Very short version…

Almost any mid level phone(smart or not) has decent voice recognition for dialing.  Combined with a Bluetooth earpiece with a built up button and we have a lot of people who can activate earpiece by pushing their head into a headrest (assuming they cannot use their hands to activate it.)  There are switch activated and handsfree versions if that does not work.

Android smartphones have touch screens with ability to put direct dial shortcuts directly on main screen.  With addition of a “No Lock” app, one can avoid having to “slide to unlock” it.

Also with android with addition of extra apps, one can put larger icons on the desktop for shortcuts to direct dial contacts.  There are also a lot of options for speech to text.  This can be incorporated into SMS, and android has a “send text to john smith” voice command capability that will automatically set that up and reduce (though not eliminate) need for interaction with touch screen.

Iphone also has options for speech to text (dragon dictation app) but required a decent amount of copying and pasting into a text message.

I can expound more on almost all of that but…  Does that help?

Ed Hitchcock OT/L

Technology Center

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago