Personalized Mobile Phone for Children and Elderly
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These days, it seems like everybody has a cellphone. I don’t really find it necessary for young kids to have their own iPhones, but I can totally agree with the idea that they should be able to contact home if they are in trouble or need a ride somewhere. Same thing goes for old folks. Unless your grandma is a wiz with the touchscreen, I don’t really think that buying her a smartphone is a sound investment. Simplified cellphones like the Jitterbug have been around for some time now, but they just SCREAM “I have no idea what I’m doing! With the big doofy buttons and that painful jingle on their commercials, I don’t think you will get away with trying to pass one off on just anybody.
UK-based phone company OwnFone has created a phone similar to those simplified cellphones, in the way that it can only be used to receive calls and make outgoing calls to pre-approved set numbers. The big difference, however, is that users can choose from various colors and designs for their phone. They can also choose specific talk-plans. The OwnFone does not have a numerical pad, but custom-printed buttons that feature the name of the pre-set numbers that can be called. Users simply push the labeled button to call the person they need. It is ideal for children or elderly people. OwnFone might even be a great option if you’re a complete disaster with cellphones at outdoor festivals. Just program the numbers of your festival friends and then no worries about random drunk-dials or losing your phone to check for a text that never went through in the first place.
OwnFone is only available in the UK right now and retails for about $87 (US) each. Check out this short video explaining how OwnFone came to be:
Hopefully, these will be available in the states soon! I’d totally buy one with the cheapest talk plan to keep in my car for emergencies. What about you? Would you buy yourself one of these phones? Or would you at least try to get one for a younger sibling/child or a grandparent? We want to hear your thoughts!
