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simple posts

Samsung's entry-level E2100, E1125, E1100 and E1070 go official in Russia

by Darren Murph posted Feb 8th 2009 @ 7:57AM

Samsung already outed these handsets a few days ago, but it's doing itself a solid by pumping out an official press release for 'em in Russia. The new E Series -- which includes the entry-level E2100, E1125, E1100 and E1070 -- supports GSM 900 / 1800, offers up a color display and plays nice with polyphonic ring tones. Also of note, these seem to all feature the Mobile Tracker and SOS features which we originally caught wind of on the SPH-W7100. There's no pricing or release details on any of 'em, but you can dig through the woefully short specification lists in the read link below.

[Via UnwiredView]

LG introduces simple, utterly forgettable KM330 candybar

by Darren Murph posted Feb 5th 2009 @ 11:48PM

LG's got the low-end handset beat down pat, as evidenced by its nearly continuous flow of simplistic handsets aimed at overseas markets. The KM330 is actually fairly stylish for what it is, which is a tri-band GSM mobile with a three megapixel camera, FM radio module, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD card slot, a 2-inch 340 x 320 display, MP3 player and stereo speakers. If you've managed to stay awake this far, you may be interested in knowing that it'll ship next month in the Ukraine. Huzzah?

[Via UnwiredView]

Doro brings immensely simplistic phones to the US via Centennial Wireless

by Darren Murph posted Nov 22nd 2008 @ 8:43AM

Now that the baby boomer generation is booming louder than ever and the geriatric set is quickly growing larger, Doro is hoping to grow its market share by coming to the States. A mainstay in the European market, the company focuses on producing overly simplistic mobiles that ditch cutting edge features in favor of easy-to-use interfaces. The GSM-compatible HandleEasy 330gsm and HandleEasy 326i gsm have arrived on US soil courtesy of Centennial Wireless, and both should be the easiest phone you've ever had the opportunity to use. Unfortunately, there's no mention of a price for either, but we can't imagine 'em being too pricey.

ClarityLife C900 caters to old people, pwns the Jitterbug

by Darren Murph posted Nov 12th 2008 @ 8:02PM

There are phones for the geriatric set, and then there's the ClarityLife C900. This mobile makes no bones about what it is -- a dead simple candybar that's meant to easily place / receive calls and give owners access to an impossible-to-miss red emergency button. It also boasts large buttons for easy dialing, a large backlit screen with humongous text, a fierce vibrating ringer, inbuilt flashlight and a speaker that's "twice as loud" as an ordinary cellphone. Ironically, there's two full paragraphs explaining how to actually get a SIM card from your preferred carrier, so there's still a learning curve to overcome. At least Clarity makes the process of handing over $269.99 as easy as possible.

[Via UnwiredView]

Samsung Anycall CC03 gets way back to basics

by Darren Murph posted Apr 27th 2008 @ 4:41AM

It's not like Samsung hasn't simplified a good number of its handsets before, but the Anycall CC03 hearkens back to the days when text-messaging was but a dream and haptics weren't even mentioned in the same paragraph as cellular telephones (okay, so maybe that's a stretch). Still, we can definitely appreciate the lo-fi approach given the $65 sticker, and considering that it measures in at just 4.07- x 1.73- x 0.58-inches, we can certainly see quite a few folks picking one up to handle calling, and well, more calling. You'll find dual-band GSM support, speakerphone / SMS functionality and a battery that'll provide around 2.8-hours of talk time. No word on a price just yet, but word on street has this phone available as we speak in Hong Kong.

Hands-on with Motorola MOTOFONE F3

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 4th 2006 @ 11:11AM

Who knew going back to segmented displays on handsets was such a good idea? No, seriously -- check out the picture, it looks pretty nifty in the flesh. Mobile Burn was equally impressed in their up-close-and-personal look at Moto's MOTOFONE F3, their newest low-cost handset for emerging markets, saying that the screen actually reminded them a lot of an Etch-a-Sketch. With a large text readout and voice prompting, they were equally impressed with the phone's foolproof simplicity, suggesting this might be a great device for the very young and old in, uh, emerged markets as well. We'll reserve final judgment for when we can get our hands on an F3 ourselves, but we'd like to cautiously offer Moto congratulations for getting us unusually worked up over an extremely simple phone.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Indian firm boils the mobile phone down to basics

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 3rd 2006 @ 12:11AM

What if you were to take the mobile phone concept and strip away every conceivable nonessential feature. What would you be left with? The Migo, you say? The Firefly, perhaps? Not even; both of those devices have luxuries like selectable ringtones and displays. India's National Institute of Design has devised the "Mini Mobile," which bears a strong resemblance to a remote control but actually functions as an ultra-simplified phone. We can recite the entire spec sheet to you in three words: three speed dials. That's it. No GPS, no display, no dedicated emergency button. (Technically, there are dedicated buttons to send and end calls, though we don't consider those features.) No word on production plans, but the firm is shopping the design around to manufacturers, arguing that a no-nonsense device will appeal to parents and the elderly. One recommendation, guys: the five randomly placed, identical buttons sorta go against your design principle.

[Via I4U News]