Two new handsets, the KickFlip from new youth-focused MVNO Helio, and the Motorola W220, called the Razr "lite" by some pundits, are striking in one key aspect of their design, a simplified interface.

On the KickFlip, manufactured for Helio by VKMobile, the OS interface has been designed to be a signature for Helio, basic, with use of simple icons, and an uncluttered arrangement of visual elements. On the W220, the design twist is on the outside, with a few simple icons on the phone's shell indicating signal strength, battery life, messages. Both designs show the influences of other devices and interfaces on Gen Y users - iPods, laptops, car instrument panels among others.

Inbound information coming at average consumers on a daily basis is increasing and multitasking is on a rapid upward rise. According to one survey 60% of respondents regularly or occasionally go online while watching TV. According to another, 1.2 million Americans admit to regularly talking on the phone while driving (the real incidence must be 20x higher). Having grown up with this crush of information and multi-threaded living and thinking, Gen Y, catered to in some many other ways, may be the first to be actively served by simplified interfaces in many parts of their lives.