Ready for a wave of nostalgia? We take a look at the top 5 most iconic mobile phones which re-defined their industry upon their release.
If you ask just about anyone today what the one gadget is that they can’t live without, 99% will answer their mobile phone. It has become our connection to the world. It carries all of our contacts, emails, to-do lists. It functions as our diary, music player, encyclopedia, personal assistant and entertainment hub. But where did it all start? There are clear points in the history of mobile phones where you can point at a certain phone and instantly know that it totally changed the mobile phone landscape when it was released. Let’s have a look at our Top 5 most iconic mobile phones…
Nokia 3310
Released in 2000, the crowning glory of Nokia‘s incredible user-focused design, the 3310 was the mobile phone that anyone could use. There was a period in the early 2000’s when it was as popular and widespread as the iPhone is today. To this date Nokia has sold more than 126 million of them, making it one of the most popular mobile phones of all time.
The handset was virtually indestructible, packed a great battery life and decent call quality. It also shipped with Snake 2, which was awesome. But, perhaps its biggest draw was that you could swap the cover of the phone for a custom face and back plate. No 3310 looked alike and the accessory market has never been the same since.
BlackBerry 6230
Wouldn’t it be cool if you could sit at an airport or coffee shop reading and replying to your emails on the go? Sounds standard now, but in 2003 you were seen as a freak of nature if you had that power at your fingertips. Up steps the Qwerty keyboard-touting BlackBerry 6230, which promised secure email on the go from a device that you could type on without doing the 1-2-3 button push per character.
The Blackberry range changed the face of mobile phones for business in a dramatic way. When the Blackberry Curve came around the company was at the top of the smartphone market and one could never have imagined that it all would come crashing down.
Motorola Razr V3
Ok, I have to admit I am a bit biased in this selection. Probably the coolest mobile phone in our Top 5 hands down. Until the Razr, virtually every phone had been big – having been about getting the job done and not much more. But the Razr V3 was a sleek, slim, clamshell phone that changed all that. From here on, if you wanted to sell a phone it had to look good. Style became very important.
The clumsy interface and usability wasn’t at all up to scratch. However, its Tron-inspired looks meant this is one of the all time greats. Oh, and the hot pink version sold like hot cakes. I had a silver one though…*cough*
Nokia N95
iPhone, what iPhone? Nokia‘s N95 was way ahead of its time. Launching at the peak of Nokia‘s fame, it was one of the first proper flagship smartphones that became a must-have product. The phone was released in 2007 with a 5-megapixel camera, GPS, web browser and a stack of other neat tricks.
It also included Symbian OS 9.2, which offered plenty of proper smartphone functionality, like web browsing and basic apps. The inclusion of expandable microSD storage marked the start of a trend in smartphones we still see today. Even though it launched around the same time as the Apple phenom, the N95 was a big hit in South Africa. I wanted one bad, heck, everyone wanted one!
iPhone
There is no denying that the iPhone is one of the most memorable devices among the iconic mobile phones listed here. It shifted the entire focus from making calls to doing something much more and looking good whilst doing it. But, for all its exciting feature set, it was a very different phone from what we have now. No cut and paste, no third-party apps, and it was painfully slow. Did anyone care? Nope, it was a thing of wonder.
The original iPhone combined Apple‘s iPod, already a huge seller, with a mobile phone, resulting in one joyous union that continues to this day. It ensured Apple rose to the top of the tech market. Let’s not forget the world of apps either, which has changed almost every consumer electronics device, not just the humble phone.
I am very sure I left out at least two or three other iconic mobile phones, let me know of them in the comment section below.
Follow Jaco on Twitter: @Jaco_vdWalt
