A Simplified Cellphone for Grandpa

My mother is a wonderful person but she, like many of her generation, does not particularly understand technology. It’s not that she isn’t smart, she is a educated professional and is well regarded in her profession, but technology just scares her. Every time she comes to visit me (I live abroad) she requires my help working her rental cell. My grandparents also have similar problems with their cell phones… and don’t even get me started on my mother’s attempts to use her computer.

This is not a problem specific to my family… Millions of Americans suffer from being made into their family’s tech support experts, working on setting up routers, computers and cellphones for uncounted technological noobs, If you are a member of the Greatest Generation or a Baby Boomer, you probably sometimes need some tech help.

With that in mind, Clarity has created the C900, a simplified cellular telephone for the elderly. This second generation senior citizen cellphone, known as the Pal, features a panic button on the back which can call or text up to five people in the event of an emergency, a backlit keypad with oversized buttons that audibly announced the numbers as you press them, a talking caller ID and 26 Decibels of amplification for the hearing impaired.

It works on GSM in the US and Canada and features, for the adventurous senior, a bluetooth headset for hands-free use.

Evidently the menu has been simplified as well, making it perfect for the technophobe in your family.

I think I’m going to order one for my mother now.

Here you can see the previous-gen version of the device: