Featured at CES 2012, the SpareOne has officially hit the market as a simple mobile phone that can last for 15 years — yes you read that right — on a single charge.
No, unfortunately the SpareOne is not a smartphone, and in fact it can’t even really be considered a feature phone. All you can do with it is make and receive phone calls. It’s being marketed as a perfect phone to use for emergencies only. SpareOne owners can make emergency calls with or without a SIM card installed. The 15-year shelf life means you shouldn’t ever have to worry about low battery life in the case of an emergency. It has 10-hour talk time which is a significant drop from 15 years, but again if you only use this for emergencies, the talk time is more than adequate.
The phone’s design is as bare-bones as it gets for a cell phone. There’s no display at all, a large contribution to the long battery life. It looks somewhat like a remote. The volume button is on the left, torch light control on the right, buttons to accept or deny calls, standard number keys, power button, and lock/unlock button.
The designer, Alan Cymberknoh, has his own purpose for the device. When his iPhone dies every evening before he’s able to charge it, he starts accepting calls on the SpareOne. “I have pre-set my important numbers on it — home, office, family — so when people call me, I pick up on my SpareOne.” It seems that while using it for emergencies is one good use, the possibilities are limitless.