What Were They Thinking?

Words by Chris Noel Hidalgo

As a millennial, I have been fortunate enough to witness how phones have evolved over time. From the bulky bricks before the turn of the millennium to the sleek and sophisticated pocket rockets of today, our mobile devices have mostly followed the same general pattern of being thinner, lighter, faster, and smarter. However, not all phones conformed to this norm. Instead, some manufacturers created ones that for better or for worse stood out from the rest with their quirky features and aesthetics. Here are some of these phones which chose to buck the trend.

Most phones are rectangular. The Nokia 7600 is not like most phones. In fact, it’s not even a square. Released in 2003, the 7600 had a teardrop shape with a face occupied by a 2-inch color screen flanked by a verticular column of number/letter keys on either side. Because of the interface, it was very awkward to use with one hand. Typing with two hands also wasn’t the best experience.

Released in 2004, this phone could very well be lost in any makeup bag. Looking like a tube of lipstick, it still managed to squeeze in a minuscule screen that doubled as a mirror when not in use, a charging jack, and a 3.5mm headset jack. However, because of the sheer lack of space, the 7280 does not come with a keypad. Instead, users had to navigate through the interface and input their messages one character at a time using a spinning disk akin to the iPod’s Click Wheel. Novel? Yes. Easy to use? Not at all.

Nokia really liked pushing the boundary of design back in the day. Hence, the inclusion of many of their phones in this list. I could probably make a list filled with just Nokia phones, but this is the last one for now

The 2003 Nokia N-Gage was marketed as the gaming phone. It looked like a handheld console along the lines of the Game Boy Advance and the Playstation Portable, though it only had a 2.1-inch screen. Just like the aforementioned consoles, you had to buy game cartridges for the N-Gage. While gaming was a joy on this phone, taking calls was not as the speakers and microphones were along the top edge of the device. As such, you had to orient the phone awkwardly, holding it up to your ear like a taco, to be able to hear and speak.

Continuing on the theme of makeupitems-turned-phones, the 2003 Siemens Xelibri 6 was a phone that looked like a powder compact. It had two mirrors: a normal one and one that magnifies to give finer visual coverage for better grooming. Even with the truly unique design, however, the phone did not resonate well with consumers.

The Modu Phone was one of the first modular devices that made it off the concept stage to full-blown commercial launch. Released in 2008, the main component was a lightweight affair with just the processor, battery, communications array, a minuscule 1.2-inch screen, and a navigation pad. Should you want a number pad and a camera, you need to pair it with other modular components. Novel and promising, yes, but the idea never really caught on and the company closed in 2011. Google paid a handsome amount to buy the Modu Phone patents, eventually paving the way for Project Ara, which has likewise been abandoned.

Possibly one of the earliest “smartwatches,” the 2009 LG GD910 was a standalone phone you could wear on your wrist. Navigation and inputs are primarily done through the 1.4-inch touchscreen face. As you can imagine, trying to type in messages on a 1.4-inch surface isn’t the fastest way of doing things but it did get the job done. It also had all the other things you’d need to not carry any other phone with you—a speaker, camera, microphone, and 3G connectivity, to name a few. It was ahead of its time, and it had a price tag to match.

Dual-screen phones had been in existence for quite some time. What made the YotaPhone 2 unique and better than its predecessors is that it sported both a gorgeous 5-inch 1080p AMOLED display and a 4.7-inch e-ink touch display commonly found in standalone e-book readers. Want to watch full HD videos? You got it. Want to read a book without the eye strain from typical digital displays? Sure, go ahead. Want to enjoy Android but in glorious e-ink greyscale? With the YotaPhone 2, you can, though at undesirable framerates. Given its price tag and limited use cases, it was not a device meant for everyone. Perhaps something bigger along the lines of a tablet would have been a better conduit for such a technology combo.