In recent research Doro found that half of people aged over 65 years want a reliable, stylish and easy-to-use feature phone. Not everyone wants the latest and greatest 5″ smartphone, my parents are a prime example. My father in law for instance, he struggles to send a text message never mind comprehending that my Galaxy Note II is actually a phone.
The only problem with just getting him a basic phone is he wants his calendar on his phone, he’d quite like a camera as well, maybe a weather forecast app, oh and browsing the web would be useful.
I think what Doro have announced today would be ideal.
They have come up with a range of cloud functions to enable the phone to be managed online by a friend or family, which will backup contacts and pictures.
Doro have said the phone will be available in May 2013 but haven’t mentioned price. I think this might be father in laws next birthday present.
Here is press release from Doro….
Doro PhoneEasy® 622 – where brilliantly simple phones meet the cloud
London, 25 February 2013: In recent research Doro found that half of people aged over 65 years want a reliable, stylish and easy-to-use feature phone – whilst the other half of this growing audience segment will consider buying a smartphone[1]. In response to this, the company is pleased to introduce a new concept in easy mobiles – a 3G feature phone that uses cloud-based smart technologies.
Doro PhoneEasy® 622 has been designed for people who want a modern and stylish feature phone with smart technology. This new model takes further steps to bridge the generational digital divide by combining inclusive design, smart functions and cloud services.
The handset is powered by Doro’s remote device management tool, Doro Experience® Manager. This makes it an ideal choice for those users who want to enjoy a richer, easier and better-connected mobile experience, but perhaps don’t wish to be concerned about technical prowess. Doro Experience® Manager enables the content and settings on the device to be controlled from a secure online portal by the user, or their appointed family and friends. For example, contacts can easily be added to the online address book from a computer and seamlessly pushed to the handset. Likewise, photos from the device can be stored and backed-up online.
Chris Millington, Managing Director of Doro UK, commented on the launch: “This new handset is all about fun, function and ease-of-use. It is a modern enabling device, where the generations meet and it brings the joy of Doro to life. We understand the benefit that easy-to-use 3G feature phones offer to our retail and operator customers. This device will help them offer their own customers even more in terms of leveraging data and value-added services – specifically, to those users who are primarily driven by voice communication. We are encouraging people to take a journey with their technology as we fully appreciate the feature phone users of today could be the smartphone users of tomorrow. Once again Doro has pushed design boundaries and built a new product proposition.”
This elegant device is Doro’s highest-level feature phone to date and includes great features such as the ability to record and share video. It also has a weather forecast application on the home screen. It comes in an easy-to-open clamshell design, with outside screen for instant caller identification. As with all Doro mobiles it brings a host of ergonomic and inclusive design benefits. These include loud, clear and amplified sounds using wideband audio technology, adjustable text size, a large clear and bright screen, intuitive menus and the option to hide functions, creating a totally bespoke mobile experience.
The phone will launch in the UK during May 2013.
Despite some manufacturers marketing to suggest the contrary, there are actually plenty of these around. Just wander into any one of the major supermarkets, and there are a fair few PAYG feature phones with simple functionality, large(ish) buttons with clear displays.
I can understand that older folks don’t really want big expensive smartphones, but there are plenty who do.
I believe the reason is simple. Whilst I have a smartphone for personal use, its primary function, for me at least, is an Internet connectivity device. I’d say well over 95% of its active use is non-telephony based functions (and I even count texts as a telephony function). This is not so true for my business device, but that’s a little different.
The older generations tend not to use the Internet anywhere near as much as the mobile-computing generations, therefore their need for this is vastly reduced, and I can appreciate that a few don’t want the added complications, but I actually believe this is quite a minority.
My 80 year old dad got a Doro PhoneEasy 610, and when my mum saw it she immediately jacked in here Motorola feature phone and got a 612 (she wanted the camera the 610 doesn’t have).
Whilst they appreciate why I have my smartphones they are both very happy with what they have, and I’m happy because they have the emergency speed dial functions for if they have an accident.
The one problem with their phones is the clunky UI but, if these images are anything to go by, it looks like they’ve addressed this on the new model.
Gorgeous purple colour. Brighter colours easier to find in the handbag than black phones.