How does NTT Docomo’s tiny new smartphone measure up?
The Card Keitai KY-01L offers basic smartphone capabilities, but how does it compare with card-sized rivals such as the Palm phone and the Light Phone 2?
While Apple, Google and other major handset makers are packing smartphones with ever more bells and whistles, a Japanese company is releasing a phone that latches onto another trend: the rise of the smaller, simpler smartphone.
NTT Docomo is expected to release a phone in November that they claim is the world’s thinnest and lightest smartphone ever made, and is designed as a “lite” version with only basic smartphone capabilities.
Yet this isn’t even the first phone produced this year that prides itself on being so tiny. Here’s how NTT Docomo’s Card Keitai KY-01L stacks up against other smartphones that aim to be more ultra-mobile and simplistic than ever.
NTT Docomo says its phone is the “world’s thinnest” smartphone, and is the size of a credit card.
The Card Keitai KY-01L is about the size of a credit card, give or take a few millimetres on the length and width. At 0.2 inches (5.08mm), the phone is incredibly skinny and really not that much thicker than a normal credit card.
The KY-01L can make phone calls and browse the web, but that’s about it.
When a phone is so small in size, some sacrifices have to be made. This is definitely a “lite” smartphone. The phone has LTE connectivity and 4G for phone calls and web browsing. However, the phone does not have a camera or any store to download apps from.