Emporia ME6, 5G smartphone, reviewed

We look at the new Emporia ME6, you can see more about the product on their website here.

Emporia ME6, 5G smartphone, reviewed

This phone was launched at the end of last year, out of the box our testers liked it. They did wonder why it had only reached them now, but, as we have come to learn, things just seem to move slowly sometimes. The goal is to be streamlined and easy to use, which they have successfully achieved. As we have found out previously with, how shall we say it… We’ll just bit the bullet and say ‘age friendly devices’ there can be a problem getting the intended demographic to actually use it. From several octogenarians that we have tried to offer the review samples to after we have reviewed them, there has been some resistance. Comments like, well thanks, perhaps I’ll use that when I am, well you know, really old.

It is perhaps for these reasons that Emporia have to walk a delicate line, in creating something that is actually excellent for this, ahem, older demographic, while, at the same time, not making them feel like they need a ‘special’ phone. Perhaps one solution is that the older cohorts are less likely to read reviews like this. However their offspring, trying to help them, and get devices like this into their hands, are perhaps more likely to read this. Our testers, several decades younger, still found it intuitive, and fun to use. A smart phone without an excess of display information. As part of our trials we will also be getting some octogenarians to road test devices like this too.

There are some good shortcuts too, which make sense as most people, let alone the older users, will tend to use certain things more much often than others. These worked well, were easy to set up, and helped to improve the ease of usage for the phone. The device also feels robust, takes pretty good photos and is reasonably priced too. Overall this does seem like a good gift for the right person in your family, and it might also help them to stay in touch and connected too.

It has the following key features

• 5G smartphone, 6.58-inch touchscreen
• Physical panic button with 999 / Quick-key
• Triple-lens 50+2+TOF-MP back camera
• 8 MP selfie camera
• Fingerprint sensor for biometric identification
• NFC for contactless payments
• Optional easy mode

More about the Emporia ME6

The emporiaME.6 is a top smartphone with the latest 5G technology, Android 13, triple main camera and Camera Pro, lightning-fast processor, NFC, fingerprint sensor, voice input, ASHA support (particularly good hearing quality even with a hearing aid), etc.

And yet it stands out from the crowd in three respects:

1) The user makes the decision: clear, easy user interface or conventional Android mode.  The emporiaME.6 starts up in the familiar Android mode by default. The mobile phone can be switched to the clear, reduced easy mode with just two presses. Or straight back again. It is a conscious decision that YOU make.

2) The Info Centre, which is only available in simple mode.  This is where all notifications come together in one place. Whether it’s a missed call, new email, WhatsApp message or a notification from Facebook Messenger, you can keep an eye on everything here.

3) The external, directly accessible panic button. Press firmly once and help is automatically called. Good to know if you’re walking home alone at night, for example. Or if you are planning a lonely mountain tour. 360 hours (15 days!) of standby time should be enough even in this case.

So much technology packed into just 209 grams, available for less than 300 euros and with a 2-year warranty? The European smartphone manufacturer emporia shows how it’s done.

See more product reviews here.