A year ago, we published a story about how frustrating using smartphones could be for women, considering that their size and shape weren’t created with small hands in mind. It appears that HTC may have noticed this fact, as a rumor going around says that it is manufacturing a smartphone for women called “Bliss.” There’s no news yet on the physical specs of the phone or when it might be released, but a few details have come out about what it might entail.
How it’s female oriented
“Bliss” is supposed to be seafoam green and comes with a rubberized back, allowing for a better grip on the phone. It’s apparently a mating of the HTC Desires S and Z, without a keyboard. The green color is supposed to be “calming.” and the phone also comes with a soothing wallpaper to go along with it. “Bliss” will come tailored with shopping and calorie counting apps, and will most likely run the Sense UI.
The most interesting part of the new phone will be an accessory hanging off of it called a “charm indicator.” This charm can be clipped to a purse and will light up if the user has some sort of message waiting for them. Other available accessories will include a wireless charging dock with speakers, a “stylish” matching bluetooth headset, and a square speaker that can be attached to a car visor and uses voice recognition.
My Reaction:
It’s exciting to see a phone company try to cater to the many female Android users out there, especially considering that the size of the average Android device can be hard for women to type with quickly. That being said, HTC is going about this largely in the wrong way. Why do women in particular need a rubberized back for grip purposes? If that helps users hold the phone, why not put it on every HTC phone so men can gain the advantage of it too? And why does the phone need to have a calming color and wallpaper? Is it because women might be tempted to throw it across the room when they realize that HTC thinks that they’re fat and need to start counting their calories?
While catering weight loss and shopping commercials to women is nothing new, it’s disappointing that such an innovative company like HTC feels that the most compelling way to get ladies into their phones are condescending features. Lastly, while the charm indicator could help women with big purses find their phones quickly, it seems like something more geared towards a fifteen year old—not the twenty to thirty something women that “Bliss” is marketed to. It could also be highly annoying if it happened to get stuck on things easily, or for users that prefer to carry their phones in their pockets.
The “Bliss” phone is still a rumor, and it’s likely that it may never come out, or it may be heavily changed before it comes to market. Hopefully HTC will come up with some more compelling female-oriented features through field testing the phone, because it’s not impressing now.
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