5.。 Safety features : These  include  a  panic  button  and  a  button  to blacklist a caller.。

   Once, the most common needs and requirements of older people regarding their mobile phones have been identified, the next section analyses if the current mobile applications fulfill these needs, expectations and desired features.。 

3.。3.。  Current status of mobile devices and applications for older people 

   To  analyze the state of the art of mobile applications devoted to improving the quality of life of older people, it is necessary to consider two aspects:

   (a)  Current mobile applications for older people (Section 3.。3.。1).。

   (b)  Mobile devices (Section 3.。3.。2).。

3.。3.。1.。  Mobile  applications  for  older  people

   Most  of  the  studies  developed  to  investigate  mobile  applications for older people share the same starting point: the important premise that “elderly people want to stay and live in their homes as independently and as long as possible”.。 The problem of supporting independent living using ICT calls for holistic concepts focusing on the inpiduals’quality of life.。

   To improve the quality of life of older people and strengthen the industrial base in Europe through the use of ICT, the German company VDI/VDE-IT, together with the AAL Association  (AAL,  2011), developed a model that classifies the  needs of elderly people for their  well-being.。  They  considered  the  following  factors  (Gaßner and Conrad, 2010): Health and Wellness,  Home Care, Chores and Supply with Goods, Safety, Security and Privacy – Peace of Mind – Mobility – Information, Learning and Education – Social Interaction– Hobbies and Working life.。 

   Obviously, there are overlaps and relationships among the different  aspects.。 The  classification  into  nine  factors  is  close  to  the results of the previous  literature  review, as shown in Table 3.。 

   This model will be the starting point used in this paper to review different kinds of mobile applications for older people.。 ,源^自!吹冰/文-论/文*网[www.chuibin.com

3.。3.。2 Health and wellness and home care

   As  a result of the aging of society, it is possible to observe an overall  trend  toward  a  more  personalized  model  of  health  care.。 Intelligent applications have been developed to guarantee independent living for the elderly.。 Thus, new concepts such as Telehealth,Tele-care and Tele-rehabilitation or E-Health have been coined.。 The Doctoral Thesis of Anita Melander helps to understand these concepts: Telehealth  can be defined as the delivery of health related services and  information  via  telecommunications  technologies.。 Telehealth consists of Tele-care and Tele-rehabilitation.。 Tele-care and Tele-rehabilitation provide services directly to the end-users, as distinct from telemedicine, which uses ICT systems for diagnosis.。 E-Health describes the combined use of electronic communication and  information technology  in the  health care  sector: the  use  of digital data in the health care sector – data transmitted, stored and retrieved electronically – for clinical, educational and administrative  purposes, both  at  the  local  site and  at  a  distance  (Melander et al.。, 2007; Curri et al.。, 2003).。

   In this context, the role of mobile devices and applications has been reviewed by Blake (2008).。 She developed a model of the state of the  art  in “Health promotion” (programs conducted  mostly in Japan,  the US, New Zealand and the UK) and “Health monitoring” (programs  predominantly  conducted  in  Europe:  Italy,  Denmark, Norway, Spain, UK,  Korea and the USA).。  She concludes that both  the text message and the voice  response functions of the mobile phone are used, for instance, in monitoring wandering in dementia, monitoring blood glucose in diabetes or promoting health.。 She  found that the mobile phone is used either as a stand-alone tool or in combination with other technologies.。