Special Cell Phone

January 25, 2005 2:45 PM

I am trying to find a cell phone suited to someone with osteo arthritis and reduced vision [more inside]

My partner's mother is reluctant to use her cell phone because the buttons are tiny and hard to press, the display is very small, and it has a thousand and one unwanted functions.

Can anyone recommend a model of phone with larger buttons and fewer functions? Preferably something available in Australia, but any manufacturer and model details will help.

posted by tomble to technology (4 comments total)

I find the voice command feature on my phone (Samsung VM-A680) works well when my arthritis acts up. It's a built in feature that prompts the available options and is great since it is a standard menu set rather than a service add on.

The phone is a full on video/camera phone but I end up using the voice command feature (Digit Dial, Name Dial, Voice memo, Phone Book, My Number, and Status) virtually every call no matter how my hands are. The other stuff is just gravy.

Maybe use voice commands as a baseline for the phone's features and go from there in terms of other features?
posted by ..ooOOoo....ooOOoo.. at 3:19 PM on January 25, 2005

I remember seeing a couple of phones like what you are describing on Engadget. There is this one, which will just do simple phone calls and text messaging and then this one, which is even more simplified and is supposed to be more like a home phone people might be used to.

Both of those articles link to english versions of japanese sites, and I can't figure any geographic availability on either of these, but it might get you started.
posted by JudoGno at 4:51 PM on January 25, 2005

Not to "Ask" hijack - but I'm looking for something equally similar...

A simple to use cell phone for my father with Alzheimer's.
posted by filmgeek at 5:07 PM on January 25, 2005

I would reccommend Motorola phones and mine, the V400. Lots of gadgets, but the buttons are the largest I've ever seen and has voice activation. I think you can change the size of the font as well as a million other things to make it easier to use.
posted by scazza at 8:48 PM on January 25, 2005