Inventive user interface, but…

The new Else phone (formerly called Emblaze) has a inventive user interface. Designed to be used primarily by your right thumb, to select an action you click once, slide, then release — rather than clicking multiple times. You can see a video demonstration here.

Besides the obvious question of “but what if you’re left-handed?” though, I see tendonitis in the future of every Else user. A few years ago I used a special keyboard designed to save my wrists from RSI (repetitive stress injury). It did indeed help my wrists, but in return it wrecked my thumbs — the new keyboard required sliding my thumbs over to press the ENTER and SPACEBAR keys.

The iPhone’s many competitors are certainly knocking on the door, but the Else seems to come with built-in drawbacks.