[jonmorris]

Sony Ericsson were really pushing the boundaries along with Nokia, and their feature phone platform (which we'd call it now) was pretty impressive - with lots of different devices to choose from.

So many decent Cyber-shot and Walkman phones over the years, from the K750 through to the Satio - with a 12MP sensor and Xenon flash! I still have a large number of these and intend to charge them up one day to do a nice feature on them all. I wish I'd kept all the Nokia phones I had.

[motsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

Okay this thread is just about smartphones, but if I open it wider to include all phones (including feature phones that could still run Java apps and games, and browse the net and offer tethering for mobile data to a laptop) then there was so much to get excited about - even the absolute dross.

I'm flexible so I won't click on the alert icon.
But if you want dross, STF away from the Samsung 337. the internet's a load of Molochs and try getting apps/games for it. Operating sytems? THERE ISN'T ONE!!

[tdenson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

That means that there is more than 1 SIM card to every single human being on the planet. Now obviously some people have multiple SIM cards

Yes. I can account for at least 20 ! (active)

[Aye Up]

A lot of the advancements in technology and latterly mobile we owe to the likes of Nokia and Sony (Ericsson). I always thought Sony had the best cameras in their cybershot range, the only Nokia device that came close to the them was N82. Sony really did own the market for camera phones, Nokia had it for smartphones (at the time). I have always been puzzled why devices these days don't come with a xenon flash? I understand it doesn't use that much more power than dual led setups.

Actually since we are talking about this I am trying to look for a cheap k810i ha!

[jonmorris]

I think it's down to the depth of the flash, and our current desire for ridiculously thin phones.

I've got a Moto G which isn't exactly wafer thin, and feel a nicely curved phone actually sits nicely in the hand. Something of that size would easily be able to fit a Xenon flash (and dual LED lamp for video or illumination) plus a bigger battery, which would be a real win given the fact we're now happy to talk about 'all day battery life' or perhaps 'TWO DAY battery life' as being incredible achievements.

But nobody seems to be interested in making something like this.

I'd love to have a phone that had a 4,000mAh battery, 5-5.5inch screen, great speakers (another possibility with a larger chassis), Xenon flash, larger image sensor.

Every now and then we get something close, like the Galaxy cameras, but usually with a weaker SoC and lower resolution display, plus no bigger battery - and I sigh and think 'if only'!

[natbike]

My favourite pre modern smartphone handsets were:

Orange SPV m500 (HTC?)
http://www.trustedreviews.com/Orange...rtphone-review

TyTn2 (as mentioned)
http://m.gsmarena.com/htc_tytn_ii-2024.php

HTC guide
http://m.gsmarena.com/o2_xda_guide-2617.php

In both cases I purposefully kept my index finger nail slightly longer so I didn't need to use the stylus.

I have fond memories of all of them, but looking back they were a tantalising glimpse of the future rather than truly great themselves. How far windows mobile OS fell...

[Rodney McKay]

I liked the Sony Ericsson P810i and I had one of those Orange SPV with the fabric plug in keyboards, in fact I think I still have it somewhere.

[motsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by natbike

My favourite pre modern smartphone handsets were:

Orange SPV m500 (HTC?)
http://www.trustedreviews.com/Orange...rtphone-review

TyTn2 (as mentioned)
http://m.gsmarena.com/htc_tytn_ii-2024.php

HTC guide
http://m.gsmarena.com/o2_xda_guide-2617.php

In both cases I purposefully kept my index finger nail slightly longer so I didn't need to use the stylus.

I have fond memories of all of them, but looking back they were a tantalising glimpse of the future rather than truly great themselves. How far windows mobile OS fell...

I still use Pocket PCs but the way things're going, I find myself using my android phone more and more. The trouble with PPC/mobile phone combinations was that if you got one second hand, you can't download extra apps for them.

[AsTheCrowFlies]

If you're talking about a first, it's got to be the Nokia 9000 Communicator. A 1996 vintage classic!

https://medium.com/people-gadgets/th...r-ef8e8c7047ae

Phone, email, web browsing (well...WAP), fax, wordprocessing and spreadsheet!! All on 8MB RAM and all of 33Mhz CPU.

I had one of these at work and remember downloading a ringtone for it (Barbie Girl) and everyone was amazed you could even change the ring tone...

[heskethbang]

Back in 2009 I had the Nokia N97. On paper, it's spec sounded better than the iPhone 3GS, but then I got the N97, and it just felt glitchy and awkward. I actually sold the phone after about 2 weeks on ebay, bought out my Vodafone contract, and went and ordered an iPhone3GS - and I haven't switched brand again since.

[jonmorris]

The N97 was horrible and the beginning of the end for Nokia and Symbian. A total shambles.

The N96 hadn't been much better, and such a disaster given the success of the N95 models.

Nokia arrogance at its worst.

[heskethbang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

The N97 was horrible and the beginning of the end for Nokia and Symbian. A total shambles.

The N96 hadn't been much better, and such a disaster given the success of the N95 models.

Nokia arrogance at its worst.

Yeah I had an N95 8GB before the N97 and that was a real powerhouse of a phone in terms of functionality. It still suffered from the Symbian OS though.

The n97's touch screen just didn't seem to work as well or with such fluidity as the iPhone's.