Hi HN, I’m looking for a device that I can give to my grandmother that she can use to video call me and other family members from her care home. It needs to either be completely remotely manageable by me, or it needs to not have any real settings that can be changed accidentally (and can be pre-provisioned). Ideally it would be able to connect to the internet over 4g, so it wouldn’t be at the mercy of whether her nursing home has WiFi. Basically what I want is an office phone with a video screen that can connect to a 4g network. Does any such thing exist? If not, does anyone have any suggestions?
Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
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Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#2Tablet with Kid/Kiosk mode to only allow one app? E.g. iPad with Facetime?
Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#3My grandmother has an Ipad and an IPhone. We sometimes video call her on here phone using whatsapp. But this works around 50% of the time correctly and the other times we just call using a regular land line phone. She uses the Ipad only as a image viewer. We showed her multiple times how to google something but that is just to difficult for her. But she understands how to watch the photo's we put on the device, and she really likes to watch the old photo's of all our vacations together. So my recommendation would be use something that your grandmother is already comfortable with and start thinking from there. Introducing something new can be hard for her even if it is simpeler.
Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#4Tablet with Kid/Kiosk mode to only allow one app? E.g. iPad with Facetime?
Or PineTab with a browser in kiosk mode (Surf?) pointing to a meet.jit.si room :)
It's a breeze to set up with NixOS as long as you're not afraid of the command line, and easy to remotely manage with SSH and fully reproducible configuration. Hit me up for a free sample VM :)
Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#5An Echo Show device matches most of your requirements: low configuration, remotely manageable, plus it's voice-managed. Sadly there are no 4G versions, but you could solve it with a small plugged 4G router.
Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#6An Echo Show device matches most of your requirements: low configuration, remotely manageable, plus it's voice-managed. Sadly there are no 4G versions, but you could solve it with a small plugged 4G router.
I’m leaning towards this, at least from a hardware standpoint it sounds like an echo show is a good bet (assuming there is WiFi or a hotspot). Can one be set up without a mobile phone number though? I’m reading about them, and that sounds like it might be a sticking point.
Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#7My grandmother has an Ipad and an IPhone. We sometimes video call her on here phone using whatsapp. But this works around 50% of the time correctly and the other times we just call using a regular land line phone. She uses the Ipad only as a image viewer. We showed her multiple times how to google something but that is just to difficult for her. But she understands how to watch the photo's we put on the device, and s…
She’s unfortunately not a smartphone or tablet user at the moment, and I doubt that she has any desire (or ability) to learn how to use one... Basically I want a landline phone that can also do video
Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#8A Chromebook with a sim, and a USB receiver. Chrome books can be managed, I'm not sure if they have Sim slots. Possibly not, in which case a 4G USB device or 4G wifi might have to do.
Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#9A Chromebook with a sim, and a USB receiver. Chrome books can be managed, I'm not sure if they have Sim slots. Possibly not, in which case a 4G USB device or 4G wifi might have to do.
There are LTE Chromebooks by Dell and Samsung
Re: Ask HN: Best Video Call Solution for Elderly
#10My grandpa loves his iPad. Best computer for old people.