Being a senior citizen is no joke. One has to undergo many kinds of physical and mental deformities. Blurry images, poor memory, physical inactivity, etc. are part of aging, other than just getting gray hair. The worst part is they are the most neglected beings on earth. When it comes to selling mobile phones, they are the least targeted consumers because most mobile companies focus mainly on youngsters.
But this does not mean that they do not require any care. Some factors have to be kept in mind while you design the senior citizen friendly mobile phones, such as larger fonts, easy dialing, higher battery sustenance, fall protection, water proof exterior, methods to tackling emergency, and so on. Few firms have therefore launched the handsets, specially designed for the senior citizens only, where you could buy for your own or any of your family member or anyone else known to you. The price typically range from 800 to 11000 INR. Let’s go through each one of them.
1. Mitashi Play Senior Friend AP 103 – It is believed that it is the first android smartphone ever designed for elderly people in India. It has large fonts to dial (general dials plus SOS button in case of an emergency), store contacts, and read messages. There are also color-coded icons that could help the senior users in distinguishing the icons from one to another. The display is of 4 inches and the phone works on dual-core processor.
Market Price: 4999 INR
2. Reliance Reconnect 1802 – It is the phone from Reliance digital. It offers an alphanumeric keypad which is nearly double the size of the display. The keypad, hence, has larger buttons and big labels so that whatever is printed could be effortlessly read.
Market Price: 2699 INR
3. Forme Love One – This also comes with a big keypad and larger fonts so that the senior citizens easily could do the basic tasks like read and write. It is a dual SIM support phone with USB connectivity facilitation. It also has microSD card which could extend up to 8 GB. It is the cheapest available phone.
Market Price: 793 INR
4. iBall Aasaan 2 – It is the next version of original Aasaan. It has a large keypad and big buttons, with an additional feature of larger texts and icons display; this makes the elderly easily see whatever is written while pressing the relevant buttons, whenever required. One may also use dedicated SOS button at the back in case of emergency situations. It also has side keys to switch ON the FM and LED torch.
Market Price: 3249 INR
5. Swingtel SW50 Plus – It is a dual SIM phone designed with an SOS emergency alert system. But along with that it can also trigger a siren and simultaneously dial the phone number and send SMS alerts to 3 pre-defined numbers, in case of extreme emergency. It supports the facilities like microSD card, FM radio, magnifier, keypad for both English and Hindi, torch, and braille. There aren’t options for a variety of colors if we talk about the handset, but only red.
Market Price: 1199 INR
6. Senior Citizen Phone (BID-M293-N1) – This is an exclusive design for senior citizens, or any other who has trouble seeing or writing. This handset is specifically designed to facilitate fall protection and waterproof. It too has a color display and SOS emergency dial. It is the most expensive among all being mentioned.
Market Price: 8282 INR
Depending upon a person’s age and ability to handle a handset and its operations, plus the budget one currently has, one may choose any of the mobile handsets mentioned above. At present, these are readily available in online retail stores like Snapdeal, eBay, etc. from where you may order. But before actually purchasing anything, you must cautiously do your own research through online reviews being given by the real consumers.