Smart Phone That Works By Push Buttons

[Rapier]

Here is the situation, due the medical problems, the slide bar operation does not work for my wife. Does anyone offer a push button type operated smart phone, any longer? Our iPhone 8 is being "non supported" soon. Apple says last of the push button iphones.

If for any reason, nerve damage, disease, etc and you can not maintain a constant touch electrical or magnetic contact the slide bar or buttons do not work for you.

[Sasquatch-1]

I don't know if there is a phone like you want, but could a stylus work for her? I use one with my Fire Tablet. I have BULKY fingers.

[.429&H110]

I used a stylus: a pen with a little rubber cap.
I will not have a smartphone.
I have big fingers, so a phone pad just does not work.
Wife yells numbers into hers, works about as well as yelling at me.

I was cursed by on-line timesheets on a minipad
a grid of boxes, numbers were this big: XXXX

I don't work there anymore.

[Rapier]

Thank you for the suggestions, I will try that.

Seems like the developers of smart phones have failed to take into consideration an aging population with funds and that part of the population that in many cases support the younger folks they seem to cater to.

Oh, we do not have any wired phones, land lines or cable or anything else except cel phone communication at the moment. This is typed on an iPad. However, just got an email that we now have sat coverage for Starlink, so my deposit is gone towards a buy in. We will still need wireless communication though for out side of the house, as I understand it.

Love the woods, but constant communications can get complicated. I hope to get a constant loop connection for at least a glucose monitor or maybe an insulin pump. The wife could use a constant loop communication for a heart heart monitor.

Already lived in a city, can not foresee any circumstances that would make me move back into a city.

[cabezaverde]

Have you looked at Blackberry phones?

[georgerkahn]

Here is the situation, due the medical problems, the slide bar operation does not work for my wife. Does anyone offer a push button type operated smart phone, any longer? Our iPhone 8 is being "non supported" soon. Apple says last of the push button iphones.

If for any reason, nerve damage, disease, etc and you can not maintain a constant touch electrical or magnetic contact the slide bar or buttons do not work for you.

My iPhone 7 Plus developed a crack in screen, so I upped the cash and purchased a Model 14 Plus. The three big plusses which may so be for your wife include: #1 -- there are NO buttons to press. Simply slide the bar at bottom; both fingerprint and facial recognition, so one ONLY needs type in the code numbers when first turned on. The #2 plus is the wireless charging, complementing it's incredibly lonnnng battery life between charges. It seems every third or fourth night I simply lay the 'phone down on it's charger plate -- again, nothing to plug in or out -- and in the morn I awaken to a fully charged 'phone. And, the #3 is the "PLUS" model is larger than plain-Jane models, which in itself may be a plus both in handling and operations.
Perhaps you might stop by an AT&T or Apple store and -- hands on -- check one out?
I hope this may be of help.
geo

[Minerat]

I have a Samsung Note 20 5G with a pen. But they are not cheap. The pen works better then a finger.

[dverna]

I have a Samsung Note 20 5G with a pen. But they are not cheap. The pen works better then a finger.

Until you lose the pen.

[Rapier]

Talked to the internist MD just yesterday, for me it is 40+ years as a diabetic, nerve damage to the skin surface, extremities go first, so the dusty feeling is in fact my dust, dust to dust and all that stuff. For the wife it is 36 years as a Parkinson's patient, needs two hands to hold a pen. Late 70s can get interesting. Not a fatalist, a realist, do not believe in fairy tale endings, so just adapt.

May need to go to all voice activated devices. But that would require learning all new commands to do simple tasks. Could be done, but not so simple, teaching old dogs new tricks.

Have not looked at the Blackberry. But, as the first, it would or may make sense that they might have stuck to the simple push button type operation. Old hat, might be exactly what we need.

My 8 Plus is supposedly the last push button that Apple made, but, in reality it only looks like a push button, it is really a slide operated phone with buttons that work, except for answering the phone, whch is 100% a slide.

By the way, my Starlink package has now shipped. I am an admitted techie, AT&T does not work here, but they are the ones that put in 37 miles of fiber optic cable without a single connect box. 1/4 mile of their cable runs down my south property line in the highway right of way. Talk about aggravating, knowing they got paid for "rural communication", with not a single connection and I could not buy a connect box either, I tried. A total boondoggle.

[Daekar]

I'm not exactly sure I understand your description of the problem, but if motor function has decreased to the point where she can't actually perform a short swipe across the screen because maintaining consistent contact for that fraction of a second isn't possible, I'm not sure there is really anything out there for her beyond specialized hardware specifically designed for folks who are disabled. Even if she manages to unlock the phone, the precision required to actually do anything with it once it's unlocked would be absent, as would the ability to hold and use a stylus like on my Galaxy S23 Ultra.

If it's literally a problem where her skin doesn't cause the touch screen to react anymore because it doesn't have normal capacitive/conductive properties, then I would buy a bunch of those cheap rubber-tipped styli that work with all modern touchscreens. Stick them in her purse and all around the house.

You might consider signing up for Google Voice so you can use an old-school phone number from a data-connected iPad if the bigger screen size solves the problem. Despite their attempts to differentiate the two, iPads are really just big iPhones without a SIM slot.

[Minerat]

Until you lose the pen.

I started with a Note 1 about 12 years ago and it still has the original pen. They lock into a recessed slot in the bottom of the phone that is spring loaded. It has never popped out on its own.

[Daekar]

I started with a Note 1 about 12 years ago and it still has the original pen. They lock into a recessed slot in the bottom of the phone that is spring loaded. It has never popped out on its own.

I have had the same good experience with the Note series. Love having the stylus when I want it.

[firefly1957]

Have you looked at any forms of voice operation?

I have talked to a Texan man who is blind and mostly deaf from a criminal attack and he has internet access though sound and voice I forget what equipment he uses .

[Buzz Krumhunger]

The iPhone SE3 made since 2022 still has a “push button” home button like your iPhone 8. It’s also the least expensive new iPhone. I bought a new one from my cell service provider for $149 about two weeks ago.