Donating Mobile Phones for the Elderly

Early this year I wrote about recycling mobile phones for donation to senior citizens. After several minutes of surfing the web I came across a few projects tha aim to provide emergency mobile phones to senior citizens. I decided to dedicate another post to this worthy cause and raise awareness for the needs of the elderly.

Millions of mobile phones are produced each year. However, this booming industry also results in old mobile phones. Out dated handsets often end up in the trash or to recycling programs. Seniors are perfect recipients of old or out dated handsets since they do not demand a lot from a phone. The simpler the better. These senior friendly mobile phones are mainly used for emergencies and provide a sense of freedom and security.

Here are a few organizations and websites that provide mobile phone for seniors. They also cater to the needs of disabled, battered women's shelters and others.

• Cell Phones for Life
• 911CellPhone Bank
• American Cell Phone Drive
• Emergency Phone
• SOC Services
• ReCellular
• Pace Butler
• HAWC
• Your Center

One can really make a difference by donating a mobile phone for seniors, charity and other organizations. You can help to eliminate waste and help seniors at the same times.

That's it for this post. Tune in for more news, info, phones and services for the elderly.

The Clarity Professional MHA100 Mobile Headset Amplifier

Let's talk about a useful accessory for senior mobile phone users. A large number of seniors are unfortunately suffering from hearing loss due to advanced age or other causes. The Clarity Professional MHA100 mobile headset amplifier and similar gadgets can help to bridge this impediment to clear communication.

The Clarity Professional MHA100 mobile headset amplifier is a good accessory for senior friendly phones. It ensures that conversations are louder, clearer and easier to understand.

This mobile phone for seniors accessory increases incoming sound up to 24 dB. This allows the elderly with difficulty hearing to have clear and understandable conversations on a mobile phone. The Clarity Professional MHA100 mobile headset amplifier also improves conversation clarity in noisy environments.

This useful tool is compatible with most cordless phones and handsets for senior citizens that come with a 2.5 mm headset jack. An adapter may be required if your phone does not have a 2.5 mm jack.
The Clarity Professional MHA100 also comes with the Voice/Sound Activation feature that enables it to turns on and off automatically to help conserve battery life.

It requires three AC675-type standard hearing aid batteries which are included at purchase. This accessory for senior mobile phones cost $59.95.

That's it for this post on a senior-friendly accessory. Tune in for more news, phones, services and accessories.

The Doro HandlePlus 326i GSM

Here's another great cell phone for seniors from Doro. The Doro HandlePlus 326i GSM is similar to the HandlePlus 334 GSM but it's a newer model. Let's take a quick look at the details for this senior mobile phone.

The Doro HandlePlus 326i GSM sports a simple bar style design with large keys and a color display.

This senior-friendly handset works with major US GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile (Tri-band GSM 850/1800/1900).

Let's talk about the display on this cell phone for the elderly. The Doro HandlePlus 326i GSM's display is not very large but it is backlit and feature large fonts so seniors will have no problem viewing the info on the screen.

As mentioned before, this handset offer a user-friendly keypad. The Doro HandlePlus 326i GSM sports buttons with soft touch coating for better grip and the high contrast keys have low reflective finish.

Here are the rest of he details for this mobile phone for senior citizens:

• Polyphonic ring tones
• Vibrating alertPre-dialing
• Two-way speakerphone
• Keylock
• Call timer
• Maximum ringer volume (83 dB SPL)
• Battery Li-ion 700mAh with 200 Standby time (hours)

That's it for this post. Stay tuned for more phones, services and accessories.

Senior Friendly Cell Phone: LG GU292

Here's another mobile phone for seniors from the AT&T network. The new LG GU292 is a simple handset that offers a few features that can be useful for elderly consumers.

The LG GU292 is a simple slider phone that looks more expensive than it's actual price. This may be due to a likeness to the LG Shine II a popular fashion cell phone. Well, the GU292 may look stylish but its features are also suitable for senior users.

This AT&T cell phone is a simple device. It may offer a few modern features like aGPS with AT&T Navigator and Bluetooth but it's a fairly uncomplicated device.

The LG GU292 also offers some physical features that make it a good cell phone for senior citizens. For instance, it sports a 2.0 inch display with 262k colors and 176 x 220 pixels. It's large enough to be ideal for the elderly with weak eyes.

This mobile phone for seniors also offers a user-friendly keypad with large buttons.

Here are the rest of the details for this AT&T cell phone for seniors:

Dimensions: 3.92 x 1.85 x 0.64 inches
Weight: 3.71 ounces
Talk Time: Up to 6.5 hours
Standby Time: Up to 21 days
Battery: 900mAH Lithium Ion
Technology: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA
Frequency: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; 850/1900 MHz (UMTS/HSDPA)
Memory: 100 MB internal memory with microSD expandable memory
Push-to-Talk

That's it for this handset. Tune in for more phones, news, updates and services for the elderly.

The Jitterbug Medication Reminders Service

Here's another Jitterbug service that can be helpful for senior citizens. The Jitterbug Medication Reminders service helps the elderly to stay up-to-date and on schedule with their prescription schedule.

This service is similar to the Auto-Med iPhone App. However, this isn't an application but a service that calls users to keep them on track of their prescription schedule.

I think it's a helpful service since serous complications can arise when seniors forget to take their medications or confuse dosage and administration times.

The senor-friendly Jitterbug Medication Reminders service costs $10 per month.

A loved one can enter in the senior's medications exactly as prescribed by a doctor. Then an automated system will call the user to remind them to take medication at the appropriate times.

The Jitterbug website also provides a way for senior users to track their adherence to your schedule.

That's it. Another good service from the manufacturer of one of the best mobile phone for seniors in the business and the provider of the award-winning Live Nurse service.

Tune in every week to get fresh content on services, news and mobile phones for seniors.

Clarity: Amplifying the Lives of Senior Citizens

Here's another company that devotes itself to providing services and devices to senior citizens. I have featured one of their products in this blog, the aptly named Life Phone. Now let's dig deeper into Clarity and its services for the elderly.

Clarity's goal is to provide a suite of services to help seniors contend with the new challenges posed by technology and allow the elderly to maintain independence in their latter years.

What kind of services does Clarity offer? Well, it sells one of the best mobile phone for seniors.The Clarity Life Phone is one of the best options for the elderly.

This company also sells other senior-friendly products including:

Amplified Corded Phones
Amplified Cordless Phones
Telephone Amplifiers
Batteries
TV Amplification Devices
Assistive Listening Devices
Telephone Ringers
Voice Carry Over Phones
Big Button/Low Vision Phones
Notification Systems
Speakerphones
TTYs and VCOs
Alarm Clocks

Clarity also offers a service called ClarityLogic that personalizes the phone uniquely for the customer.

That's it for this company that offers services for seniors. Stay tuned for more news, updates and mobile phones for the elderly.

Samsung a177: a Full QWERTY Keyboard Mobile Phone for Seniors

Here's another senior-friendly phone from Consumer Cellular. The Samsung a177 is a simple handset that features a full QWERTY keyboard.

Most consumers prefer a full QWERTY keyboard over a numeric keypad because it's easier to use especially when composing an email or a txt message. However, they keys tend to be smaller since it offers a full row of buttons.

So why is the Samsung a177 with its full QWERTY keyboard suitable for senior citizens? Well, consumers over the age of 60 can also adapt to modern technology and learn the benefits of text messaging and email. And so a simple affordable and easy-to-use phone with a QWERTY keypad will fit the needs of elderly consumers who feel comfortable with communicating via text and email.

The Samsung a177 also offers several senior-friendly features that can cater to the needs of the elderly. For instance, it sports a large, readable color screen that measures 2.2 inches. it's large enough to be useful to consumers with weak vision. It's also affordable with a full price (no contract) of only $40, plus a $35 activation fee.

However, the Samsung a177 is not a hearing aid compatible device so it's not recommended for elderly users who regularly use a hearing aid.

Here are the rest of the details for this cell phone for the elderly:

• Bluetooth connectivity
• Hands-free speakerphone
• Integrated camera
• Wireless Web enabled
• W: 2.32" D: 0.47" H: 4.29"
• Weight: 3.09oz
• Battery life: up to 5 hours talk time / 10 days standby

Tha's it for this new cell phone for seniors. Stay tuned for more phones, accessories and services for the elderly.

The Auto-Med iPhone App for Seniors

The Apple iPhone is not a suitable mobile phone for seniors. One can argue that its large screen and easy-to-use UI could be helpful to the elderly. However, the lack of physical buttons and its very high price eliminates t as an option for most senior citizens. However, Apple's handset does offer an applications market that can cater to the needs of seniors.

Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc. has recently announced that it will release a new breakthrough iPhone app that aims to "dramatically reduce medication errors for senior citizens."

So how does this iPhone App for senior citizens work?

Well, EHSI’s new Auto-Med application for seniors will automatically call users every day to remind them at the precise time of exactly what medication and dosage they are to take based upon their doctor’s recommendation.

The description indicates that it's a pretty useful software and can help to prevent complications that arise from seniors forgetting to take their medications or confuse dosage and administration times.

The EHSI Auto-Med iPhone App for the elderly is projected to be offered at for $10.00 per month (to cover the costs of phone lines, etc.). It is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

EHSI President and COO, Cindy Morrissey promotes the company's product:

“Over the last few years, there have been amazing breakthroughs in medications that have helped improve the health and longevity of seniors. All of these drugs, however, have two things in common. If you don’t take the drug it will do you no good and if you don’t take it correctly it could potentially harm or even kill you. Our medication management system, named Auto-Med, will call users on a predetermined schedule every day to remind them of the time, medication and dosage that has been prescribed for them to take. This can save lives, reduce frustration and improve the health and safety of millions of seniors in America.”

That's it for this senior-friendly iPhone app. Tune in to this blog for more phones and services for senior citizens.