SÉNS, a mobile phone that talks back at you

Don't get a negative thought on this mobile phone yet after you read the title subject up there. ;-p

Because I meant it in a good way, and would become a really good news for visually impaired people. Takumi Yoshida has designed a mobile phone concept; called SÉNS for such unfortunate people, the phone will not has a screen to display what numbers you're dialing. But instead, it tells you what numbers you've just pushed.

With the help of glow of color they will be able to see the tiny texts on screen to at least some extent. The enlightenment is positioned on the sides as the sides are the ones that are exposed when the phone is on a flat surface.

To ensure users is pushing the correct buttons, SÉNS combines touch sensors and regular mechanical keys to provide real-time audio feedbacks. Here's the exact explanations taken directly from SÉNS' website:

Once the user is sure his finger is on the correct key, he then can press the key just like on any other standard phones. Once a key is pressed, another ‘click’ sound is fed back to confirm the input. This system is essentially just an audio version of what people without sight problems always utilizes; visual indications. This provides more efficient interactions and reduces the chance of making wrong inputs compared to current products used by people with visual impairment as they only provide audio feedbacks after key inputs are registered.

One of the biggest issues with ‘talking’ phones is that the sound interaction can be heard by other people nearby. Using a headset wired or wireless (if Bluetooth is available) can solve the problem, however having a headset integrated to the main phone can offer a number of advantages.

Takumi's idea can't be called as new concept, because others have also tried this in different ways; but the credit should given to him since he did it with more style.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]