Customising Windows Phone for older people.

timetogo

My dad just got a new Windows phone. I think it's a Nokia 620. Unfortunately rather than ask people who might know more about phones he went into the Vodafone shop and listened to the sales person. I'm an android user. I'm used to it and prefer it. I've gotten androids for loads of people and know how to customise it for them so it's easy for them. I'm not against Windows phone but I'm familiar with Android and could have gotten him a phone and customised it for his requirements dead easy.

I'd like to customise my dads phone to make it simple for him. A couple of immediate issues I've seen that affect him are

1: If he has a number stored as +353 87 1234567 and somebody rings the number that is displayed is 087 1234567. It'll only show the contacts name if I edit the contact to have a second number of 087 1234567. Is there a way around this. He has loads of entries in his contacts. His old Nokia phone didn't require this and my phone didn't require this. Is there a setting somewhere to fix this.

2: The Windows start button is tiny. Can you make this bigger?

3: Can you change the keyboards on Windows phone. If you can, can you recommend one with bigger keys.

Are there any themes / apps that would be useful for older people. I know I can make tiles for the important apps but I'd like to make stuff unavailable if possible as he swipes & presses buttons like a madman and then complains about the phone.

CatInABox

timetogo wrote: »

1: If he has a number stored as +353 87 1234567 and somebody rings the number that is displayed is 087 1234567. It'll only show the contacts name if I edit the contact to have a second number of 087 1234567. Is there a way around this. He has loads of entries in his contacts. His old Nokia phone didn't require this and my phone didn't require this. Is there a setting somewhere to fix this.

2: The Windows start button is tiny. Can you make this bigger?

3: Can you change the keyboards on Windows phone. If you can, can you recommend one with bigger keys.

Are there any themes / apps that would be useful for older people. I know I can make tiles for the important apps but I'd like to make stuff unavailable if possible as he swipes & presses buttons like a madman and then complains about the phone.

1. Try toggling the international assist function. You can find it here:

• Press the Start key.
• Tap the Phone icon.
• Tap the 3 dots (...) at the bottom right of the screen.
• Select Settings.
• Slide the International Assist toggle to either On or Off.

2. Not that I know of. Not familiar with the 620, but the start key is generally a hardware button, so no changing it. On some phones, it might be a software button, but even then, I don't think it can be changed.

3. You can't change the keyboard, so you're out of luck on that one I'm afraid.

Not sure about any themes or apps to be honest, nor about restricting the phones down to the bare minimum.

I've set up a couple of windows phones for older people in the past year, and they've gotten on fine with it after a while. Wouldn't put it anywhere near my dad though, he's got some kind of anti-technology force field around him, would be a nightmare for me.

You could try bringing it back to the shop to be honest, they'll probably exchange it if you ask.

One eyed Jack

timetogo wrote: »

I'd like to customise my dads phone to make it simple for him. A couple of immediate issues I've seen that affect him are

1: If he has a number stored as +353 87 1234567 and somebody rings the number that is displayed is 087 1234567. It'll only show the contacts name if I edit the contact to have a second number of 087 1234567. Is there a way around this. He has loads of entries in his contacts. His old Nokia phone didn't require this and my phone didn't require this. Is there a setting somewhere to fix this.

Turn off "international assist" in Settings > Applications > Phone

2: The Windows start button is tiny. Can you make this bigger?

The actual hardware button on the from and center of the phone underneath the screen? Nope.

3: Can you change the keyboards on Windows phone. If you can, can you recommend one with bigger keys.

None that I'm aware of tbh, but what you can do is use the screen magnifier under Settings > ease of access

It's a little tricky to get used to at first because you have to use a two finger double tap to magnify the area on the screen.

Are there any themes / apps that would be useful for older people. I know I can make tiles for the important apps but I'd like to make stuff unavailable if possible as he swipes & presses buttons like a madman and then complains about the phone.

You can set him up with a profile under Settings again where he would only have access to certain applications and no access to settings.

Other than that there are plenty of apps for elderly people on the market, but I reckon it's just a matter of getting used to the phone after that. It's actually less complicated than android if your dad is one of those people that have to try out everything and then get lost when they want to actually use the phone!

g0g

Another possible cause of number showing up instead of name I found in the past is if you have multiple entries in your contacts with the same number - i.e. the same person listed more than once - perhaps you haven't merged same entries together?

timetogo

g0g wrote: »

Another possible cause of number showing up instead of name I found in the past is if you have multiple entries in your contacts with the same number - i.e. the same person listed more than once - perhaps you haven't merged same entries together?

Nah its not that. When I rang him it showed my number. When I checked his contacts my number was saved as 00353....
I added mobile 2 to the contact as 087... and when I rang him again it showed my name.

timetogo

One eyed Jack wrote: »

It's actually less complicated than android if your dad is one of those people that have to try out everything and then get lost when they want to actually use the phone!

That's true of a default setup. Not of a customised one though. I can lock down android and make it super simple. My current phone has a battery saver setting. It restricts access to only phone / text messages and camera and gives battery life of 3-4 days. That would have been perfect for him.

That's not saying it's better than Windows. I'm just familiar enough with Android and techy enough to do it. I've only superficially played with Windows phone so don't know all its bells and whistles.

kayos

timetogo wrote: »

Nah its not that. When I rang him it showed my number. When I checked his contacts my number was saved as 00353....
I added mobile 2 to the contact as 087... and when I rang him again it showed my name.

Save your numbers in correct international format so rather than 00353 store it as +353.

theothernt

It's a bit late, but the 620 is a physically small phone - most newer Lumias are bigger, even the cheaper ones, at around 5". Then there's the Lumia 1320 which is 6" !!

If you're looking to limit what can be done on the phone, I'd check out App Corner... https://www.windowsphone.com/en-ie/how-to/wp8/apps/share-apps-with-apps-corner