Kyocera claims that a mobile phone can be just a phone and brings the credit card-sized smartphone KY-01L, contrary to the beastly news models Apple.
With Apple and most Android device makers building bigger and bigger phones, it's pretty clear where the smartphone market is headed, at least for the short term. But that doesn't mean there aren't some companies bucking the trend, bringing smaller rather than larger devices. Earlier this week, we heard that Palm was rebooting its business with a very small phone that is definitely not meant to be your primary portable computing device. But the Kyocera company brings an even smaller smartphone, the KY-01L.
The fact is that the Japanese company has been producing unusual phone plans for years, as it had previously made a Nintendo DS dual-screen mobile phone. The latest experiment is the KY-O1L, a phone that will probably fit into one of the credit card slots in your wallet. Unfortunately, it's only released in Japan, but it's an interesting idea that's worth seeing even if you're not in Japan.
The KY-O1L has an ePaper 2,8 inch screen, the same technology that is available on some electronic readers. The phone has dimensions of just 91mm × 55mm × 5,3mm and weighs 47 grams. For comparison, the iPhone XS is 143,6mm × 70,9mm × 7,7mm and XS Max is 157,5mm × 77,4mm × 7,7mm respectively. The Japanese operator NTT Docomo, who will release KY-O1L, claims to be the thinnest smartphone in the world.
Το KY-O1L δεν εκτελεί iOS ή Android και δεν διαθέτει κατάστημα εφαρμογών. Δεν έχει επίσης κάμερα. Έχει όμως ενσωματωμένες εφαρμογές, συμπεριλαμβανομένου ενός προγράμματος περιήγησης στο Web, μιας αριθμομηχανής και ενός ημερολογίου, έτσι είναι βέβαιο ότι είναι τεχνικά ένα smartphone. Έχει μια μπαταρία 380mAh, η οποία ακούγεται πολύ μικρή, αλλά η οθόνη ePaper δεν πρέπει να χρησιμοποιεί πάρα πολύ ενέργεια, οπότε δεν θα εκπλαγούμε αν η duration battery life is good, regardless of its capacity.
The KY-O1L will be released in Japan by NTT Docomo at the end of November for ¥ 32,000 or around 248 euro at the current exchange rate.
Overall the KY-O1L's design recognizes that sometimes a phone doesn't need to be a computing device meant to be used in every aspect of your life. Sometimes, it can be just a phone with a few extras, as was the norm in the past mobile phones.
See below a demonstration of the Kyocera phone.
