In the era when reliable buttons/flip phones can no longer be bought, after buying a touch screen Android phone, we still have to make some modifications to the machine before we can give it to parents/relatives/grandparents, and install the elderly desktop app, which is the fastest and most reliable solution now, and even more practical than the so-called elderly model that many mobile phones bring. Today, let's compare some of the most famous similar products:
Minimal desktop: old and perfect
It is the earliest application of the same type. Its original name seems to be the Elderly Desktop. Later, considering that many target users have conflicts with the title of "Elderly", it changed its name. The provider of the minimalist MIUI model that needs to be restarted is likely to be the application team. Perhaps because of this, the MIUI machine cannot install this app
Its block desktop is already the standard configuration of similar products: on the left is the contact, and on the top of the home page is the time, weather, and custom apps. It is characterized by careful UI design and clear functional logic:
There are no more than 2 page buttons, and the number of options is generally less than 3. The interface is simple and large, all of which are text buttons. It is difficult to use them, and the probability of accidental touch is low;
The density of desktop icons is adjustable, which can adapt to users with different aging levels and mobile phones of different sizes;
The built-in lock screen has an oversized clock and lunar calendar display, which can only be forced to be unlocked with upward strokes (to prevent accidental touch);
The most frequently used dial-up and SMS applications have been remade. SMS supports voice to text input, and ordinary SMS text input can be completed without installing handwriting input method;
The weather and photo album are both minimalist and big character. The former has no interaction at all, while the latter can only browse and delete without worrying about mistakes
There are application stores and health care information recommended by middle-aged and elderly people, and there are special versions of calendars and alarm clocks, but some machines will fail to install them
Ruyi Old Man's desktop: crazy big and comprehensive
It can be called the MIUI in the old people's desktop. There are more customized items than 99% of the regular desktop. For Virgo users, this is the desktop that can best meet the personalized needs of your parents/relatives/grandparents on the market. There is no one:
On the basis of the original super size, there are five levels of font size adjustment. The desktop icon density has three levels of adjustment. It is also the only desktop of the same type with the folder concept;
Click the time/weather on the desktop to broadcast voice;
Computers, alarm clocks, notes and other apps that need to be installed additionally can be downloaded automatically by clicking, which is relatively easy;
There are many kinds of applications in the app store. Calculators, alarm clocks, calendars, and notepads are all good tools, and even skin stores have them (Smartisan OS, MIUI, and iOS desktops with imitation hammers);
The old almanac has a large character and a traditional one day lunar calendar page;
Browsers are navigation pages that have been modified, but only jump to ordinary pages through the browser;
The alarm clock has full hour alarm, medication reminder, various vibration and voice setting modes;
Notepad can also be used for voice input and reading aloud;
Independent control center, wifi, 4G internet access, volume, ringing tone size, brightness, text size can be adjusted
Advanced functions:
Voice reminding can be carried out globally (every key pressed will have voice to read the key function), and the lock screen interface can also be used to pronounce the time, and the lock screen screen can directly call for help
In the lock screen interface, The volume button can be used to trigger functions such as flashlight, calculator, time report, photo taking, etc;
You can locate and send your location in the form of SMS;
It is estimated that this is the only elderly desktop that supports dual cards at present
However, GaoDaQuan also has costs: the function setting items are much more complex than similar products, and the UI is not as simple as the desktop; Many settings have their own application promotion (of course, this is also understandable, and does not affect normal use); Occasionally, there are mapping bugs in the folder; The built-in lock screen will duplicate the original lock screen and cannot be unlocked directly with fingerprint.
It can meet the needs of users from middle age to old age. It can be simplified like a minimalist desktop. It can also leave many switches and shortcuts to users, which will be more efficient and functional.
Wheat tabletop: simple and exquisite
The UI icon on the wheat desktop is the most refined and physical in the same kind of products. The weather icon has no buttons and will not be touched by mistake. Specially customized photo albums, full-featured alarm clocks, lunar calendar (font size needs to be improved), weather, all of which do not need to be additionally installed like the previous products.
It has its own setting button, including wifi, 3/4G Internet switch (really functional, implementation principle unknown), sound mode, brightness, and voice broadcast switch. Among similar products, it is the only one that temporarily resets the browser. The navigation page and content are also optimized by fonts and icons.
Kirin desktop: relatively different
The desktop is designed with three pages, but the left and right pages are all app pages, and the top of the middle home page is equipped with network and flashlight shortcut switches, as well as power indicators that other products have forgotten (because Android has recycled the 3/4G switch in Android 5.0, the 3G switch inside cannot be moved). The alarm clock is integrated in the time display, and only one alarm clock can be set. The weather display is also boring and simple; The standard is lower than the above, but the efficiency and appearance are closer to the regular desktop. It should be considered a middle-aged desktop.
365 elderly desktop
Table top of Jane Eyre
Big cat desktop
The top ranked products of the same kind, such as Big Cat Desktop, 365 Elderly Desktop, Jane Eyre Elderly Desktop, and 91 Elderly Desktop (with an unbelievable high memory footprint), are well behaved and have a high overlap with the previous products.
summary
Our requirements for the elderly desktop are nothing more than the following. For users of different ages, there will be some changes in the ranking of importance:
The interface and interaction should be simple, the font should be large, the page content should be small, and the buttons should be presented in the form of text rather than icons as far as possible;
There should not be too many functions to prevent misoperation or frighten users;
The setting can be locked to prevent being modified by mistake;
Other details include that the time and power display should be large enough to not be deleted from the desktop, the performance and memory requirements should not be too high, and the software should be stable
These desktop software for the elderly have many interesting details. For example, they have written the name of wifi as "free internet access". Almost all of them have the "secure lock" function of locking settings. It can be seen that they really have intentions, But these schemes have the same problem:
Because the software permission is limited, the original notice bar of the mobile phone can still be pulled down (there are a lot of shortcut switches that are easy to be touched by mistake)
The menu/multi task button cannot be blocked (many times, older users will be confused when they click this button)
Many users may feel that these desktops are too ugly, or they don't want to be regarded as "old people" and feel defensive
The camera, recorder and other specific functions that are extremely simple to reset cannot be found yet
At this time, we need to find other third-party applications to replace them, even using root permissions and the Xposed framework, which just confirms the old saying that "simple is the most complex". For these problems, we will provide you with the best solution in the form of science popularization/tutorial/application recommendation in the following articles. Please pay attention.
