Iconic Handsets

There have been some iconic mobile phones, over the years. Handsets that have really stood out, and stood the test of time. The reasons a handset becomes part of mobile folklore will usually be either because of a classic design, or outstanding features. Take the Motorola Star Tac, for example. Feature-wise nothing special but it is a real design classic of a mobile phone. Or who could forget what popularly became known as the Motorola Wings, the Motorola V3688. This handset was tiny, and just felt great to use, despite being absolutely useless for anything other than calls. The V3688 even sucked at SMS, with poor message input and early handsets had no link to the phonebook, so unless you knew the number you didn't know who messages were from. Great keypad for such a small phone though.

Moving on from the Motorola design classics, we come to another iconic handset, the Nokia 6310i. Certainly not a popular handset because of its looks, this is one of the most sold handsets Nokia have ever produced, it sold in its millions. It was such an easy phone to use, simple in layout, it had Bluetooth and GPRS back in the day when this was important and new. I know people now who still insist on their 6310i and won't swap. There is a roaring trade on 6310i refurbs on Ebay. This is one phone that will run for a few more years. A friend told me he is taken with the simplicity, whilst at the same time of course, there is the legendary 6310i battery. That thing just goes forever!

Personally, I just the iconic status of my handsets by the amount of time I buy one. It works something like this. I buy a phone, use it, like it, buy another, but the replacement doesn't cut it, either in usability, or design, or features, so I purchase another of the model I had previously. It's like my little vice, I don't drink, smoke or gamble, I do buy lots of phones! Over time phones like the V3688 and 6310i have been iconic handsets in my phone ownership history. Also the Nokia 7650, the first camera phone in the UK, the first Symbian phone, the handset that got me hooked on S60 in general, became an iconic handset. The 6600 after it, the N73, all iconic handsets.

A few months ago, I was invited to the launch of the Nokia N82, with a few other bloggers, and we were given a live handset to take away with us and put it through its every day paces. A fantastic opportunity to get real hands on with the latest S60 product, and really find out how it performs. I cannot recommend this handset enough. In the three months I've used this phone it hasn't failed me. Recently I purchased an 8GB memory card so storage was never an issue, the N82 has a great camera, WiFi, HSDPA, easy email to setup and use, an excellent web browser, the acceleromator, GPS, a handily placed 3.5mm audio jack on the top of the phone, a great bright clear screen, all in my favourite phone shape, the classic candybar.

The trial period with the N82 is now at an end, and the handset is going back. It is the only time I've ever trialed a handset that I really didn't want to give back, the N82 is that good.

I am going to by another N82. In my mind, the N82 has achieved the level of an iconic handset, to me personally. However, I am going to wait until I can get my hands on the black version, I've seen one in the flesh, so to speak, and it really is nice. In the meantime I will use an N95 8GB which I haven't owned since they came to market, but I've had the N95 previously and the N82 to me is a much better handset, even if just for the form factor.