The EMC (”easy mobil calling,” which isn’t a typo on my part) concept cellphone aims to make life easier for the elderly. With only four face buttons, each corresponding to a separate phone number, it simplifies the arduous task of remembering, well, four different phone numbers. Granted, all cellphones have an address book, so you’re not really required to know anyone phone number to begin with—I don’t know any of my friends’ numbers at all—so I’m not too convinced of its effectiveness, but that’s largely irrelevant.
Another critique I have: these pictures don’t do a good enough job of showing off the phone. Nowhere in designer Matthias Pinkert’s portfolio does he have shots of the inside of the phone, arguably the “selling point” of the phone.
A nice idea, yes, but one I think that’s largely unnecessary, given that, you know, all cellphones have address books.
via Yanko Design
I have to disagree with the “effectiveness” comment. I was sitting next to an elderly gentleman last night at a baseball game and his cell phone rang. He simply stared at it, unsure of which button to push to answer. Granted, someone in his family should show set it up to be very easy to use but ofttimes that isnt the case.
An “elderly” phone with 4 buttons seems very logical to me. No tiny buttons they cant see, no need to remember what to push to find your address book, just remember number 1 is home, 2 is son/daughter…etc.
I believe there was a disney phone similiar to this a few years back for young kids.
for the market this is aiming for, those people cannot or have a hard time reading things on a tiny screen, along with having a difficult time pushing tiny buttons. most of them don’t talk to many people anyway, so having 4 or so buttons corresponding to each number helps.
how you can program a number into a four button phone is beyond me.
This phone is exactly what my octogenarian dad needs to help keep his independence. We tried a basic cell phone, but he has never stepped into the electronic age so it was too confusing; the concepts were foreign (my address book is INSIDE the phone?!). This phone will allow him to go about his business, call us if he needs and even better, lets us call him to keep track of his whereabouts.