A startup company called DTOOR, which stands for “Designing the Opposite of Rectangle”, is attempting to change smartphone design. As their name may suggest, they wish to move away from rectangular phones and towards a circular design.
The circular smartphone, called the Cyrcle, is aimed at women and was unveiled to the world a few weeks ago at Mobile World Congress.
The Cyrcle is a brightly coloured, circular flip phone. Designers say they opted for a round design as women’s pockets are smaller than men’s and often can’t accommodate the larger, rectangular phones. It’s also thought to appeal to women as it resembles a compact mirror.
Christina Cyr and Linda Inagawa, both ex-Microsoft employees are the brains of the operation. They hope to fund the project on Kickstarter this summer, with an asking price of $100 per device.
The phone is made from a Seed RePhone Kit, which is a DIY kit that comes with different modules for a phone including LED lights, NFC and GPS.
The founders say that current phones make women look “unattractive”. Cyr and Inagawa say the Cyrcle is a more discreet and lady-like way of communicating.
Whatever about the practicalities of a circular smartphone, when we look at it all we see is:
