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Stay in touch - A guide to telephones and services for older and disabled people 2004 (view report contents)

Useful features - if your sight is poor

We have updated contact details in 2008 but not carried out a comprehensive research on products. Please note therefore that phone products may have changed and there may be new ones available.

If you cannot see well, some phones are easier to see and use than others.

Key points

  • Do the buttons have a clear layout
    and a positive feel?

  • Are they clearly labelled?

  • Is it easy to dial regularly-used numbers?

  • Is the display large enough with good contrast or colour?

  • Check out mobile options including voice dialling and text-to-speech.

Large dialling keys
High contrast keys
Key layout and fee
Large high contrast display
Speaking phones
Memory dialling
Pre-dial
Easy answering
Voice-activated dialling

Large dialling keys

Binatone Big Button Combo

The Binatone Big Button Combo with corded handset

‘Big button’ corded phones are not expensive (from £15). They have large keys which are easy to press as well as see. But smaller buttons may be OK provided they are clearly laid out and have a positive feel (see key layout below). Braille users especially may find the small keys on a mobile or cordless phone are not a problem.

High contrast keys

It helps if the keys stand out in a contrasting colour from the surround and the numbers on the keys are large enough and clearly contrasted, for example white on black or black on white. A silver finish may be less good.

Key layout and feel

Most phones have a raised dot on the ‘5’ key to help you orientate your finger on the keypad (but check it’s big enough to feel easily). Beware of mobiles with non-standard keypad layouts. It’s useful if other keys are a different size or shape from the number keys and spaced away from them.

Look for keys which have a positive ‘click’ rather than a ‘spongy’ action when pressed, or phones where pressing a key gives an audible ‘beep’ tone in the earpiece.

Large high contrast display

Philips Zenia Vox

The Philips Zenia Vox 300 with handsfree base station and clear blue display

If the phone has a visual display of the number, it should be reasonably large, and with good contrast. Dark grey characters on a light grey background can be hard to read. Some mobiles have larger colour screens where you can alter the background colour and character size.Flip-open clamshell mobiles also tend to have larger screens.

Don’t despair if you cannot see a mobile’s display properly; a logical ‘menu’ system should let you choose and use the features you’ll want most often with just a few buttons, which should soon become familiar by touch. Software is also available for some mobiles which lets you input phonebook numbers on a computer and then transfer them to your phone.

speaking phones

Several mobile phones – mainly from Nokia – have text to speech software which speaks your text messages, contact names and other display information. You can obtain these from Vodafone or the RNIB.

The Owasys 22C available from the RNIB is a mobile phone with no display at all. Synthesised speech will read you text messages, caller identification and most other phone functions that are usually indicated visually.

Owaysys 22c


The Owaysys 22C, a speaking mobile with no display
(£351.33 including VAT)

There are now (February 2008) other mobile phones aimed at visually impaired users available from the RNIB (prices below include VAT):

Easy5 (PAYG) £116.33
EasyUse £139.99
Emporia Life big button from £169.99

Click here to go to RNIB online shop (opens in new window)

memory dialling

Almost all phones have a memory or ‘phonebook’ to store numbers of friends and family. But with mobile and cordless phones, you have to scroll through people’s names on the display and - though it saves you having to actually dial the number - this may not be very easy if your sight is poor. Corded phones are different; they usually have several easy-to-find buttons each of which dials a frequently-needed number with just one press, and there’s often space to write the name of the person next to the keys.

Pre-dial

BT Decor

The BT Decor 210 with predial

Pre-dial lets you enter the number you want in your own time, check the number on the phone’s display and then make the call by pressing a ‘dial’ button – helpful provided the display is clear enough for you to see. All mobiles and many digital cordless phones have pre-dial; it’s much less common on other types, though the BT Converse 325 and Décor 210 fixed line phones have it.

easy answering

With some mobiles you can answer by pressing any key, or (with some designs) simply by opening it – useful if you can’t see too well. Many phones can also be set up to give distinctive ring tones to identify callers.

Voice-activated dialling

Some mobiles, once set up, let you dial someone simply by speaking their name (or another word which suits you) into the phone instead of finding the number and dialling them. You may be able to set up voice commands for other functions
too. Voice-activated dialling is rarely found on fixed-line phones.

However, in 2007a new product called the Voice Dialler became available. Ricability has not tested this.

The Voice Dialler is a small box that plugs between your phones and the BT wall-box.Once it has been installed (and some names and number stored in it) it makes all the phones connected to it able to be controlled by voice.

When you pick up a receiver, instead of a dial-tone, you hear a voice asking “name to dial, please”. Say one of the previously stored names; the dialler replies with the name it has matched, and dials the corresponding telephone number.

For more details:
Jolly Good Idea
Singles Cross
Blueberry Lane
Knockholt
SEVENOAKS
TN14 7NH
Tel: 020 8144 4559
www.jolly-good-idea.co.uk

Page updated February 2008


 

Report Contents

Introduction

Telephones

Other equipment

Buying a phone & phone services

Useful contacts

 

Fixed line Operators

Mobile Operators

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