{"id":32,"date":"2017-11-20T11:25:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T11:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/index.php\/2017\/11\/20\/millennial-mobile-phones\/"},"modified":"2022-11-15T20:36:53","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T18:36:53","slug":"millennial-mobile-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/2017\/11\/millennial-mobile-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"The 00s called and want their mobile phones back!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"cellphone<\/figure>\n

My first mobile phone was a Philips Savy Vogue. It had a one-line display and its most special feature was the horoscope program that would calculate your daily scores regarding love, friendship, energy and so on.<\/p>\n

I think that mobile phones, even before Apple\u2019s product designs from the early 2000s, got me into design. I was such a nerd I would rebuilt iconic phones with FIMO modeling clay; studying folding mechanisms in flip phones and exploring keyboard layouts. It\u2019s a really odd thing to do as an 10-year-old child, and my parents must have thought that I was crazy.<\/p>\n

Here are the six phones I found most fascinating as a kid:<\/p>\n

\"Sony<\/figure>\n

Sony Ericsson T610<\/h2>\n

Released in 2003, the T610 impressed me because of its simplicity. While all other phones from that decade either looked like toys or like fax machines, the T610 was elegant, with a glossy black top and polished aluminium bottom. The joystick was horrible, obviously. It does have some form factor familiarities the first iPhone, released in 2007.<\/p>\n

\"Nokia<\/figure>\n

Nokia 3650<\/h2>\n

When it comes to ugliness, this is my absolute favorite! I never owned one of these, but their design was mesmerizing, even from afar. Who would want to use a circular keyboard?! In general, Nokia was the king of odd phone designs in the 00s\u2014here<\/a> is a neat collection of them.<\/p>\n

\"Sony<\/figure>\n

Sony Ericsson Z200<\/h2>\n

I was always fascinated by flip phones, as their product design included another layer of privacy, sound design (that noise when furiously closing the device after an emotionally stirring phone call!) and general mysticism. Back then, everything was allowed\u2014so why not combine an analog watch into a smooth clamshell design, and add a little handle on top?! So classy.<\/p>\n

\"Nokia<\/figure>\n

Nokia NGage<\/h2>\n

My class-mate had one of those, and they were the oddest piece of technology. Almost as if someone designed a device that wanted to prevent you from calling someone, you had to hold it sideways to your ear to hear anything. With its ridiculous price, it wasn\u2019t able to compete with mobile game consoles back then. But with the horizontal keyboard, it paved the way for mobile computing that later became popular with the Hiptop\/Sidekick.<\/p>\n

\"Sony<\/figure>\n

Sony Ericsson T300<\/h2>\n

One of the phones I admired and actually could afford. It wasn\u2019t a technical revolution; it even didn\u2019t have an integrated camera but only a clip-on device (so awkward!). But I loved the design; the glossy, flat front layer and the soft, matte off-white back. There were no annoying edges, bumps, notches. It felt as if it was made from one piece.<\/p>\n

\"Nokia<\/figure>\n

Nokia N90<\/h2>\n

The N90 looked like a camcorder, but more fragile and less powerful. YouTube was only founded two months before the phone was released (February 2005), so there was not really a place to share all those videos. It\u2019s funny how the camera only had two megapixels, but they still decided for a full-fledged camcorder design.<\/p>\n

From all the regular cell phones I owned, I can hardly remember any interfaces (except the one from the Nokia 3310). UI design was nothing spectacular back then\u2014the hardware was the most exciting part. That changed completely: Smartphones are, by now, only a slim layer of glas or plastic, and the UI defines the experience. I wouldn\u2019t mind today\u2019s devices to become a bit more visible again\u2014if it isn\u2019t possible to make them fully invisible<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first mobile phone was a Philips Savy Vogue. It had a one-line display and its most special feature was the horoscope program that would calculate your daily scores regarding love, friendship, energy and so on. I think that mobile phones, even before Apple\u2019s product designs from the early 2000s, got me into design. I … The 00s called and want their mobile phones back!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1204],"tags":[74,48,41,69,72,70,68,71,73,2,43],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ueber-medien","tag-2000s","tag-design","tag-english","tag-millennials","tag-mobile-phone","tag-nokia","tag-product-design","tag-sony-ericsson","tag-technology","tag-text","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1904,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/1904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}