I Phone Review

Purchasing a cell phone for a senior in our lives is something that's important to ensure their safety as well as give us some piece of mind that they have an outlet if they need it. When you've made the decision and are ready to move forward you should take some of the following considerations into mind before you finalize your purchase. For the most part senior citizens are technophobic so you should make sure that when you're purchasing a phone that you keep that in mind and pick out a phone that fits the profile of a senior citizen and what they need. That means something without all of the bells and the whistles that you see form the phones of today.

Large Is the Word

Another thing that needs to be considered is that you look for a phone with raised and large buttons. This will allow the senior to feel the button under their finger and make sure that they can press and see the button they are pressing individually as they are working to dial the phone.

Hard Of Hearing

Hearing loss is something that comes with older age so you're going to want to find something that has a very good speakerphone to help them with their hearing. The other thing that you should consider is that for the senior that is using hearing aids you should make sure that the phone that you pick as at the least a M3/T3 rating. This is a good rating. You should try to find something that has a rating of M4/T4 though as that is an excellent rating. Either option is going to be better than nothing.

Screen Considerations

Also the screen should be large so they can view the screen and the information as easily as possible. This is especially the case with a senior with diminished eye capacity.

Flip Design

If the senior that you're purchasing the cell phone for wants to utilize and needs the speakerphone every time they use the phone you should consider a flip phone that's going to open and answer immediately and you can set it so speakerphone is on. This is going to help them not only answer the phone without having to press any buttons, it's also going to make sure they aren't left searching for the speakerphone button. Although you can set this on a non flip phone this would be a little easier for the senior. One small additional note to that is that they wouldn't have to worry about accidental dialing.

Keeping It Simple

Some of the best advice is saved here for last. Keep it simple. Picking out a cell phone for a senior citizen is something that most of us will do at one point or another in our lifetime. One thing to keep in mind that if the senior you're purchasing for is extremely technophobic and your purpose is your peace of mind look into the phones that are going to be the most plain and simple.

Additional Information

Regardless of the cell phone that you pick out for the senior citizen in your life you should be sure to preprogram all of the numbers that they're sure to need. Of course your number but also emergency contact numbers and set them for speed dial. Make sure that you give them the lessons on how to use the phone and remember that when you're showing them how to use it you were new to technology once too so you should try to be patient. Also unlike us they didn't grow up with technology like we did. There used to be phones that were rotary dial. This information should get you started in finding a good phone. One of the first places that you should consider is the phone selection through your current provider. That way you can look into just putting them on your plan as they're likely to not use the phone all that much.