Heineken and retail marketplace Bodega have released «The Boring Phone». It was produced by Human Mobile Devices (HMD). This is a special limited edition of functional phones with limited specifications. It was created to encourage people to engage in live communication in their free time, disconnecting from their smartphones.
«Boring Phone» Heineken x Bodega frees users from the distractions of modern smartphones. It offers basic features such as making calls and sending SMS. Social functions and networks, as well as other modern mobile applications that waste users’ time and distract them from real life, are not available.
The study, commissioned by Heineken, found that 90% of the UK and US millennials scroll through social media constantly while socializing with friends and family, checking their devices an average of 7 times per night. Two-thirds of respondents admitted to opening social media (62%) while chatting with others, while more than a third (36%) confirmed that they check work emails. 30% of respondents also said that they sneakily play games instead of communicating with family and friends. At the same time, 32% of respondents would like to be able to disconnect from their phones in the evening and on weekends. To be less dependent on social media, 22% of respondents turn off or leave their phones at home before social events, and 38% say they are considering doing the same.
«The Boring Phone» / The Boring Phone allows you to fix this problem while staying connected. The transparent body and holographic stickers are designed to remind you of the mobile phones of the early 2000s. The device is made in a clamshell form factor. It has an internal 2.8-inch QVGA display and an external 1.77-inch QQVGA screen. The 128 MB internal storage can be expanded with a memory card of up to 32 GB. FM radio, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 0.3-megapixel camera are available for entertainment. The device supports 2G, 3G, 4G networks and the ability to install two SIM cards. The removable 1450 mAh battery provides up to 6 hours of talk time in 3G/4G networks, up to 20 hours of talk time in 2G networks, and more than a week of standby time. The device has dimensions of 108x55x18.9 mm and weighs 123 g.
The «Boring Phone» will be given away as gifts on social media in the UK, and will be available in other markets later this year. In June, an app will also be launched that will make «Boring Phone» smartphones capable of experiencing the «Boring Phone» experience without the physical device.
