My Mom has been using a conventional flip phone for several years but now is having problems using it due to her arthritic hands and fingertip neuropathy, and also mild memory issues.
The only reason I would consider another flip phone is that it is small enough to fit in her pocket so that she'd have it on her body while she's awake. This has helped her when she fell at least 2 times in the past 2 years. Her current one is very smooth so she has trouble grasping it. Plus, the volume buttons are on the side and she often can't feel that she is accidentally turning off the ring tone. This is happening more and more.
I like the RAZ but it is way bigger and I'm worried she won't keep it on her because of the size. If she doesn't keep it on her, it loses much of the safety and communciation benefit. But in the long-term, it's probably better to acclimate her to a different phone that will be "easier" for her to use. I myself chose my iPhone based on the smallest size because I have it on me all the time.
Thank you inadvance for any and all thoughts and experiences.
Last week my Mom's flip phone broke in half. I wasn't there so not sure how this happened but it was an ancient phone. When I opened up the back to take out the SIM card, literally dust bunnies and tumbleweed fell out.
My Mom is rapidly losing cognitive skills so I chose to get her a RAZ phone because of the simplicity, caregiver control and visual/limited contacts. Plus, she will be able to receive Facetime calls from her LOs. It is arriving today, so haven't tried it out yet. She is already crabby and whining about it being "so much bigger" than the smooth, slippery flip phone that kept leaking out of her pockets and into the cracks of her chairs, and flying out of her arthitic hands and numb fingertips.
I'll post back with another update for anyone who is curious about how it goes.
"A non-emergency "Call Me" lighted button that speaks reassurance to your elderly parent"
https://frankseasytechcorner.substack.com/p/a-non-emergency-call-me-lighted-button
The controls that come with the RAZ smart phone look useful. IF she’s not going to use the internet - it appears to do calls only. I like that it treats a video call (on your side with their app) like a call for her, and the app can monitor and fix things.
It looks like the RAZ has “disable volume rocker” “disable power button”, and automatic answer, meaning it could answer and you could hear/talk (yell? ;) to try to get a response. Also has a tremors option. Did you check the features list? https://www.razmobility.com/solutions/memory-cellphone/
if my mom didn’t have to access news and her “YouTubes”, we’d consider it later (plus, she is attached to it…)
my husband just mentioned something about do I really want a visual of everything anytime anywhere - I figured maybe the dog would be on the video checking out the ‘“talking phone” when mom ignores it… but maybe I need a better imagination ;)