There are new phone releases almost every day but one category that usually doesn’t get specifically targeted is the elderly. In last one month though we’ve seen releases from Philips and Mitashi that are specifically for senior citizens.
The Mitashi Play Senior Friend is an Android smartphone, and the Philips Xenium X2566 is a feature phone, but they have Few things in common – simplified interfaces, large, easy to read buttons, and an SOS button for emergencies.
Best Simple Phones for parents in India
some older people are perfectly comfortable with the latest iPhone models and Android flagships, and if that’s the case then there’s no reason for them to look at other handsets.
But for many others, there sheer number of things you can do with a smartphone can be overwhelming. Also many older people have failing eyesight, and the small fonts and icons become hard to use – typing on a touchscreen can be hard enough even with clear vision, but it’s a real challenge when you’re trying to squint the screen back into focus. For these reasons a specialised handset or at least a custom interface can be highly useful. Here are some of the options out there in India:
SENIOR WORLD Easyfone Udaan 2 Dual SIM
Udaan2 is specially designed to help your elderly parents stay Independent, stay connected & stay safe. It is 1.8” screen dual SIM easyfone.
check here at amazon
- Easy to hold – Keys are big in size, large and separated keys, talking keypad, backlit keypad, big number fonts, 8 photo contacts for super easy dialing of most favourite numbers
- Easy on ear – loud and clear sound. Loud ringtones
- Easy to seek help – dedicated SOS (Emergency help) button. Single key-press automatically sets off calls, sms and siren for quick help
- Long battery life of up to 5.5 hrs of talk time and 200 hrs of standby.
- Easy to use – simple menu which can be made even simpler by hiding features, dedicated buttons for torch/sound/camera/reminders. Feature to block unwanted callers
| Remembering multiple speed dial numbers can be difficult for anyone and seniors are no diffefent . The unique photo speed dial feature of the easyfone helps a lot in such scenario. Simply press the dialling green button while scrolling on the photographs to call your 8 favourite contacts effortlessly. |
As families get smaller and nuclear the thought of not being able to get help quickly in emergencies can be worrying for both elders and their family members. The Udaan’s dedicated SOS button & advanced SOS features lets your elderly parents reach multiple family members for help quickly – saving precious time in an emergency.
Buy at amazon
SeniorWorld Royale with Sound Booster
easyfone Royale comes with over 20 senior friendly features, many of which are unique to easyfone. And for added support, the easyfone Royale comes with CareTouch – which lets you configure your elderly parents easyfone remotely from anywhere in the world.
- Easy to hear – Clear and Loud sound. Loud ringtone so that calls are not missed.
- Auto Call Back feature
- easy to dial & use – large seperated button, talking backlit keypad. Unique Photo speed dial. Dock charger for effortless and safe charging
- Dedicated SOS button – which automatically calls and messages multiple emergency contacts with just 1 button press
- CareTouch subscription service which lets a caregiver set medicine reminders , alarms. sos etc on their beloved elders easyfone remotely from anywhere in the world. Use CareTouch Android app or easyfone website to Use the CareTouch service.
Buy this at amazon
iBall Aasaan 2
Launched in December 2020 at Rs. 2,990, the iBall Aasaan 2 is simply the best known handset in this category. The first iBall Aasaan was launched in 2011, and is has all the features that this category of phones stands for – an easy to read screen with large fonts, along with large buttons that can be easily read.
The Aasaan had limited functionality on purpose, and even came with an SOS button to call emergency contacts with one touch.
The iBall Aasaan 2 is almost alike but added features like music playback and added storage.
With a dedicated hardware button for a torch and large physical buttons along with the SOS button to call five user present numbers and play a siren sound, it remains a senior friendly phone.
Though most online sites seem to be out of stock we have seen a few units at retail outlets, so it might not be too late to get one if you want to.
SeniorWorld Easyfone Elite with Sound Amplification
| Elite+ comes with over 20 senior friendly features, many of which are unique to easyfone. And for added support, the easyfone Elite comes with CareTouch – which lets you configure your elderly parents easyfone remotely from anywhere in the world. |
- Easy to hear – Clear and Loud sound with option to boost sound further. Loud ringtone to avoid missing calls. Also hearing aid compatible.
- easy to dial & use – large seperated button, talking backlit keypad. Unique Photo speed dial. Dock charger for effortless and safe charging, simple menu etc
- safety features like dedicated SOS button, ” auto call back”, discreet listening, and option to receive incoming calls only from pre-set numbers ( max 40)
- CareTouch service which lets a caregiver set medicine reminders , alarms. sos etc on their beloved elders easyfone remotely from anywhere in the world. Use CareTouch Android app or easyfone website to use the CareTouch service.
- . The easyfone elite lets you set reminders for the medical appointments ,taking medicines etc. Stop worrying about your elderly parents forgettingabout these things. And with CareTouch, you can do this remotely from anywhere in the world for your elderly parents.
buy at amazon
Simple Phones for Parents in India
Old Parents have failing eyesight, and the small fonts and icons become hard to use – typing on a touchscreen can be hard enough even with clear vision, but it’s a real challenge when you’re trying to squint the screen back into focus.
Nokia 105 Single SIM (Blue)
The Nokia 105 comes with a 1.8 inches display for clear and vibrant visual experience on your phone. The phone comes in three color variants and has a compact size. It has a single SIM card setup.
The phone also comes with basic mobile phone features such as alarm, ultra-torch light etc. Compact Size The phone with its light weight of 165 grams and compact size fits your pocket and palm easily This makes it a easy to carry gadget along with you.
- Talk from sunrise to sunset thanks to long-lasting battery
- Trust in modern, durable design with color that lasts and a polycarbonate frame
- With capacity for up to 2,000 contacts and up to 500 SMS, there’s plenty of space
- Get your game face on with Snake and other classic games
- Listen to music, news and sports on the go with the built-in radio
- Light the way with the handy built-in flashlight
- In the box: Nokia 105 device, Quick start guide, Micro USB charger
Philips Xenium X2566
This phone launched only recently at Rs. 3,800 but this feature phone is very similar to iBall’s offering. Its buttons look smaller but there is a gap between each button, so mistyping a number should be harder.
It also has a dedicated SOS button, which calls three user defined numbers on being pressed, and there are physical buttons on the phone to make the text on screen bigger or smaller depending on the user’s needs. Philips also claims that the battery has a 24-hour talk time, and 1,128 hours of standby time, which means that users don’t need to remember to keep charging it all the time.
Check details here on amazon
Magicon Senior Duo
This Magicon feature phone is also a standard senior citizen phone – a simple interface, large physical buttons, and a high contrast screen with large fonts. An SOS button calls user defined emergency contacts, and this dual SIM phone is largely stripped down of other features.
What sets it apart is that a pull out tab at the bottom of the phone reveals a small magnifying glass – so the phone can be used to check a menu, or look up a number on a card when the text is too small for the elderly. It’s an unusual idea, but you can see how it would be useful. This phone is out of stock on most online sellers, though we did find a few that are still offering it at Rs. 1,499.
click here to check on amazon
Swingtel SW50 Plus Senior Citizen Dual SIM
This phone does not really seem to stand out from other feature phones – the buttons do look a little bigger than normal, but not significantly. The screen also seems to be a normal 2-inch TFT, without large fonts for easy reading. However, it does prominently feature an SOS button, which can trigger a siren and simultaneously call and SMS 3 user defined numbers.
Available online at Rs. 1,099, the Swingtel is clearly the budget option in this category, but we’d probably recommend putting down a little more money, because the readability of that screen with normal sized fonts will be difficult for most elderly people who typically need reading glasses.
Mitashi Play Senior Friend
Play Senior Friend from Mitashi is the one of the Android smartphone we found that seems to be catering to senior citizens. It is running Android 4.4 and we were initially concerned that a touchscreen might make operating the phone harder for the elderly, but Mitashi has customised the interface to make it easy to use.
The phone has a highly simplified home screen that shows the battery and network indicators in a large size, and has huge colour coded icons for features like calling and messages, gallery and SOS, so even if the person using the phone can’t see the screen clearly, they can still use the device.
This dual-SIM smartphone is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor alongside 512MB of RAM. It has a 4-inch IPS display and comes with 4GB inbuilt storage. It has dual cameras and supports expandable storage, however, no maximum supported capacity has been mentioned. The battery capacity of the smartphone was also not mentioned , which could be an issue – frequent recharging would be an inconvenience, particularly for people with limited mobility.
The app way
Despite the large number of new releases, we could spot only a few handsets on the market that are catering to senior citizens. But if you’ve already bought an Android phone for an elderly relative, getting it to work like the Mitashi Play Senior Friend is also an option.
You can download a free launcher, such as Wiser or Simple Senior Phone from the Play Store, and set it as the default interface for the phone. These launchers are good for the non tech-savvy users, and Simple Senior Phone in particular is very well strucutred , with extra-large fonts and buttons that are also colour coded.
In case you know of any other phones or apps that make smartphones easier to use for senior citizens, let us know via the comments.