Emporia RL1 Review

Interface and functionality:

The interface on the Emporia RL1 is as basic as it gets, and that is a great advantage considering the phone’s target audience. Making things even simpler are the help messages, which pop-up after a menu item is highlighted for several seconds.


Press the navigation key down and you are taken to the device's phone book, which you can search through by typing a contact's name. The results are conveniently displayed in real time, and it doesn't matter whether you search for a contact using their first or last name. Composing a text message is easy thanks to the phone's big keypad and the interface's large, legible font.

The rest of the phone's already short list of features includes a basic calculator, an alarm clock with one possible entry, speed dial for up to 5 numbers and the ability to set up reminders. You can also make a list of shortcuts for frequently used functions, which is accessible straight from the home screen.

Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks that we need to point out. First of all, there is no intuitive way of switching between normal, silent, and vibrate modes as the volume rocker only adjusts the earpiece volume during calls. Besides, the phone sometimes lags when you input text or phone numbers.

In a nutshell, the phone's interface is simplified as much possible making it very suitable for use by the elderly. Sure, it has a few flaws, but we do not consider them to be a deal breaker.