Will never run out of battery
We all know someone who could do with giving their mobile a rest. This handset is for them – it's called the NoPhone, and it has no camera, no screen, no anything, in fact.
It's just a slab of plastic that acts as something to hold if you don't want to go cold turkey from your mobile.
Its aim is to help people wean themselves off relying on their mobiles so they can "stay connected with the real world".
Which is certainly should, seeing as it has no discernible features.
The makers describe it as a "surrogate to any smart mobile device, enabling you to always have a rectangle of smooth, cold plastic to clutch without foregoing any potential engagement with your direct environment. Never again experience the unsettling feeling of flesh on flesh when closing your hand."
The tongue-in-cheek product has already raised over $8,000 on Kickstarter, so obviously plenty of people appreciate the joke.
It does raise the issue of how reliant we've become on our mobile devices, and how lost we feel as soon as we're without them. Who hasn't been in a social situation and seen someone check their phone every few seconds? With the NoPhone, there's nothing to check, so the compulsion would gradually diminish.
It also won't run out of battery before dinner time, unlike most modern mobiles.
In terms of design, it's not a million miles away from the Amazon Fire Phone. Which says it all about Amazon's first phone.
Read more: Oppo may launch world's slimmest smartphone on Wednesday
