Hi, my husband had a stroke at the start of the year and is really finding using his mobile phone difficult. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas or recommendations for a very simple to use phone just for texting and phoning out? He’s struggling to find the right contacts and often makes random calls by mistake.
I am out at work all day so he needs to be able to use his phone properly.
Grateful for any advice, thank you.
Hi @Ali14, welcome to the community and I’m sorry to hear about your husband’s stroke. It’s a difficult time for him and for you, but you’ll receive a lot of help and support here.
if your husband has an iPhone it has a simplified mode called assistive access built in: Assistive Access User Guide – Apple Support (UK) . You could try that without needing to spend any money. I think that Android is a bit more complicated and seems to depend on the manufacturer. Samsung has Easy mode, for example: Using Easy Mode on my Samsung Phone | Samsung Gulf .
If his phone doesn’t include anything like that there are apps that you can install, this article talks about a few of them: How to Simplify the Android UI for Senior Citizens
I hope there’s something useful in there, and I’m sure that there will be other people along with more ideas. Let us know how he gets on.
Hi @Ali14 and welcome to.the community. Sorry to hear of your husbands stroke. I hope he is getting on ok with his recovery.
Have you tried something lkke a Doro phone. They are relatively cheap to buy (well in phones terms that is).
Best wishes
Ann
I echo @Mrs5K, Doro is a good simple phone to use.
Hello @Ali14 - welcome to the community.
Being a bit of a technology dinosaur, I am unable to offer the advice you seek, however, I note Ann and Rupert (@Mrs5K and @Rups) have both suggested a possible solution for you. They pretty much know what they are talking about and speak from personal experience as well has long term contributors to this wonderful forum.
Being a technology dinosaur, before I dive into suggesting a phone, I would like to ask a couple of possibly very daft questions. Here goes.
Sorry for the daft questions, but before you go rushing off to buy a new phone, I wonder if it might be worth understanding what the problem is.
I wish you and your husband all the very best.
Namaste|
Hi @Ali14
Welcome to the community, I’m sorry to hear about your husbands stroke.
I can see you’ve had some good responses to this already and I hope these have been helpful for you.
I hope you’ll find this community helpful. If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
Anna
@Rups , once I’ve got a few things sorted, I’m thinking of getting a new mobile phone. Trouble is, there are lots of “deals” out there, I don’t know what is best? That phone in the picture is one I’ll consider.
Doro is designed by a Swedish company that specialises in accessibility tech, especially for seniors. The cost of a Doro mobile phone can range anywhere from about £70-£240 roughly, depending on what you prefer and need in a phone. Many of the functions are tailored to sight and hearing issues.
Doro seem to be a good option, I know a few people who have them. It’s well worth going to phone shop any trying them out for usability if you can. They’re not a fancy brand with lots of bells and whistles but very few of us actually need those anyway.
My personal view is to buy the phone outright and take sim only contract as that’s the best value for money over time, I did this with my current phone (a standard Android one). Martin Lewis’s MoneySavingExpert website offers good advice on the best deals. Mine was through their recommendation with Smarty @£8 per month, on a rolling monthly deal (no longer term tie in) and gives calls and texts plus more data than I need. I don’t know if any do just calls and texts without data.
@EssexPhil , nice one. I’ll check it out. It’s just with so many “deals” out there, it confusing. Even most comparison site are not much help. A friend of mine always said, “Don’t always pay attention to what they do say, look at what they don’t tell you”.
That’s very good. Mine is £15 a month but I also pay for my youngest son as well because I was tired of not being able to contact him when he ran out of credit. So, I think I pay about thirty all up. I had every luxury charge item taken off my contract because you can get stung even just by sending a photo by text. I ran up a huge bill once by accident because I thought I was Wi-Fi calling but the Wi-Fi cut out and it defaulted to a satellite call and it was overseas! I only got half my money back.
@Rups , ouch! Bet that stung moneywise.
Let’s just say it was in the hundreds, despite me not being able to previously make international calls, when they rolled over the contract they unticked that box, unbeknownst to me. Got some of it back at least.
@Rups , holy moly. Well, some money back is better than none.
