David the old one
New member
If you want to start a phone collection that you can put behind a glass panel that best represents many of the best moments in mobile phone history and evolution, what would it be?
Other qualifications: the phone must still look good in terms of design and guaranteed to start a conversation. Some phones are notable collectibles not because of their success but also of their failures.
Gathering some ideas.
1. Motorola DynaTac. This is the brick that started the industry. Not particular with any model.
2. Motorola Startac. Back in the 90s, this was the cool phone to have. It brought status and celebrity to the industry. Not particular with any model, but something most definitive like the StarTac 130 would do.
3, Nokia 8110 - The Matrix phone
4. Nokia 9000 Communicator --- Any Communicator would do, especially the E90 which remains the last and most definitive version. But the first one should have the most value. Why? First ever smartphone, first ever phone with Symbian, first phone with a high resolution LCD screen. That was before the year 2000. Basically a PSION Organizer with a phone function.
5. Sony Ericsson P900 --- Another early Symbian smartphone, this one by SE. Best model for UIQ. Came out in 2003, had VGA resolution in a touchscreen. Its successor, the P910 would also make a good collection piece.
6. T-Mobile Sidekick first generation --- One of the first phones that created a celebrity and youth culture (aka Paris Hilton) but also a triumph in opening new technologies --- the first to use some form of Cloud computing. The first generation especially because that was the time when one of its cofounders and designers was still with Danger --- Andy Rubin --- before he left to found an outfit called Android.
7. Nokia 6600 -- This Symbian phone, back in 2003 and 2004, was the complete rage in Asia and help establish Nokia as the dominant power in mobile in that region. This phone still looks good in all these years.
8. Palm Treo --- Not specifying any model, although the first one, the 180 would be most valued. No history of smartphones would be complete without the Treos.
9. Blackberry 6230 --- The first in its line that started the Blackberry revolution.
10. LG Prada --- The phone that had that revolutionary design and touch screen that eventually was "imitated". It was the iPhone "clone" before there was an iPhone.
11, Samsung Armani --- This phone started Samsung's touchscreen smartphone line up. It was introduced so soon after the iPhone and the phone and its design appears already well in place before the iPhone was introduced.
12. Motorola Ming any model -- Great design, touchscreen with stylus and a clamshell. Powered by a mobile Linux, a year before the iPhone and years before Android. Unfortunately most of this ground breaking phone was sold in China where it was a big hit.
13. Motorola Q8 --- Oh this was a gem, still sleek even after all this years. This was "Droid" for Windows Mobile back in 2005, the one that put Windows Mobile in the map long before HTC became a power. Between 2005 and 2006, helped established Windows Mobile to as high as 24% of the smartphone market. Steve Ballmer referred to the Q8's successor, the Q9H, as one that would crush the iPhone, just released a few months before. Infamous quote duly noted.
14. HTC Touch --- Before this one, HTC was a no brand, nameless OEM maker of Windows Mobile selling phones with carrier branding. Until this phone came to be in 2007, ironically the same month as the iPhone was introduced. HTC phones before then were pretty ugly and weird, but this one was not just sleek, but set a design pattern for other HTC phones to come. It also introduced Touch Flo, and started the HTC tradition of layering upon user interfaces. For HTC, this phone was the turning point in spirit, since then, HTC began to emphasize its own branding over OEM work. After all this years, this phone still impresses in the simplicity and sleekness of its design, and its not hard to see where all the HTC design cues comes from.
15. iPhone first generation --- As the numbers of the first phone dwindle, again, this would be great to remember how it all started.
16. HTC G1 --- The first phone of all things...Android. Just looking at it, reminds how dramatically Android has changed and evolved. The phone is also noted for its Sidekick keyboard pattern --- since Andy Rubin was Sidekick's co-designer.
17. Nokia E71 --- The best designed phone ever of the E series, and will still look good for a long time to come.
18. HTC Touch Pro 2 -- I dare say this phone is probably the best sliding keyboard ever produced.
19. Samsung Galaxy --- After the HTC Magic, the third Android phone ever released, and the first one to have AMOLED. No. This is not the Galaxy S. Just Galaxy. They don't even have Touchwiz on this thing yet. This is not like the later Galaxies that sold by the millions, so its relatively rare by now.
20. Samsung Omnia HD --- Samsung's best but final finale on the Symbian platform. Its design is ground breaking for its use of the A8 Cortex processor, and a 3.7" touchscreen AMOLED screen. Turns out it wasn't Symbian that would most extensively benefit from the design breakthroughs of this phone. A precursor to the superphones to come. The device is probably relatively scarce by now.
21. Google Nexus One --- Its a guaranteed cult phone by now. Still looks incredibly good after all this time and still among the best. Relative to other Android phones, there isn't a lot of it out there, and there is still a good demand for it.
22. Nokia N900 --- Because of its unique Maemo status and probably, there isn't more than 100,000 of this out there. And it is a good looking phone to boot.
23. Microsoft Kin --- So much hype with Project Pink, and because it was a flop, it means only few of this phones are out there. This makes a good conversation piece.
24. Palm Pre --- As the numbers of this decline in the field, this has the potential because it is yet another footnote in mobile history.
25. Google Ion --- Nexus before the Nexus. These are actually HTC Magics, but had Google's own brand. These were, sold only directly to developers. HTC Magics are fairly common, but one that is labeled as a Google Ion would be quite rare by now.
Other qualifications: the phone must still look good in terms of design and guaranteed to start a conversation. Some phones are notable collectibles not because of their success but also of their failures.
Gathering some ideas.
1. Motorola DynaTac. This is the brick that started the industry. Not particular with any model.
2. Motorola Startac. Back in the 90s, this was the cool phone to have. It brought status and celebrity to the industry. Not particular with any model, but something most definitive like the StarTac 130 would do.
3, Nokia 8110 - The Matrix phone
4. Nokia 9000 Communicator --- Any Communicator would do, especially the E90 which remains the last and most definitive version. But the first one should have the most value. Why? First ever smartphone, first ever phone with Symbian, first phone with a high resolution LCD screen. That was before the year 2000. Basically a PSION Organizer with a phone function.
5. Sony Ericsson P900 --- Another early Symbian smartphone, this one by SE. Best model for UIQ. Came out in 2003, had VGA resolution in a touchscreen. Its successor, the P910 would also make a good collection piece.
6. T-Mobile Sidekick first generation --- One of the first phones that created a celebrity and youth culture (aka Paris Hilton) but also a triumph in opening new technologies --- the first to use some form of Cloud computing. The first generation especially because that was the time when one of its cofounders and designers was still with Danger --- Andy Rubin --- before he left to found an outfit called Android.
7. Nokia 6600 -- This Symbian phone, back in 2003 and 2004, was the complete rage in Asia and help establish Nokia as the dominant power in mobile in that region. This phone still looks good in all these years.
8. Palm Treo --- Not specifying any model, although the first one, the 180 would be most valued. No history of smartphones would be complete without the Treos.
9. Blackberry 6230 --- The first in its line that started the Blackberry revolution.
10. LG Prada --- The phone that had that revolutionary design and touch screen that eventually was "imitated". It was the iPhone "clone" before there was an iPhone.
11, Samsung Armani --- This phone started Samsung's touchscreen smartphone line up. It was introduced so soon after the iPhone and the phone and its design appears already well in place before the iPhone was introduced.
12. Motorola Ming any model -- Great design, touchscreen with stylus and a clamshell. Powered by a mobile Linux, a year before the iPhone and years before Android. Unfortunately most of this ground breaking phone was sold in China where it was a big hit.
13. Motorola Q8 --- Oh this was a gem, still sleek even after all this years. This was "Droid" for Windows Mobile back in 2005, the one that put Windows Mobile in the map long before HTC became a power. Between 2005 and 2006, helped established Windows Mobile to as high as 24% of the smartphone market. Steve Ballmer referred to the Q8's successor, the Q9H, as one that would crush the iPhone, just released a few months before. Infamous quote duly noted.
14. HTC Touch --- Before this one, HTC was a no brand, nameless OEM maker of Windows Mobile selling phones with carrier branding. Until this phone came to be in 2007, ironically the same month as the iPhone was introduced. HTC phones before then were pretty ugly and weird, but this one was not just sleek, but set a design pattern for other HTC phones to come. It also introduced Touch Flo, and started the HTC tradition of layering upon user interfaces. For HTC, this phone was the turning point in spirit, since then, HTC began to emphasize its own branding over OEM work. After all this years, this phone still impresses in the simplicity and sleekness of its design, and its not hard to see where all the HTC design cues comes from.
15. iPhone first generation --- As the numbers of the first phone dwindle, again, this would be great to remember how it all started.
16. HTC G1 --- The first phone of all things...Android. Just looking at it, reminds how dramatically Android has changed and evolved. The phone is also noted for its Sidekick keyboard pattern --- since Andy Rubin was Sidekick's co-designer.
17. Nokia E71 --- The best designed phone ever of the E series, and will still look good for a long time to come.
18. HTC Touch Pro 2 -- I dare say this phone is probably the best sliding keyboard ever produced.
19. Samsung Galaxy --- After the HTC Magic, the third Android phone ever released, and the first one to have AMOLED. No. This is not the Galaxy S. Just Galaxy. They don't even have Touchwiz on this thing yet. This is not like the later Galaxies that sold by the millions, so its relatively rare by now.
20. Samsung Omnia HD --- Samsung's best but final finale on the Symbian platform. Its design is ground breaking for its use of the A8 Cortex processor, and a 3.7" touchscreen AMOLED screen. Turns out it wasn't Symbian that would most extensively benefit from the design breakthroughs of this phone. A precursor to the superphones to come. The device is probably relatively scarce by now.
21. Google Nexus One --- Its a guaranteed cult phone by now. Still looks incredibly good after all this time and still among the best. Relative to other Android phones, there isn't a lot of it out there, and there is still a good demand for it.
22. Nokia N900 --- Because of its unique Maemo status and probably, there isn't more than 100,000 of this out there. And it is a good looking phone to boot.
23. Microsoft Kin --- So much hype with Project Pink, and because it was a flop, it means only few of this phones are out there. This makes a good conversation piece.
24. Palm Pre --- As the numbers of this decline in the field, this has the potential because it is yet another footnote in mobile history.
25. Google Ion --- Nexus before the Nexus. These are actually HTC Magics, but had Google's own brand. These were, sold only directly to developers. HTC Magics are fairly common, but one that is labeled as a Google Ion would be quite rare by now.