Just over half of our mobile customers use a smartphone today. That means many are yet to make the shift to an internet connected mobile with easy access to the web and apps.

Today we’re launching a mobile designed for people who are thinking of moving to a smartphone but want the experience to be simple.

The Telstra EasyTouch^® 4G is the first smartphone in our range of Easy devices which also includes the Telstra Easy Discovery 3 and the Telstra EasyCall® 2.

The EasyTouch 4G comes with a 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen, an 8 mega-pixel camera with LED Flash, MP3 player, Bluetooth connectivity and 4GB of internal memory expandable to 32GB with a microSD memory card. It runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s 4G-enabled meaning you can enjoy superfast downloads and stream video with ease in 4G coverage areas.

But it’s the easy-to-use user interface that really sets this smartphone apart.

During the development of a previous Easy product, the Telstra Easy Discovery 3, we shared the phone with groups of customers to get some key insights. During these sessions we found that whilst many of these customers were using feature phones they were interested in moving to a simple and easy smartphone. They wanted the latest technology, access to the internet, social networking and emails, however not at the expense of easily accessing the core functions they need to stay connected with their family and loved ones.

Following those sessions, we set about meeting the challenge of designing a smartphone that could not only help customers bridge the gap between feature and smartphone, but would also be a good smartphone for those customers who knew their way around a device – but wanted a simple experience. What followed was an intensive 6 month design period.

Early in the process, we settled on Android as the operating system for what would become the Telstra EasyTouch 4G as it provided us with a flexible, powerful platform and includes great features that our existing smartphone customers like. Yet it was this flexibility and range of features that presented us with a challenge. The breadth of features can be daunting for customers who aren’t familiar. With that in mind we set out to design software elements to specifically give customers easy access to the features that are used most on a phone such as calling, messages, email, browser and handset settings.

We know it can be easy to lose track of unread email, texts and missed call notifications in the midst of all the menus – especially when you’re starting out on a smartphone so we created Easy widgets and a new lock screen which were designed to show unread or un-actioned email, text and call notifications.

The four Easy widgets preinstalled on EasyTouch 4G are:

• Phone – Which provides quick access to the phone dialler and call log, contacts and messages and shows at a glance if you have missed calls or have unread messages.
• Internet – A hub for the browser, favourite bookmarks and your emails.
• Media – Quick access to your camera and photo gallery as well as the music player.
• Settings – Which lets you set your alarm, adjust sounds and manage Wi-Fi settings.

Next we looked at the standard lock screen and repeated the process. We added simplified and colour-coded notification buttons for unlock and, when appropriate, missed calls, messages and email , so that customers need only press and hold the appropriate button to jump directly to that area.

The EasyTouch 4G was also designed to be more accessible with a large font size that can be selected by people with reduced vision and simplified iconography and colour-coded buttons on the phone widgets for intuitive navigation and maximum contrast.

The “easy” widgets are removable — so as customers get more familiar with their new smartphone, they can choose to either remove or add easy features from their home-screen as they need.

The team found it really rewarding to design something that we hope will help customers connect in new ways. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Pricing and availability

The EasyTouch 4G launches today, 13 November, and is available to personal customers for $0 (after using your MRO bonus) on a $60 Every Day Connect^TM Plan over 24 months (Min cost over 24 months $1,440).

It is also available to purchase outright for $456.