Nokia and other phone companies are attempting to design phones for those in the world who do not have them yet: the poor and rural. A human behavior researcher for Nokia conducts research by asking passers-by to sketch a design of what they would want in a phone. These are some of the ideas he's seen:
"One Liberian refugee wanted to outfit a phone with a land-mine detector so that he could more safely return to his home village. In the Dharavi slum of Mumbai, people sketched phones that could forecast the weather since they had no access to TV or radio. Muslims wanted G.P.S. devices to orient their prayers toward Mecca. Someone else drew a phone shaped like a water bottle, explaining that it could store precious drinking water and also float on the monsoon waters. In Jacarèzinho, a bustling favela in Rio, one designer drew a phone with an air-quality monitor. Several women sketched phones that would monitor cheating boyfriends and husbands. Another designed a “peace button” that would halt gunfire in the neighborhood with a single touch."
I want a phone with an albuterol inhaler, and a downloadable book that reads like paper.
2 comments:
I would like a cell phone that gets perfect reception all of the time, has a large, handheld receiver that is attached to the main part of the phone by a cord, has no annoying text messaging features, and stays in my house all of the time. It would also be nice if it was somehow attached to a wall.
my dreamphone would have sensory abilities and would find my fingers when they are digging around in my purse, would never break, would be water-proof (to assist in its never-breaking features), and would have an alarm that would never go off until i was holding a cup of coffee.
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