Choosing a Phone for People with Sight Loss

Cheerful senior mother and adult daughter using smartphone together. Choosing a phone for people with sight loss

Whether you’re researching for yourself or a loved one, choosing the right mobile phone if you’re experiencing sight loss can seem like a challenging task. With a vast range of different brands and devices to choose from, with varying features and price points, it can be hard to know where to start.

RealSAM Pocket is the first fully voice controlled mobile phone, designed to be easy to use, and packed full of features that are useful for people with sight loss. It was developed in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People and includes unlimited access to many of the RNIB’s services, such as talking books and newspapers.

Simple to use

RealSAM Pocket is designed to be simple to use which is why we’re often chosen by people with low confidence in new technology. The phone only has three big buttons and it is also fully voice-controlled, meaning you can press a button and ask for help. For example, press the button and say “Call Jane” and you’ll straight away be connected. RealSAM Pocket is perfect is you are looking for an every day phone to help with calls, texts and entertainment.

We understand that new technology can be daunting so we offer all customers two 121 sessions with our Support team to learn how to use their phone and ask questions. We help with connecting to your home Wi-Fi and can assist with creating new contacts.

Our Support team is available Monday to Friday for any ad-hoc questions or advice. We also have an online customer portal so loved ones can help with adding new contacts or researching books or magazines to read from our catalogue.      

Large text and a magnifier 

While you can operate RealSAM Pocket fully by voice, it also has an onscreen menu with large text and a built in video magnifier so you don’t need a separate device to zoom in on important documents. You may also have heard of Be My Eyes, a service that allows you to make a video call to get help with every day tasks. With RealSAM Pocket you can just press the button, say “Be My Eyes” and you’ll be connected straight away to one of nearly 5 million volunteers. 

Help in an emergency situation

You may be thinking of buying a mobile phone for safety reasons or to provide reassurance that you can always stay in touch with a loved one. RealSAM Pocket has a special emergency setting where emergency contacts are saved. To make an emergency call you press the a button on the device three times and the phone will automatically call your nominated contact, before trying the next nominated contact if the first is not available. 

Easy access to news and entertainment 

Many people choose RealSAM Pocket just for our entertainment features. We have over 100,000 audiobooks, hundreds of newspapers and magazines, podcasts, national and local radio stations. All entertainment can be searched for using your voice. Say, for example, ”Read me the Guardian” and today’s newspaper will be played. You don’t need to pay for an extra subscription to an audiobook or newspaper service as we bundle books, newspapers, magazines and podcasts into our monthly subscription.

Finding the right phone for you

RealSAM Pocket prices starts from £25.99 a month including access to unlimited calls, texts and 3GB of data on the O2 network. Details of all of our products and prices are available on our shop or you may like to speak to a member of our team on 01733 514 612

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