BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled

Subject: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, h'capped
From: leeneia
Date: 15 Jul 24 - 04:51 PM

I have a brother who has had two strokes and is very near-sighted. His mobile phone is hard for him to use.

Typical example: he was trying to order groceries from Amazon, his finger jerked, and suddenly he was looking at a screen about John Lennon. Then he flew into a rage because he didn't know how to get rid of John Lennon and get back to his grocery order. Naturally, rage makes everything worse.

I would like to hear from people who have used a phone designed for the elderly (or handicapped.) What brand was it? Did it work okay? How big was it?

I guess there are phones you can just talk into to send a text, but do they work if one's voice isn't clear? His voice is smoke-damaged and "thick-sounding," if you know what I mean.

My sister tried the much-advertised Jitterbug and didn't like it. She said it was cumbersome to use the list of contacts to make a phone call.
Was she right, or was she missing something?

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, h'capped
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Jul 24 - 04:24 AM

I don't think any smart phone would do to be honest. Even the big ones are too small for anyone with impaired vision or dexterity. You can still get a phone with big buttons that just makes phone calls. See if he is receptive to a desktop, or at least a laptop, for going online. I would go for a Linux one that you can remotely maintain for him if he is not technical. Good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, h'capped
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Jul 24 - 05:00 AM

I keep wondering about this. Robert Rodriquez uses a landline at home, and I think his mobile phone is a flip phone from Consumer Cellular. He has no access to even the most basic computer services. He's blind, and he doesn't like technology. But I get the impression he's paying too much and getting too little.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, h'capped
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Jul 24 - 12:05 PM

I've been checking back. I'm surprised that nobody has ever used a special phone or (what I thought more likely) knows somebody who uses one.

Dave, I know what you mean about a computer. I'm working on it. It's a long and frustrating saga. (I'm 600 miles away.)

I didn't realize how truly stupid computer producers are until I saw the world of tech through my brother's eyes. For example, on my own computer the symbols that mean:

connect to wifi
control volume
eject device

are 4 mm across and are in light gray against a dark gray background. He can't even tell they are there. I've looked for a way to make them bigger, can't find one. He bought a thing called an Opti-visor that helped him see, but then it disappeared. I know because the DH and I searched his small place on a visit.

Meanwhile, does anybody else use a special phone?

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, h'capped
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 18 Jul 24 - 01:24 PM

My husband more or less refuses to use a mobile phone, but we got him a Doro: very basic phone with big buttons. Have to remind him how to switch it on, on the rare occasions that he uses it, and what to do if a call comes in.
No chance of him sending a text as it means using the keypad where each number can represent 3 different letters according to how many times you press the button!
I am currently trying to get to grips with using Relay, as my hearing is now so bad that I can't really do ordinary phone calls: with that you get the option to type what you want to say and receive as text. But that's a UK system: not sure if you have similar in the USA, Leeneia.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, h'capped
From: leeneia
Date: 25 Jul 24 - 06:42 PM

What happened to my reply to Tattie? Once again, thanks Tattie for that information. I'll look into that.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jul 24 - 03:28 PM

Gremlins must have gotten it, nothing happened here.

My neighbor across the street is 90 and has an ancient flip phone that barely works - the towers don't support the old technology. A friend set him up with the phone on her plan and I guess he doesn't know what to tell her he needs now. I've made a couple of adjustments for him, so he can find the names he calls most often (but hasn't called in ages.)

This thread reminds me that I was going to look around and print out something he can send her or call her about - to keep his number but put it in a new phone. He'll need a new SIM card so she might as well handle the whole transaction then send it to him.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jul 24 - 03:48 AM

Different people have different disabilities. The universal answer is to give them a flip phone - but that doesn't usually allow Internet access. The rest of us have phones that allow us to look up information and play songs and do all sorts of things. What phone resources are available to disabled people?

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Jul 24 - 07:23 PM

Joe, that is a really good question,
and it seems odd that an answer is not forthcoming.
I don't have a smartphone and I find them intimidating,
never mind that so many other people have them and use them all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 30 Jul 24 - 06:25 AM

"Mobile phones for the elderly"

Sounds fair, can I swap my mother-in-law for a Samsung Galaxy? ;)

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jul 24 - 02:56 PM

We see the commercials on TV for devices for helping you understand calls by transcribing voice to text on a screen. They always say no insurance or Medicare required - I think it's a federal program. But I'm pretty certain you have to use it with a landline. And those a pricey now. My ex was paying $100 a month for a phone that basically was all spammer calling. He finally moved the number to a cell phone, then moved that over to Google voice, in order to keep the number (but now Google Voice doesn't charge him anything, but they take messages, texts, and he can make calls via that number with his regular cell phone, at no cost.)

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: leeneia
Date: 31 Jul 24 - 10:38 PM

Today I ordered a Jitterbug Smartphone 4 to see what it's really like. It's got to be better than what my brother has now.

I asked if the phone had buttons on the edges, because he's often hitting them accidentally, and they said it does but they can inactivate them if asked. We'll see.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 06 Aug 24 - 03:57 PM

Sorry I don't have any experience with easy to use phones; except to say I would hate to do anything fiddly like Amazon orders on a phone. I use a 10" tablet for that sort of thing which is generally very good.   idk if you can get tablets which will work as a phone these days.

ageco* has a page(july 2024) listing some suggestions
idk if the same models would be available in the USA

The best mobile phones for the elderly
Examples of phones with big screens
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – 6.8-inch display (4G/5G and most durable Galaxy smartphone range to date)
iPhone 15 Pro Max– 6.7-inch display (4/5G)
Google Pixel 8 Pro - 6.7-inch display (4/5G)

Examples of flip phones[larger buttons]
Doro6820 (4G)
Nokia 2720 Flip (4G)
TTfone TT970 (4G with WhatsApp)

more :
www.ageco.co.uk/useful-articles/money/the-best-mobile-phones-for-the-elderly/

*ageco is a trading subsidiary of the charity Age UK

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Aug 24 - 12:09 AM

I'm sending the J'bug4 back after fussing with it for an hour. It isn't true that the buttons are big, and the side buttons cannot be de-activated as the sales rep claimed.

Let me vent. I am a small woman, and my hands are even smaller than usual for a small woman. The QWERTY keys are so small on this phone that I have to use the tip of my little finger to type. The keys are about 1/4-inch square, and they pick up tremors I can't even detect. Meanwhile, there's empty white space on the screen that they could have used to display bigger keys.

We are probably all familiar with the frustrations of a badly-programmed product. I signed on the household WIFI, and it said my attempt didn't work. I went back one screen to try again, but it said I was connected. Fine, but there was nowhere to go from there. No Next, no Back, no Close, no X. Trapped!

It would have my poor brother throwing things.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: DaveRo
Date: 08 Aug 24 - 03:04 AM

Like FreddyHeadey I use a 10" tablet for browsing - e.g. ordering from Amazon. My on-screen keyboard takes up about a quarter of the screen but can be changed and made bigger:
Screenshot 1   Screenshot 2

Changing and resizing keyboards is a standard feature of Amazon tablets and phones (and almost certainly of iPads/iPhones).

If I had difficulty with the on-screen keyboard I would use a separate one. These are also quite common. I had one once - it attached to the tablet magnetically and folded to form its cover: very neat. You can attach a standard bluetooth keyboard to Android tablets.

I have a phone but I very rarely use it with the browser. I want it small enough to go in my pocket . I use it as a phone, and to text. The only apps I use are for travel - trains, buses, and maps.

Subject: RE: BS: mobile phones for the elderly, disabled
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Aug 24 - 03:26 PM

Too bad, leeniea, about the Jitterbug.
Maybe the suggestion about tablets would be better.
I have seen senior citizens comfortably using tablets in public places.