UKC

As per the title really.....

My dear old mum is 85+ but some of her young friends (in their 60's and 70's) have these newfangled smartphone things.

It's her birthday soon, and I'm thinking of getting her said phone. Personally I think this opens a world of hurt for me to be smartphone repairer and general consultant, but no worries and I'll cope .

So the question is anyone aware of a "smartphone for oldies" that I could get for her? (or has had success with their own elderly relatives?). I'm thinking limited, simple, functionality. Mainly to make it easy for her to use and difficult for her to mess up (hence requiring services of smartphone consultant!). Joking aside, I want her to gain confidence, and she won't do that if I keep having to reset things.

Tech level of mother is that she has her own PC which she is moderately capable with, but didn't get on very well at all with the tablet (hudl) we got her.

Thoughts welcome......

In reply to John_Hat:

I think the Samsung J3 has an option for a simplified home screen.

http://eguides.sprint.com/support/eguides/samsunggalaxyj32016/content/samsu...

In reply to John_Hat:

I guess most phones you can hide most unneeded apps etc? My worry is that if she doesn't like a tablet, will she like a phone which is basically a tiny tablet. Why didn't she like the tablet? What do you think she will use the phone for? My mum is only in her 60s and she just doesn't seem to feel any need to connect to the internet when away from her house and laptop, so only ever calls and texts on her smartphone. She doesn't use the GPS function either, still prints out instructions to get places...

In reply to John_Hat:

Try the Doro range of phones. Review in the latest edition of 'Which'

In reply to John_Hat:

Good luck with this one! My dad is of a similar age and I still can't find him a regular, 'non-smart' mobile that he can a) hear when it rings b) use and c) remember to charge.

In reply to sog:

I got the Doro 820 smart phone for the mother-in-law.

Decent big buttons, nicely customised version of Android user interface, including custom email and messaging apps. Charges from a cradle, so no need to fiddle a little connector into the side of the phone.

It allows her to receive photos of the grand kids, and text easily, which is all she needs. I've never tried the web browsing side of it, as that's another whole world to teach her.

You can also set up permissions to connect remotely to manage contacts, set up the emergency call feature etc.

In reply to chris_r:

another vote for Doro, bought one for my dad couple years ago. he loved it, he thought was well down with kids!

cheers
mark

In reply to John_Hat:

Yep, another vote for Doro. We were looking for one for my mother-in-law recently. In the end she decided she didn't want a smart phone and we got her a clam-shell thing (also from Doro) which she is very pleased with - but we did play with the Doro smartphone in the process of looking. She found it easy to use (just decided she wouldn't actually want to use a lot of the functions) and I was quite impressed with it too - the UX is very simple.

In reply to Oldsign:

That looks interesting, thanks!

In reply to ceri:

Yes, when we originally got her the tablet the idea is that it would be a gateway into gtetting her a phone - if she got used to the bigger screen then the transition to a small screen would be less of a problem.

The reason she gives for not getitng on with the tablet is that it is too heavy, but I'm not sure that's all the story.

As to why she wants one, it's mainly for emails and texts when she is on holiday. She sees all her friends texting and emailing their family and wants to join in!!

In reply to sog, chris, jmakr and kathryn

Many thanks, it looks like doro is definitely worth a look....

In reply to Fraser:

My mother has just about got the hang of texting on her ancient nokia.... most of the time. Sortof....

In reply to John_Hat:

Been there, bought the t-shirt! Looking at the Doro mobiles, I think that's the sort my dad has and is probably the one he has been most successful with.

In reply to Fraser:

Yes, I'm looking at the same... also just been on to EE and going to order a sim so that she can try my ancient HTC desire.

In reply to John_Hat:
Another recommendation for the Doro 8030 https://www.doro.co.uk/doro-8030.html

Go deal available at Tesco

My dad has gone from total unconnected non-tech user, to slightly annoying person who grabs his phone to verbally ask it a question every time there is something unknown in a conversation, in just 4 weeks!

In reply to John_Hat:
A relative's daughter goes to a school for blind/visually impaired and he tells me they all use apple.

I assume Apple's closed ecosystem means it can be heavily optimised for accessibility and Apple has the commitment, resources & market share to do that.

Can't comment from direct experience though.