MWC: Smartphone for seniors

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Fujitsu and Orange unveiled a smartphone designed for senior users, with easy to use features and enhanced security options.

Fujitsu Limited and France Telecom-Orange have unveiled a smartphone designed especially for senior users, the Stylistic S01, which will be available through Orange in France in June 2013. The two companies last week also announced a new partnership to offer mobile phones and services in Europe, marking Fujitsu’s first extensive foray into the smartphone market outside Japan. The S01 is on display at the Fujitsu and Orange stands during Mobile World Congress 2013, held in Barcelona this week. As the senior population in Europe continues to grow rapidly, smartphone usage in this demographic is expected to rise. With the release of the Stylistic S01, Fujitsu and Orange plan on offering users in this market segment an innovative smartphone that provides outstanding usability. The Stylistic S01 will include services like Orange Cineday and Orange et Moi, which are unique to Orange. Based on technologies that Fujitsu has cultivated for over a decade, the Stylistic S01 also offers a variety of original, convenient functions designed to reduce barriers to smartphone adoption by maximizing ease of use.

One of these barriers is conventional touchscreens, which do not offer the tactile sensation of pressing a physical button. The Stylistic S01, however, employs a unique screen technology that requires users to apply the same level of pressure to on-screen icons as they would to buttons on a keypad. This helps users avoid inadvertent touches, preventing unintended operations and improving input accuracy.

Furthermore, the intuitive graphic user interface features extra-large icons and a simplified layout to ensure straightforward navigation for easier operation. The Stylistic S01 is also equipped with a loud personal security alarm that can be used to alert people in the surrounding area in emergency situations.

The handset incorporates audio technology that optimizes the frequency range based on a user’s age, making it easier to hear the voice of the person on the other end of the call. Another user-friendly audio function slows down the speech of callers who speak rapidly without lowering the pitch of their voice or changing the length of the conversation. These and other innovative features are currently in use in the Fujitsu Raku-Raku Phone series for seniors, which has been offered by NTT Docomo since 2001 in Japan, where it has sold over 20 million units.

“The senior customers within our customer base are just as hungry for smartphone technology and mobile internet services as anyone else. We are thrilled to be working together with Fujitsu to leverage our combined strengths to provide products for an emerging smartphone market segment in Europe,”” said Yves Maitre, Senior Vice President of Device & Mobile Multimedia, France Telecom-Orange.

“”As Fujitsu’s first extensive entry into the smartphone market outside Japan, we are delighted that Orange a company that holds a strong position in the European market will be offering our phone, which features Fujitsu-exclusive human-centric technologies,”” said Nobuo Otani, Corporate Senior Vice President, Fujitsu Limited. “”We are committed to the success of this partnership as we strive to expand our smartphone business overseas, while advancing the promotion of Japanese technology worldwide.””

Stylistic S01 Product Specifications

· 130 × 64 × 10.9 mm

· 4-inch WVGA (800×480) touchscreen with unique tactile feedback technology

· Camera: back: 8.1 MP: front: 0.3 MP

· Connectivity: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, GPS

· Memory: 4 GB + microSD

· OS version: Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0

· Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8255 1.4 GHz

· Battery: 1800 mAh

· Water- and dust-resistant (IPX5/8, IP5X)

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