Does The Current Crop Of Sim Free Mobile Phones Meet The Needs Of All?

With mobile phones becoming a popular item not only for personal use but also for many businesses, most people assume that everyone can benefit from these small phones. But that may not be the case everywhere. Most of the SIM free mobile phones on the market today are not usable by a sizable portion of the population.

Disabilities & Mobile Phone Limitations

In the United Kingdom, over 8.5 million people are known to have some type of disability. Those numbers include 2 million individuals living with some level of significant visual impairment and another 8 million who suffer from hearing loss. Additionally, there are millions of older people who have reduced vision and hearing but who do not classify themselves as disabled.

What do these statistics have to do with mobile phones? Imagine trying to use a mobile phone if you had limited vision or finding a way to communicate on the go if you were hearing impaired? Imagine trying to get your grandmother or great grandmother to learn how to use the QWERTY keyboard or the tiny dialing pad on the modern line of mobile phones.

As you can imagine, these scenarios indicate just some of the problem individuals may have that can prevent them from entering the mobile phone market.

Why It Matters

Some less-than-sensitive readers might be wondering, "What does it matter? Older people don't use mobile phones anyway. People who can't hear can't use a phone." Actually, it matters quite a bit because having a usable mobile phone could be a huge benefit to many of these people.

Consider this fact: about 66% of those individuals who had visual impairments also suffered from some other serious health condition, such as diabetes or heart disease. Older individuals are the most likely to need immediate medical condition or to be the most vulnerable when living alone. For these individuals, having a mobile phone isn't just about staying connected to friends and sharing the latest gossip, the phone could be their only life line in an emergency. Thankfully, there are SIM free mobile phone options that would meet the special needs of these and other people who have been neglected by the popular phone manufacturers.

The Availability of Alternative Phones

The Amplicom PowerTel M5000 is one example of a phone that could meet the needs of disabled or elderly people. The phone is Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC), a loud ringer, loud speaker, and strong vibrator to meet the needs of the hearing impaired. The phone can also receive SMS text messages which might be a better option for communication on-the-go with people with hearing impairment.

For those who have a visual impairment, many of the other phones, including the Binatone Speakeasy Plus SIM free mobile unit, have very large and vivid displays to make reading them easier. Larger buttons are easier to see and are easier to use making the phone useful not just for the visually impaired but for the elderly and for those with less manual dexterity.

Even though most of the lines of SIM free mobile phone choices aren't going to meet the needs of the millions of people who have some type of disability or limitation. But there are phones available that can meet these needs effectively.