I got a task to buy a smart phone for my grandparents, they are not techsavy but they know how to use basic functions. Iam looking for an andoid because it has language pack i need. I dont need it to have lots of functions, onley a good camera and a big screen. Bonus points if it can be flashed with some kind of simplefied version of android.
For mine?
A Ouija board.
Try the knock-off Luigi board.
Can Luigi board make me pregernt?
Are you asking how babby is formed?
I’m already gregnent so I know how it works.
It’s a me, your dead grandpa
Try Big Launcher on any Android phone. About as simple as you can get.
The “S0S” makes me more uncomfortable than it should…
Edit: My discomfort does not stem from the mere concept of an SOS button; It’s more subtle than that. If “SOS” stands for “save our souls”, does “S0S” stand for “save zero souls”?
It doesn’t call the cops unless you program it to. You can set any number for call or text with GPS location optional.
Wow, an actually useful SOS feature.
Not an “Oops, I butt-dialed the police again” button.
Dominos pizza, what’s your emergency?
SOS doesn’t stand for anything. People made it up later.
The original distress signal was CQD, which stood for “seeking you, distress” or “all stations, distress,” according to PBS. This was widely used by the British, while Germans used SOE and the Americans used NC, which meant “call for help without delay.”
A 1906 International Telegraphic Radio Conference effectively standardized communication by suggesting the simpler SOS, which is easier to signal because of its distinct dots and dashes sequence.
See the difference for yourself:
CQD: -.-./–.-/-…
SOS: …/—/…
SOS doesn’t stand for anything. People made it up later.
Ah, so is it a backronym, then? Neat, I didn’t know that.
The original distress signal was CQD, which stood for “seeking you, distress”
How did they decide on those letters? Is it relevant that “CQ” sounds a bit like “seek you”?
If “SOS” stands for “save our souls”
Well, it doesn’t.
I TOLD YOU TO NOT PANIC!
Yo, it’s Save Our Ship, not souls. Elderly people are more likely to need to call emergency services, so having a dedicated button for it seems like a good idea.
Have a fall? Call 0118 999 881 999 119 725… 3
From my perspective you don’t necessarily need a simplified Android but only a simplified launcher. There are plenty of senior friendly launchers in the play store.
And you should also increase the interface and font size.
If its an iPhone I would go with an iPhone plus for the screen size.
If its android, I would go with a Samsung A device. They’re usually big in size, affordable, comes with a lot of accessibility features, good battery, and relatively easy to find accessories and spare parts.
An Ouija-phone, seeing they’re all dead.
Jokes aside, Doro has a range of reasonably priced phones, from old style to Android smartphones, with “Old people interface” available to cut down on the techno fluff old folks likely won’t use. 3/4 grandparents were able to operate them, can recommend.
iPhone 6s PLUS. Increase the font and screen size. Samsung A Galaxy
I got my 70 y/o mom a Samsung A Galaxy and she absolutely loves it. She need some coaching sometimes, but I’m always surprised with what she can do with it.
if you’re located in europe, fairphones might be an option. pretty expensive for what they are, but they get 7 years of software support. plus they’re easily fixable if your grandparents are a bit clumsy.
they have been getting bigger every generation, and the cameras are quite usable under normal lighting conditions.
Some older apple devices. I usually despise apple devices but their strong points usually are big screen + good camera while also being piss easy to use for non techsavvy people.
I would buy an iphone and jailbreak, remove settings apps, useless apps and make it minimalistic, but it doesnt have language pack i need so i cant use it
Well… Anything a generation old for price and not flag ship. Samsung A-something or Google something-a. You can change the screen dpi to make thing more readable.
You can install a custom launcher to have full control over the home screen and just show the important apps like call, text and email. I use pre sale Nova.
Most custom launchers let you lock the home screen too, something I learnt was important for my mother who would CONSTANTLY drag stuff around, get lost and then claim she didn’t go anything.
CONSTANTLY drag stuff around, get lost and then claim she didn’t go anything
Nothing is quite as relatable to me as this. Do they genuinely not realize? Are they too proud to admit they did something? I will never know
Thanks for sugesting about draging stuff on the screen lock
Depends massively on your budget, i would buy any 400ish dollar phone from any well known chinese brand (Redmi, Realme) and flash it with something like lineage OS, the hardware is good enough and will last a few years, if you have a higher budget, something like the asus zenfone is also good and you probably won’t need to modify the software (unless you want to)
Stay away from samsung imo, they are harder to mod and their budget phones are far from the best, they may look decent on paper but the software and speed are very lackluster
yup, had a galaxy watch once. never again. that company is dead to me.
Doro makes phones specifically for seniors. They’re okay but still a bit complex for some
My father-in-law had one. It was awful. It made it so much harder for us to help him with issues. And apart from the system apps everything he got didn’t fit into how everything else worked. He was much better off with a regular Android he got later.
It worked okay for mine compared to othe solutions but in general trying to teach seniors touch interfaces has been a bit of a nightmare.
In my experience, older people want to use their smartphones forever so that they don’t have to relearn how to use them. If I were you, I would therefore use a mobile phone with the longest possible software support. I think that the Google Pixel 8 fulfils your criteria and offers very long software support among Android smartphones. Given Google’s size, you can also assume that the company won’t go bankrupt before then.
That’s a good point
I wouldn’t really put my money on google’s promises given their history
It’s a good point, they actually provided security updates to the pixel 4a months after the promised end of life
I’m going to answer your question with a question. Do they actually need smartphones? Are they really going to use any of the “smart” features? If not, just get them a Motorola Razr or something and be done with it.
Also elderly people want to take pictures from time to time. Or use WhatsApp to join family group chats etc. Furthermore, a big & bright touch screen is definitely easier to read and handle than the old dumb phones where the same key may have a dozen of features depending on the context.
I agree, they want to take pictures, see photos of theyr grandchildren, video chat and use a bank app to check theyr pension
One with a ouija board built in.
My grandpa wanted something like this - calling, simple web browsing… I handed him my old Pixel 2 XL and he is happy with it.
I just set up F-droid and aurora store, he didnt have G account so it was the easy and fast way to set it up.
