My grandmother wants a cell phone so that she can contact us if she is
lost or while she is shopping or if she has an emergency.  In the
past, we've tried giving her a Nokia 6120 but the buttons were so
small and she used it so rarely that it was difficult for her to use.

What is the best phone (on the market) for the elderly?  Big buttons,
speed dial, and minimal features are requirements.  Obviously, small
phones are less desirable than easy-to-handle.

I'd like to get a brief summary of the elderly-friendly phones that
are available today, and a list of the mobile carriers that each phone
will work with.

So far, the only phone I have been able to find is the LG NS1000 but
it does not seem to be available in the US.


Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 19 Dec 2005 01:36 PST

Hi!

This is quite hard to find one for the US but easier for Europe. I was
able to find a distributor for a brand (only one) of cellphone catered
to the elderly. However, mobile carrier info isn't extensive except
that the distributor says they are partners with T-Mobile. The
T-Mobile website however, does not list that phone.

Are you interested in this phone?

Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by helpful2005-ga on 19 Dec 2005 16:14 PST

If I can get the phone from a third party and still have it work with
a mobile carrier in the US, that would be fine, too.  Getting the
phone from the carrier is not a requirement.

So, yes, I am interested in the phone though I'm sure there is more
than one suitable option.  The comments suggest that there are viable
alternatives (such as 
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/phonePopup?item=phoneFirst&phoneId=2060)
so it would be great if we could look into those, too.

Thanks!

Hello...

Why not just subscribe to a voice command function?

ATT VoiceDial
Cingular Voice Connect
Rogers Wireless VoiceCommand
Sprint PCS Voice Command
Verizon Voice Gear

They work great.

Adding on to Canadianhelper's suggestion, how about a "push-to-talk" service?

Or why not one of the simple phone such as the Firefly now marketed to
'kids'... you can preprogram the buttons...

See here...http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/phonePopup?item=phoneFirst&phoneId=2060
or
http://cingular.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=1377

Thanks for the suggestion of the voice command features.  

I haven't used the voice command features that the carriers have
recently released.  However, I get frustrated with even the best voice
recognition systems and I suspect that my grandmother may have a
harder time interacting with one of them then with a phone with a
simple, familiar dial pad or speed-dial buttons.  Can you suggest one
in particular?

The voice recognition features of my Samsung handset are pretty good
so I suspect other mfrs offer similar features.  However, I still
haven't found a phone that lets me press ONE BUTTON and then say the
name of the person I'm calling.  Anything more than that is too
complex.

Thanks for the PTT suggestion.  I'll look into that, too.

Regarding the kids phones:

Those look really promising!  I will investigate those, too.  

You guys are awesome!

This phone has very easy to read and press buttons:

https://www.mindlogic.com/GSM_MOTO_L6_DTL.shtml

jd