Mobile phones for the elderly stand out for several things: having larger keys, having an SOS button and focusing on phone calls. However, there are more and more mobiles for the elderly that have WhatsApp and the new Gigaset GL7 is one of them, with a peculiarity: it includes an exclusive button to open WhatsApp.
Grandpa is on WhatsApp, and to open the popular messaging application you will not have to fight with icons or menus: it is accessible with a physical button on the keyboard. This new phone with KaiOS has Wi-Fi and supports other applications such as YouTube, Google Maps, Facebook and Google, with a traditional clamshell design.
WhatsApp just a button away
Cell phones aimed at older people -or people who just don't want a smartphone- are very different from "standard" phones. If smartphones have been eliminating all buttons for a long time, in mobiles for the elderly there are buttons for everything: call, hang up, move through the menus, numeric keypad and the emergency button is not usually missing either, which is also present in this new Gigaset GL7 .
Times go by and phone calls fall while voice messages go up in apps like WhatsApp. Older people who want to have the best of both worlds can opt for a half-ready phone, halfway between a feature phone and a smartphone, like this new Gigaset terminal. It looks like a feature phone, with the usability advantages that this entails, but it does have some smart functions very close at hand.
The Gigaset GL7 is a mobile phone with KaiOS, the operating system that Google invested in a few years ago and that brings intelligent functions to the most modest mobiles. It has some pre-installed applications, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps or Google, but it also has the KaiOS app store, so you have access to more. It has GPS.
As usual with these phones, it is charged on a base instead of having to plug in a cable
In addition to having a well-accessible WhatsApp button (in the center of the top), the Gigaset GL7 has three buttons (A, B and C) to call favorite contacts directly, in addition to the emergency button, on the back. It does not lack the camera, 2 megapixels, and dozens of polytones to choose from.
The Gigaset GL7 will go on sale in retail and online stores, including the brand's online store, for 109 euros, including its charging base. It is only available in the color titanium gray.
