The Pantech Breeze is the direct result of AT&T and Pantech’s collaboration to build a device on the principles of Universal Design — the practice of designing products and applications that are usable by the most customers possible. AT&T recently published the company’s approach to Universal Design to encourage application developers and handset manufacturers to consider the needs of seniors or customers who have disabilities when creating products and services.

“Universal Design helps define important design criteria to meet the wants and needs of as many of our customers as possible,” said Carlton Hill, vice president of Product Management, Voice Products and Affiliate Marketing for AT&T’s wireless operations. “The Pantech Breeze is a result of our efforts to meet these criteria and offer a great-looking phone that’s a breeze to use for everyone — from tweens to great-grandparents.”

The Pantech Breeze takes into account many of the design principles set forth in AT&T’s approach to Universal Design:

• 1-2-3 Quick-Call Keys — Three preprogrammable quick-call buttons are located below the screen — users can easily select one of the three quick-call contacts and press the send button to start a call.
• Simplified Menu — Navigating the phone’s features is trouble-free with the simplified “breeze menu,” which prioritizes the features that customers want to access most.
• Large Font — Menu screens on the Pantech Breeze use a highly visible large font. Additionally, the font of SMS messages is enlarged and the date and time of messages sent is at the beginning rather than at the end of a message.
• Easy-to-Use Buttons — The oversized buttons on the device respond with a tactile click when pressed, and the amount of time the keys remain illuminated after use is extended.
• Clear and Loud Speakerphone — A large, dedicated button starts and stops speakerphone use.
• Camera — A dedicated hard key for the camera brings up camera options “take a picture” and “photo album” to give users easy access to useable camera functions.
• Audible Keys — An option to have audio accompany numeric keystrokes makes it easy to know which buttons have been pressed, resulting in mistake-free dialing for those with limited sight.