KDDI Announces Another Design-oriented Handset

Jan 29, 2010 19:12 Shinya Saeki, Nikkei Electronics

KDDI Corp and Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company announced the "lotta," a new mobile phone of the design-oriented "iida" brand, Jan 28, 2010.

The lotta is a handset made by combining two parts with different textures and colors. It comes in white, yellow and green. The name was derived from the English word "lot" (luck).

"We wanted to make a compact and simple handset that looks joyful by using textures and colors," said Kazuhiko Masuda, general manager of the Consumer Service & Product Planning Division at KDDI.

The handset was designed by Ichiro Iwasaki as in the case of the "G9" mobile phone of the iida brand and manufactured by Kyocera Corp. It will be released in mid-February.

The lotta approximately measures 100 x 49 x 14.6mm and weighs 108g. It is equipped with a 2.8-inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) LCD panel, a 1.97-Mpixel CMOS camera, a FeliCa contactless smart card and GPS capability.

However, the handset does not support Bluetooth wireless technology or 1seg digital TV reception. In other words, it is a middle- or lower-grade handset in Japan.

"The lotta is targeted at people who are looking for compact mobile phones," Masuda said. "Though it might not satisfy those who want highly-functional products, the lotta has enough functions in its simple body. Focusing on usability in our daily lives, we designed the handset so that it can be easily held and its buttons can be easily pressed."

Furthermore, KDDI will release two types of cell phone charms for the lotta, the "Strap-trap" and "8071 Strap" in the beginning of February 2010. The Strap-trap was designed by Mike Abelson, a designer for the Postalco stationery. And the 8071 Strap was designed by Japanese designer Makoto Orisaki.

24 Hours | 7 Days