIM-free, although precise pricing is yet to be announced.

The Liberto has multiple home screens -- as you'd expect on an Android device -- but you'll see only these large app icons.

It's very easy to select what apps you want on here and it makes finding things like the settings very simple.

The settings menu itself has been made extremely easy to use. It's far removed from the seemingly endless list of tweakable settings you'll find on the Galaxy S5.

The bottom of the phone is home to three large, easy to press navigation buttons.

They make it a breeze to bring up menus or go back a page, without having to fuss with on-screen navigation keys that hide when not in use.

Key apps like the phone, contacts and messaging have been stripped down as well.

The Web browser, for example, only shows an address bar and buttons for starred pages and tabs.

The phone is hardly the most beautiful thing I've ever set my eyes on, but it's perfectly functional.

It has an 8-megapixel camera on the back.

The speaker grille sits on the bottom.

If the already simplified interface is still a bit much to get your head around, there's an even more stripped-back version you can select.

It shows only four apps as huge tiles on each page. To choose what apps appear, just tap an empty tile and select from the list.

Things can still go wrong with even the most basic of phones. When troubleshooting is required, up to three friends or family members are able to remotely access the Liberto 820 using a Doro app on their own phones to perform a variety of tasks.

Using the Doro app, you can remotely change the brightness of the phone, connect it to wireless networks and add email accounts.

The app is available on any Android or iOS device, so you can get it on your Galaxy S5 and look after your gran's Liberto phone.

The changes are performed over the Internet, rather than Bluetooth so you can alter settings or troubleshoot even when you're on the other side of the world.

You can share photos, contacts and apps as well.

You can't actually force an app to install remotely, but you can send it over as a link to the Google Play store page, meaning your relatives don't have to search through the store pages themselves.

You can check usage too -- alert your relative if they're going over their allowances or see if the phone hasn't been used.

You can set which relatives have access to the phone and stop them from being able to make changes -- handy if you have a mischievous teenager who's trying to make you install Candy Crush.

It's not a particularly slim phone, so it may be something you want to pop in your bag, rather than your trousers.

The buttons on the side are large and easy to press.

There's a dedicated camera shutter button, so you can take pictures as though it were a camera. This will come as a bonus to anyone who's tried to explain to an elderly relative that they need to tap the on-screen picture of a camera to take the photo.

The phone comes with a handy charging dock too.

You won't need to fiddle around trying to poke a micro-USB cable into its little slot -- just pop the phone in the dock.