Despite the growing ubiquity of smartphones, from time to time you can still see people using conventional mobile phones to talk or text. Ask them why they don’t upgrade, and they are likely to tell you that smartphones are hard to operate, complicated, have too many functions, or are expensive. For some people, change does not come easily.
But, according to market research by handset maker Fujitsu and DOCOMO, interest in smartphones is actually quite high among senior and middle-age users, who now widely use conventional feature phones. In particular, they find large touchscreens more appealing than the smaller screens on their conventional phones. To meet the latent demand among such users, DOCOMO unveiled in August 2012 its Raku-Raku (Easy-Easy) SMART PHONE, a simple, affordable Android™ model for novices and minimalists, as well as senior users.

The core precepts behind DOCOMO’s new smartphone are easy operation and basic, useful functions with no extra bells or whistles. To design this smartphone, DOCOMO combined the familiarity of conventional mobile phones with the convenience and versatility of smartphones.

Advantage 1: Keypad-Like Touchscreen with Large Icons
Who hasn’t experienced the misfortune of pushing the wrong button on a smartphone? Many smartphones can be tricky to read and operate accurately, despite their high-definition, high-resolution liquid crystal displays with bright, vivid graphics and lettering.

With the Raku-Raku SMART PHONE, however, the first thing people notice is the home screen’s unique layout, arranged like a keypad, with user-friendly buttons, icons, coloring and fonts. Designed specifically for people using a touchscreen for the first time, the home screen offers large, easy-to-understand buttons for the most commonly used functions, such as phone, email and contacts. When the screen is touched, the point of contact lights up to show the user where they are touching. A firm press triggers a tactile vibration and audible click, enabling users to confirm that the button or icon was selected successfully. Extra-easy operability is incorporated throughout the device, providing users with a familiar, friendly experience to ease their transition from feature phones.

Advantage 2: High-volume speaker
Designed with senior citizens especially in mind, the Raku-Raku SMART PHONE comes with an extra-high-volume speaker for always-easy listening, a significant benefit for people with hearing difficulties.

Advantage 3: Low cost
Users also benefit from the Raku-Raku SMART PHONE’s low cost. In addition to highly competitive retail pricing, DOCOMO offers an economical flat-rate packet billing plan for light users. The plan, which costs 2,980 yen (approx. 38 USD) per month, offers a max. 14Mbps downlink and max. 5.7Mbps uplink for up to 500MB of data per month, and then transmission at 128Kbps thereafter. Compared to DOCOMO’s standard flat-rate plan costing 5,460 yen (approx. 70 USD) per month, this plan lowers the hurdle for customers to begin using data-hungry smartphones.