Doro 334gsm HandlePlus IUP
Review Without doubt, this is the easiest phone to use among those grouped here. The Doro 334 dispenses with a keypad altogether in favour of four pre-assigned dialer shortcuts. Who you have assigned each button to can then be written on a small notepad that attaches to the face of the phone. Five notepad pages are included along with a plastic cover to keep them in place.
The slightly rubberised and robust 334 sports four other large, easy-to-press buttons which take care of answering and ending calls, locking the keyboard, and dialling a single emergency number, preset to 112.
Of course, the design does have drawbacks: an inability to compose SMS messages or dial numbers that have not been pre-programmed into it.
Around the rear of the phone you'll find a second emergency button which does a number of things simultaneously. When held down, it triggers a very loud alarm, sends an emergency SMS message to a pre-programmed number and dials up to five pre-determined numbers in order of priority. If a number rings for more than 30 seconds or goes to any sort of answerphone, the system ends the call and moves on to the next number and so on until one of the numbers is answered by a human being.
The IUP in the title stands for Isolated User Protection. This is a system that uses an accelerometer to detect if the phone - and thus the user - has fallen or become inactive for a pre-defined period of time. If no further movement is detected the phone initiates the emergency dial protocol and triggers the alarm.
Verdict
The perfect handset for the vulnerable - or simply the technically phobic. ®
COMMENTS
I don't know
You see so many kids with mobile phones these days, I'd be tempted to give them something like that as then you know who they're calling... But maybe that's just me because I don't trust kids, little shits.
It's not a generic granny phone
some grannies can manage much more complex devices. For some its not just the technology but simply remembering who you want to call or actually using all those tiny buttons. Having a nice simple device with your 4 most used numbers would be ideal. You may have more numbers you want to call but you can do that from a fixed line with you trusty address book.
This could allow some people to have a little more freedom. They can go out with some degree of monitoring, a nice panic button and an easy way to call for assistance.
No Keypad - Great Idea
My grandfather would find this idea for an emergency beside the bed phone.
When his old BT one died we really struggled to find one that was a) cordless b) large buttons and c) had multiple memory buttons (rather than a combination memory and address book lookup)
No keypad?
Plenty of people can be technophobic but this has no keypad? Telephony has been so commonplace for so long that even the elderly knows what it does and how useful it is. The other features are good but the lack of a keypad would insult an elderly person. It would also restrict them to calling four people, suggesting that's all the people they know.
You could give someone a regular handset then give them this as a managed, emergency device using a backup service provider. It is not a primary communication device.
"inactive for a pre-defined period of time"
So if the Doro is put on the side table while sleeping, an alarm goes off because the user has been "inactive for a pre-defined period of time"?
