At the London Design Festival today. Punkt released the second edition of its mobile phone, the MP02 4G. Designed by Jasper Morrison, the new MP02 benefits from 4G LTE, making it available for use all over the world, has the ability to tether to another device (a laptop or tablet) and it features BlackBerry Secure Software – the first ever non-BlackBerry handset to be certified with this.
The MP02 is designed to be used together with a tablet, giving the user an adequately-sized screen for writing texts, viewing websites, and using maps. It creates two separate devices that each do their job well, rather than a single ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ that’s only really good at one thing: distraction. The tablet stays in your bag until you decide to use it. Or it stays at home.
As such, it remains a phone geared around speaking, through great ergonomics with excellent audio quality. Unlike smartphones it won’t pester you with notifications during a conversation.
Describing the new phone, Punkt’s founder Petter Neby said:
“I wanted to create a primary phone that sits above all of my digital devices, a kind of gatekeeper. If anyone wants to talk to me, they can give me a call. Other forms of communication, for example email or social media, are available when I want to receive them and decide to make use of the 4G based tethering. That way, I get to choose. The wonders of digital communication remain available, but as something to dip into when the time is right. The focus is on voice communications – still often the best way to keep in touch.”
“The MP 02 builds on the paradigm shift of its revolutionary predecessor. From components to aesthetics, it’s an entirely new product inside and out – with a particularly striking contextual user interface. The addition of a select number of extra features means that, in conjunction with a tablet or laptop, it is now set to appeal to a substantially greater number of people.”
The housing of the MP02 is reinforced with glass-fibre and finished with a tough, abrasion-resistant coating. Splashproof to IP52 standard.
The display is monochrome+ (black, white, occasional red). Unusually, the interface is 100% text-based – no icons whatsoever. Click through in seconds: up, down, select, go.
This may not be a phone for everybody but it is available to pre-order now for £295, with pre-ordered phones delivered with a free Lamy pen designed by Jasper Morrison.
