Fujitsu launches 'easy-easy' seniors' phone

Japan's Fujitsu launched a new mobile telephone for the elderly on Wednesday, its latest "Raku-Raku" or "easy-easy" model, with a large, crisp display and one-touch Internet access.

Users of the phone, designed in Japan for telecom giant NTT, have access to a special website with travel and gourmet information tailored to the needs of senior citizens, as well as news, weather and transport details.

The waterproof clamshell model also features an application called "Naoko Takahashi's Walking Clinic", named after an Olympic gold medalist and former marathon runner, which analyses the user's stride.

The phone boasts an 8.1-megapixel "smart camera" that can take pictures automatically when it detects that the subjects are smiling, and sounds an alarm when a finger obscures the lens.

Fujitsu's previous Raku-Raku phones have sold more than 17.8 million units since 2001 in Japan, a rapidly greying society with one of the world's longest life expectancies and lowest birth rates.

Fujitsu did not announce plans to market the phone outside Japan.