The modern Emporia Connect senior phone (hands-on pictures)

BARCELONA, Spain--Emporia, an Austrian phone company, demoed its newest phone for seniors, the Emporia Connect during MWC. It will roll out in Europe this spring, with plans to launch in the U.S. afterward.

Altogether, it measures 4.25 inches tall, 2.09 inches wide, 0.79 inch thick, and weighs in at 3.88 ounces. When you open the device up, you'll see a 2.8-inch TFT display with a 240x320-pixel resolution.

The generously sized number pad includes call and end call buttons, up and down navigational buttons (with the down key doubling as a shortcut to the address book), and buttons for favorite contacts, the menu, and camera. Below the number pad is a power button.

On the right edge are two shortcut keys: one to open up the camera, and the other to turn on the camera's flash and use it as a flashlight.

This heart button is for emergencies. Once pushed, it will begin dialing five preprogrammed numbers consecutively until it gets an answer.

The device works with a smartphone app called EmporiaMe. This app will allow a relative or carer to manage the Connect's contacts, photos, calendar, and reminders through his or her own smartphone. It also has a microSD card slot that's capable of holding up to 2GB of expandable memory.