Which phone for bad eyesight

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kaspaas

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I'm looking for a suitable phone for a person with deminished eyesight at the bottom end of the market - for reasons of budget as well as ease making a call.

The basic functionality required is the availability of a large font option - something not all phones seem to have nowadays.

Unfortunately the cellphone outlets (for Vodacom, MTN and CellC) could show me dummy models of some phones available, but not working phones to actually see if it is fit for vision impaired.

In general I doubt the salespeople at the outlets knowledge about the vast array of cellphones they market.

Hence the call to this learned forum:

Any recommendations?
 
Just to add to Kaspaas' request, i'm also looking for a pair of relatively low cost phone for my folks. Aside from the above-mentioned large font, the phones i get will have to have large keys. Any suggestions?
 
Nothing available currently but it looks like it is in the pipeline according to some sites I googled. Only the talking phone atm.
 
What happened to Vodafone's Simply Phone or something like that - that phone was easy to use and had large leters - can't seem to find it now though.
 
Strobemeister said:
Just to add to Kaspaas' request, i'm also looking for a pair of relatively low cost phone for my folks. Aside from the above-mentioned large font, the phones i get will have to have large keys. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
I believe that this is what one of our lecturers referred to as a 'granny phone' :D I can't point u in the right direction tho, sorry!
 
Theres alot of of phones with font size editting, Ill have a look cant remember them offhand, but the Simply phone is, and theres a few Samsungs...
 
I agree with bwana - Motorola Motofone F3 fits the requirement in legibility and price bracket
 
If you can find a Nokia 6210 or 6310i in good condition, these are easy to read with poor eyesight. The Nokia 7110 had a really large clear screen but its unlikely you'll find one of these in usable condition...

The new Motorola Motofone F3 is also quite easy to read in any lighting conditions but the display is a bit crude but still quite functional and sells at the R500 mark it also has voice prompts which could be of some assistance to those visually restricted.

In general colour screens should be avoided at all costs for those with impaired vision. Even people with 20/20 vision complain at being unable to read the screens in bright daylight! Besides this those colour screen phones with larger displays will probably frighten most elderly users with needless and confusing functions!

I think the F3 is probably your first choice if you're looking to fit your requirements in a new off-the-shelf handset. It must be said that if used for text messaging, this phone leaves a lot to be desired!

There are three Nokia's that are worth a look: 1100, 1101 & 1112 although the screens are not huge, they do offer a high contrast ratio. The 1100 might be a little hard to find now, but the 1101 & 1112 should be available.

Good luck with the search!
 
Thanks for all the responses.

I'll have a look at the phones mentioned.

I find it actually quite strange that there is not a single cellphone being marketed for the vision impaired with just 2 key functions in the marketing literature: Easy to read big letters and easy to read dark letters. Apart from toothache, reduced eyesight is the most common "disease" in the world.

A talking phone is not quite an ideal option.

Firstly it singles out a user as being vision impaired in a social setting.

Secondly, the talking devices usually have a difficult to follow american accent.

Lastly, many older people whose eyes are not that good anymore, also suffer from hearing defects.
 
Syndyre said:
In what way?
Click to expand...
It uses a single line of large text. Large words get broken up. It also has a funny way of displaying letters as all the characters are derived from an "8"
 
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