Bodega x Heineken Strip Down the Smartphone: Presenting the "Boring Phone"
No emails, apps or internet access.
Bodega and Heineken have linked up with Human Mobile Devices (HMD) to put a stripped-down spin on the smartphone. Dubbed the “Boring Phone,” the nostalgic offering is so stripped down that it doesn’t even offer internet access, social media, or access to any apps at large.
Designed to aid in disconnecting – especially on nights out – the Boring Phone is a flip phone, with the primary purpose of solely sending and receiving calls and text messages.
Encased in a holographic covering, the phone’s design melds futuristic and retro design influences, with holographic stickers attached throughout the device.
Not only is it technologically incapable of running any form of external application, but it also holds a week of standby time and up to 20 hours of talk time.
The Boring Phone debuts today, April 18, at a pop-up Bodega at Milan Design Week.
“With the phone, it was both a diagnosis and antidote for this feeling that we all have about the infinite scroll, being trapped in an algorithm and harvested for attention and clicks,” Bodega co-founder Oliver Mak told Hypebeast. “It’s a playful provocation- asking people if they can connect with others more and be more present.”
“For the design we chose a transparent case as it alludes to the time when you could look at personal electronics and intuitively deduce how it worked by peering inside,” he continued. “There’s a satisfying click when you close the phone after hanging up a call. We envisioned a strange fashionable accessory that you could spot in a crowd, but also convey this core of simplifying & connecting.”
Take a closer look at the Bodega x Heineken Boring Phone in the gallery above.
