The most unusual smartphones in design. The most unusual smartphones in the world. What's unusual: sliding body

The advent of smartphones has seriously complicated the life of designers: users have turned away from push-button telephoneswhere there was complete freedom of creativity, people need a primitive brick with a screen.

In 2018, with the development of the frameless trend, it is even more difficult to distinguish a smartphone. Nevertheless, among the army of Chinese clones with bangs and vertically placed cameras, there are outwardly original devices with a recognizable design. We have collected five of the most unusual devices.

Xiaomi Mi 8 EE

The eighth generation Xiaomi flagship was expected to have a 3D scanner and an under-screen fingerprint scanner. The company has equipped only the premium version of the Mi 8 EE with both capabilities. When unlocking with a fingerprint, the display area above the fingerprint scanner lights up - it turns out effectively and original.

In addition, the smartphone surprised with the original case: it seems transparent, and it seems that microcircuits, including the Snapdragon 845 processor, are visible through it. It is easy to see it: there is a red and white logo on the chip.

So far, the flagship is only sold in China in limited quantities. There is no doubt that this is a successful device: Xiaomi has released a premium smartphone of the Huawei Porsche Design concept and offers it for 3,699 yuan - about 35,000 rubles.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S

Here, Xiaomi designers managed to be in the frameless trend and at the same time bypass the annoying cutout. This smartphone has only one thick frame - the bottom one, on which the front camera is located. The flagship also stands out with a ceramic case.

Otherwise, everything is normal: vertically positioned camera lenses, a finger scanner on the back. But if you just want Android 2018 without bangs that cut the eyes, the Mi Mix 2S is. Him flagship features and an attractive price.

Vivo NEX

Vivo was the first to showcase an under-screen fingerprint scanner. The company delayed the implementation, but it was still the first to release a smartphone with this technology. The flagship Vivo NEX is completely frameless: the fingerprint scanner is hidden under the display, front-camera extends from the top edge.

The innovations are also designed in an original way: when a fingerprint is recognized, the area above the scanner lights up in a light green color, the extension of the selfie camera is accompanied by an original sound.

Perhaps Vivo NEX is the prototype of smartphones of the future. The finger scanner under the screen will most likely be in Huawei mate 20 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10 +, pop-up camera will also become more popular. But so far Vivo NEX is the most original frameless smartphone on the market.

Functionally, it is also decent: the top-end Snapdragon 845 processor, good battery life, good screen, not a bad camera. The only drawback is the lack of an NFC module. The brand completely ignores him, although in Russia, for example, he is wildly popular.

HTC U12 +

A company that decays and breaks the bottom for a year: records for losses for months and quarters are updated more often than Windows 10, employees and even entire departments are bought by Google, electronics are sold poorly, the pricing policy is monstrous. The only department that has no complaints about it is the design department. Externally hTC smartphones - still top.

The latest premiere of the company is the flagship U12 +. Outwardly, it stands out with three features. Firstly, HTC has scored on trends, except for the frameless screen: instead of a cutout on the top, there are two thin frames on the front panel, the lenses of the main camera are located horizontally. Secondly, the device has no buttons, the side edges are touch sensitive and react to squeezing. Thirdly, the body is transparent. On the back you can see the motherboard.

In terms of capabilities, the U12 + is also cool: it runs on Snapdragon 845, the sound is great, the camera is second after Huawei P20 Pro according to DxO Mark. The weak side of the flagship is the price: $ 800-850 for a brand that almost everyone has forgotten.

Moto Z3 Play

Motorola has unveiled the first 5G smartphone, the Moto Z3 Play, but it stands out first and foremost. In it, the designers have embodied the best features of the predecessor Z2 Play and abandoned the outdated thick frames.

The device is unremarkable from the front: thin frames, a large 6-inch screen. Behind, it's hard not to recognize him: dual camera is located in a protruding round area, similar to a pork dime. This design annoys some users, but it is still a distinctive feature of the company's devices. By the way, on the lock screen, the smartphone shows the time in the same round area in the shape of a penny.

The second important feature is the location of the fingerprint scanner on the right side edge. He did not take up space on the front or rear panels.

According to the characteristics, it is middle class: Snapdragon 636, 4GB random access memoryFull HD + AMOLED screen.

The most unusual smartphones

Several hundreds of smartphones have been released over the past few years, and there is no end in sight. Among them there are different ones: most of them follow the general traditions of "brick with a screen", but there are also those who abruptly knock out of them. Someone - with a non-standard design, and someone else will add experimental functionality.

The latter, in 99 out of 100 cases, remain single experiments: it does not always mean that the experiment is unsuccessful, sometimes it may simply be ahead of its time. Or maybe the manufacturer is counting on the “effect Galaxy Note": That the experiment will suddenly have an impact on the entire industry.

In general, the reasons for their release are different, and we will just watch the result.

Sharp Aquos Crystal 305HS

The melodic and associative name of this Japanese work of art fully reflects its content: this smartphone is almost frameless, creates the impression of a screen across the entire surface, it is made in blue and white and, they say, you can fall in love with it immediately and unconditionally.

In fact, it is not entirely frameless, but the well-chosen color scheme and the trapezoidal shape of the screen create just such an impression. It has very thin frames on three sides, so much so that it can be called "frameless" more confidently than others. This also gave its disadvantages: for example, the front camera is located at the bottom, and the sound is transmitted by vibration to the bone.

Moreover, his specifications they don't really shine: they make an ordinary smartphone of the lower-middle range. Sharp Aquos Crystal is available in online stores in Japan and the United States, so if you wish, you can purchase it for a price of 70 (locked) to 550 (unlocked) dollars.

Project ara

This Lego has long been known in the world of gadgets: the idea of \u200b\u200ba smartphone, which is assembled from separate modules, has been stirring people's minds and imaginations for several years. Indeed, what could be better? The user himself adds the necessary camera modules, keyboard, flashes, sets the required processor power and the required amount of RAM, a battery to his liking or a 3G or 4G communication module - just a dream, not a smartphone. By the way, not only the "obligatory" parts of the smartphone will be available in the form of modules, it is assumed that this number will be replenished by others: various medical devices, printers, pico-projectors, night vision cameras, etc. Modules can be either "official" or custom, which opens up almost unlimited possibilities. The modules are hot-swappable without turning off the smartphone (the base frame contains a backup battery).

Ara is a project being developed in the bowels of Google. It has been in development for quite some time, and the first release was recently pushed back to next year, and the fact that the project is not stillborn proves at least that a working prototype was shown in May this year at the Google I / O conference.

Oppo N3

This native chinese smartphone not assembled from modules and has only one distinctive feature - but very remarkable. Its rear camera can become front-facing thanks to a rotary mechanism, and a robotic one: you press a button, the camera rotates 180 degrees and stares at you. True, what to do if someone may need to shoot simultaneously from two cameras is still unclear. Obviously, this smartphone is only suitable for those who do not need such a chip.

Curiously, not only Oppo decided to experiment with rotary camera: the agonizing Polaroid, which is thrown from one sphere to another, also offered a similar device with a rotary camera. And with the self-explanatory name Selfie: so that everyone immediately understands why a front camera with rear characteristics is needed. By the way, HTC has released a smartphone with such a camera and without any mechanisms: the Desire EYE model has a 13-megapixel rear module, similar in characteristics to the same one from the front.

Blackberry Passport

Despite its slowly decaying business, the Canadian company Blackberry (formerly RIM, Research In Motion) has found something to surprise the world with: the Passport smartphone, which in its dimensions is fully consistent with an ordinary passport.

All the features of the device follow from this: a square display, the need to adapt all possible applications (and a new version The OS can port what only Android was feasible), the title "not like everyone else" in every sense. One of the pluses of this SpongeBob clone is a full-size QWERTY keyboard with a touch trackball / touchpad underneath.

Despite all this, the display resolution is very good: 1440x1440 pixels. Only here the price causes inexplicable melancholy: 32 thousand rubles, this is also provided that in July of this year Blackberry finally left russian marketslamming the door behind him. Nevertheless, for the time being, Russian operators offer access to Blackberry BES servers, but some no longer connect to it, while others intend to close the shop soon.

LG G Flex 2

The second coming of the concave smartphone from LG (another heir to the "banana" Nokia from the "Matrix") was quite expected: the unusual shape of the first G Flex, which snatched cool prizes for design, not prohibitive cost (compared to flagships of other manufacturers) and high power ...

The second version turned out to be even more powerful: it was equipped with a 64-bit eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and two gigabytes of DDR4 RAM. The screen is smaller than that of the first version (5.5 inches versus 6), but the resolution has added weight: Full-HD versus HD on the same P-OLED matrix.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the unique self-healing back cover after scratches: according to LG, the smartphone is able to restore itself in 15-20 seconds, but the testers did not find it.

Samsung Edge

It's not just LG with its flexes that has told the world that it can churn out curved displays: Samsung recently introduced the Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones and has already started selling the Galaxy Note Edge.

Their screen is bent to the end, forming an additional strip. This feature makes regular Note and Galaxy S more expensive, the need is very dubious, but marketers managed to convey their point of view: Edge is now selling pretty well, and, according to Samsung marketers, we need this strip (as well as a special case for such models) in order not to miss notifications from social networks and other means of communication (for the same purpose, you can use any smart watch, even the most Chinese).

It is fair to say that the closest Korean competitor LG also intends to provide a smartphone with a screen on the edges, but so far all this is not ready enough to actively promote.

YotaPhone 2

Only the lazy one did not write about the two screens of both "iotaphones". This smartphone cannot be called popular (especially at a price of more than 30 thousand kilo rubles), nor can it be called a 100% Russian development (at least because it is going, like everything else, in China and rises in price along with the dollar exchange rate).

For those who are not yet in the know - the main feature of the YotaPhone is the presence of a second screen on electronic ink. In the first model, which was rather unsuccessful, it was simple, in the second version it became touch-sensitive. And the filling has become the most modern: Snapdragon 800, 2 gigabytes of RAM, a five-inch main Full-HD screen with a pixel density of 442 ppi and an AMOLED matrix, a 4.7-inch second on electronic ink with qHD-resolution. It is curious that with the active use of the second screen (that is, more than the first one), the smartphone lives for 3-4 full days. There is also an SDK for those who want to write software for the second screen.

However, the dissatisfied say that it is better to buy an ordinary smartphone and an ordinary "reader" for this money: it will be even cheaper. The taste and color, as they say.

Model	Screen	Processor, RAM	Working memory
Sharp Aquos Crystal 305HS	1280x720 px	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 4x 1.2 GHz	8 GB microSDXC
Oppo N3	TFT IPS 5.5 '' 1920x1080pix.	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, 4x 2.265 GHz	32 GB microSDXC
BlackBerry Passport	TFT IPS 4.5 '' 1440x1440pix.	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, 4x 2.15GHz	32 GB microSDXC
LG G Flex 2	P-OLED 5.5 '' 1920x1080pix.	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, 8x 2 GHz	32 GB microSDXC
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge	Super AMOLED 5.7 '' 2560x1440pix.		32/64/128 GB
Samsung Galaxy Note Edge	Super AMOLED 5.7 '' 2560x1440 px	Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, 4x 2.7 GHz, 3 GB	32/64 GB
YotaPhone 2	AMOLED 5 '' (1920x1080 pixels) E-INK 4.7 ”(960x540 pixels)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, 4x 2.2 GHz, 2 GB	32 GB

Motorola V70 (2002). This phone was released 15 years ago and cost about $ 400. Despite such fashionable features as GPRS support, a 360-degree rotating top panel of the phone (ie, by analogy with a clamshell, access to the keypad appeared if you moved the top of the phone to the side), a round display. Convenient and even attractive in theory, the device did not take root among consumers and was considered one of the strangest in terms of appearance.

Nokia 7600 (2003), apparently, he hoped to conquer the buyer with his unusual "drop" shape. On this, in general, its advantages ended - the attractive design significantly complicated many functions, in particular, it was impossible to write an SMS message with one hand. In addition, it was inferior in functionality to many "colleagues" of its generation.

Nokia N-Gage (2003), Unlike previous model, was created specifically with an eye on gamers: in fact, it is a console phone. The unusual design was supposed to be convenient for video games, while the main advantage was the ability to play together at a distance - for this, the Bloototh network or mobile network was used. As is often the case, combining different functions leads to a loss of quality for both. The phone was not comfortable enough for calls and sms, and its gaming component could not match the traditional home console.

Samsung Serene (2005) - a product of joint creativity of Samsung and a company that produces expensive luxury equipment. The lid opens and closes automatically, the image rotates 180 degrees (depending on the mode), unique sound signals, a control wheel and an unusual keyboard. What is really there - everything is unusual. The functions of this model are completely subordinated to design and aesthetic concepts. The Samsung Serene, however, stuck with the phrase "too weird to be a phone." Considering the $ 1275 price tag, you might add: too expensive to be just a weird phone.

Nokia 7280 (2004). The model made a lot of noise among fans of fashionable phones. A tri-band mobile phone without a keyboard (the first model in the world with such an innovation) - the text is entered using the scroll wheel and the selection button. Various materials are used in the finishing of the case: not only metal, but also suede, fabric, and rubber. The turned off screen turns into a mirror - very convenient for lipstick. The design itself makes the phone look more like a woman's cosmetic bag than a serious device. Probably, all this external frivolity made the model uncompetitive.

BlackBerry Passport (2014) Is an attempt to sell new wine in an old bottle. BlackBerry phones have a whole army of fans: BlackBerry models are valued for their functionality, reliability and the fact that the manufacturer does not follow the lead of those for whom the phone is a “toy”. The BlackBerry Passport has tried to combine its classic design with the latest technology and has even done it successfully. The phone has been awarded various design awards (Red Dot: Best of the Best 2015 and Design Award 2015). That said, the big boxy BlackBerry Passport is still one of the weirdest mobile phones around.

Samsung Juke (2007) - a phone for music lovers supporting a wide range of music formats with 2GB memory specifically for music storage. But he was remembered, nevertheless, for the design: small, quite comparable to the player in size, with a keyboard that is hidden behind the display. It seems that with this model, the engineers were a little too clever.

Monohm Runcible (2015) nicknamed "anti-smartphone". Someone compares it with a compass, someone with an old pocket watch, the fact remains: a phone looks like anything but a phone. A round wooden case (and everyone today loves hints of "eco") on the one hand, on the other - a round, like a lady's mirror, display. Despite its antique look, the gadget is equipped with the latest technology and works on operating system Firefox OS. How convenient it is is difficult to judge, but even harder to find a weirder smartphone.

Haier P7 Pen Phone (2004). The idea of \u200b\u200bcombining different objects in one led the creators of the Haier P7 Pen Phone to their masterpiece: the “pen phone”. Want to talk, you want, write sms, or you can sign them autographs. The elongated 15-centimeter narrow apparatus resembling a thermometer rather than a pen, the phone turned out to be not very convenient in both its main functions. Still, writing on paper with a phone is not very comfortable, as well as talking on a mobile "pen" or sending messages from it.

The Golden Buddha Phone (2009) Is one of the most expensive phones designed in China. The body of the device is made of jade, covered with pearl lacquer and gilded. The shape of the box makes the phone look like a jewel. Thanks to this set, "Golden Buddha" can deservedly lead the ranking of the strangest mobile phones in the world.

To compete in the mobile phone market, manufacturers jump on new ideas, come up with additional features, and refine designs. True, sometimes this zeal takes them too far. Here are 10 of the weirdest mobile phones on sale this century.

This one-of-a-kind phone was developed by Bang & Olufsen. It is worth seeing it primarily because of its design: a small screen, quite classic for any mobile phone, and a huge button above it. Why above the screen? Because in the opinion of the developers, this way the display will not look traditionally "bold". Samsung Serene's minimalist design is unique in principle. There are no small screens on the outside of the phone. Instead of a traditional telephone keypad, there is a large round button and a dial around it. The phone also comes with ear-pleasing ringtones that will impress modern and elegant people. But any phone, including even Samsung, is prone to breakdown and in this case, you should trust only proven salons for the repair of cell phones, for example, repair samsung phone Galaxy A5 or other popular brands can be entrusted to the NordDevice company in St. Petersburg.

The BenQ name gained popularity with its unique square phone, the Qube Z2, which looked more like an mp3 player than a full-fledged one. mobile device... Although the player is really built into the model. But still it's a phone and that's it standard functions are present in it. To prevent the Qube Z2 from looking too boring, despite its extravagant appearance, BenQ has released a large number of different replaceable panels, some of which have functional purposes. Unfortunately, Qube Z2 cannot be found in Russia and the CIS countries, since this model is not available on the post-Soviet market.

This model was pretty much like the famous mp3 player from Apple. The similarity of the Dbtel M50 was given by the presence of a navipad - a special joystick, thanks to which the interaction with the interface is carried out. There was no keyboard on the device. Its role was played by a two-inch touch screen. The Dbtel M50 was released in early 2006. The starting price was $ 300.Dbtel M50

"Camera, watch, mobile phone" weighs only 98 grams. The Telson TWC 1150 has many unique features including a loudspeaker, voice recorder and speech recognition capability. The battery for this small device lasts for a hundred minutes of calls. And in standby mode, the device can last up to 150 hours. The Telson TWC 1150 is also equipped with a digital camera and memory capable of storing up to 80 images. These images can be linked to contacts in the phone book. In the same place, contacts can be divided into groups, and each group can be "painted" in its own unique color.

Modern mobile phones are packed with all sorts of functional stuffing and it's already hard to come up with something new. However, creative minds from Hyundai still managed to put together their own unique device. The MP-280, also referred to as the “perfume phone,” sprays a dose of fragrant perfume every time you open the lid. Perfume can be replenished using a special syringe that comes with the phone. This clamshell cost $ 1200 and it is clear that it did not see the general public.

A huge number of general-purpose electronic devices were released under the name bb-mobile. Among them are the so-called children's mobile phones. They have a minimal set of functions and buttons. Each model has its own unique design. The main purpose of the device is to ensure the safety and supervision of children. The device is equipped with GPS receivers and a speed dial button.

SpareOne can be safely called the most a simple phone... Deprived of all the bells and whistles and functions, SpareOne can only dial a subscriber's number, and illuminate a dark entrance with an LED flashlight. You can also call the rescue service using the SOS button. Instead of a battery, it has an AA battery. A waterproof case is also included. According to the developers, SpareOne can work up to 15 years in standby mode, 10 hours of talk time and 24 hours in flashlight mode.

This phone had many nicknames: "smartphone toy", "phone for girls" and so on. It was impossible to use it from any point of view. Of course, the phone attracted attention, but this attention was not reflected in any way on sales. Most people stared at the device as if it were some kind of exotic animal. But it was sold in several color options, which was wild for 2010. Only collectors bought the Flipout.

Device with function handwriting hieroglyphs were used only in China. This is by no means the first model with similar functionality on Android OS. At one time, a whole line of such devices with AMOLED screens was released. Traditionally, it is believed that devices with such screens were assembled only by Samsung in Korea, but this is not the case. Nothing concrete can be said about this model. Is that to mark a certain uniqueness for its time.

A phone that doesn't really represent anything. It can be called a regular touch screen slider. The model has been designed in such a way that the user can comfortably hold the device in his hand. The unusual shape and the USB stick hidden at the bottom are the most interesting details of this device.

This device can be safely called a "secret agent gadget". The gadgets that the viewer sees in spy action movies have gradually become available to the average layman. The design of the Haier Pen Phone P7 resembles a regular ballpoint pen, but it is not. This unit is equipped with a color screen, camera, voice recorder, and a set of polyphonic melodies. Pen Phone is just a toy for pampering. It is inconvenient to call it because of the small buttons, and the pen under which the phone was made is not capable of writing.

Sometimes the Chinese can impress with their breadth of creative thinking. The proof of this is the Xian Yan Wang XYW 3838 phone, which resembles a pack of Chonghwa cigarettes. The appearance has not only aesthetic, but also a functional purpose. The phone can serve as a cigarette case. In total, you can fit up to seven cigarettes inside. Also, the device is equipped with a camera with flash and color screen.

A device that has generated a lot of controversy and scandals. Stun Master 800,000 volt is a disguised stun gun in a mobile. Due to the threat of aircraft hijacking and other danger to passengers on airliners, the device has been banned in several countries.

The s312 is a joint venture between the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer ZTE and the Jamaica-based mobile operator Digicell. The idea was to create a telephone that would work without electricity. An alternative power source was the solar panel, which was installed on the rear panel. In addition to basic functions, the phone contains FM-radio and GPRS support. Conservationists called the s312 the most environmentally friendly device, and the phone was most in demand in the world's poorest countries, where electricity is a luxury.

Japanese operator mobile communication NTT Docomo, together with Sharp, have assembled a unique phone, the body of which is made of cypress. To create such a body, the method of pressing wood was applied. The resulting shell is completely waterproof. Available on the phone following functions: Wi-fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 5 megapixel camera.

This is a small phone, slightly larger than a credit card, and lacking in features. The main purpose is to track a person. Ideal for locating children. The device includes a GPS module, a voice call function, and a small number of the most basic programs.

Quite a pretty phone, completely devoid of a screen, but equipped with a lot of buttons. According to the designer, a person spends a lot of time rotating the device to fix the keyboard in the desired position. Cuin5 would be great for those who like to jot down long messages. Came up if the developers found a place for the screen. And so only a stylish appearance remains.

Thalbach Design Manufaktur, a Swedish-based design bureau, presents an interesting phone that essentially got a chance for a second life. It is based on the Neonode N2, a small phone that was revolutionary in its own way. When the device was released, there were no such cool touchscreens yet, but soon the world was flooded with iPhones, and the Neonode N2 quickly disappeared from the market. Such an outcome was predictable for the Swedish device, if only because it cost $ 860. However, now that the device is history, the Thalbach Design Manufaktur have decided to breathe new life into it. Having made an interesting body of cyricote, these small telephones will be able to please people with their unusual appearance. This toy is purely designer's fun, but it can call, take pictures and play music.

This is a smartphone of a famous mobile phone company. It differs from others in the flexibility of the body, which is due to the peculiarities of the active life of adolescents and young people. Nokia phone 888 is available in different formats. You can change the shape yourself and even try to put it in a small pocket or wrap it around your wrist. The phone has a liquid battery and the touchscreen and sound are extremely easy to operate.

Also known as the soda phone, it was developed by Daisy Sheng. Outwardly, it looked like a test tube from a chemical laboratory, but this is a designer product. Sheng wanted to create a mobile phone not with lithium, but with an environmentally friendly bio battery that could use soda as a source of energy.

In 2009, at the CEATEC trade show, a prototype mobile phone from Fujitsu called the "chamelephone" was presented. This is a very small phone from designer Hiroyuki Tabuchi that is capable of taking on the appearance of the surface on which it lies. Over time, the technology was improved, and the phone became almost invisible on any surface, which became a real problem for those who often lose their phones.

Now the overwhelming majority of mobile phones are equipped with touch screens and have a standard bar-shaped or soap dish-like design and differ only in size, color and body materials. Less commonly - by the presence of a physical keyboard under the screen or in the form of a slider. Few phones are really memorable. Previously, designers fantasized and perverted much more and came out really extraordinary products, sometimes poorly suitable for comfortable use and causing an involuntary question: "what drugs did the creators use?" Below are some of the devices put into mass production, which surprise with their shape.

Toshiba Portege G450

Let's start with the Japanese company Toshiba, which at one time released a very strange mobile phone Portege G450, which could also serve as a 3G modem in combination. It had a very compact size ( 98x36x16 mm), oblong and rounded ends. The front panel consisted of three circles, the first of which housed an OLED screen, the other two were a keyboard unit divided into two parts. In them, the buttons were placed in a circle around the central one. In the first case it was the "5" button, in the second - "0". This design was not particularly ergonomic, and many used the gadget exclusively as a portable USB modem.

CEC F88 Wrist Watch (Telson TWC 1150)

The next device can be considered one of the first "smart" watches. The CEC F88 Wrist Watch (in India under the name Telson TWC 1150) is visually similar to some kind of device from science fiction films. This massive technical marvel really had to be worn on the arm. A block of digital buttons was located on a wide strap, above there was a color screen and a navigation block. A headset and a portable camera could be connected to the device. Everything a novice secret agent needs.

Haier Pen Phone P7

Another fruit of a not entirely healthy fantasy is a mobile phone, which in shape resembles a cross between a pen and a thermometer. With its impressive (especially at that time) length of 15 cm, the device was thin and narrow ( 27x18.2 mm) and weighed only 65 g. At the same time, a colored LCD display, voice recorder with possibility of 90 minutes recording, a digital camera with a resolution of 0.3 megapixels and the usual set of controls, including a digital pad and a joystick. Despite the external similarity, the gadget could not measure temperature and write, but it supported mobile Internet GPRS, and the battery lasted 4 hours of talks (ideally, of course).

NEC Medias W

The Japanese company NEC managed to make an Android smartphone quite exotic. Its device, called Medias W, was a horizontal clamshell with two touch screens. This was done in order to get some semblance of one large screen in the open state for more convenient browsing or using one of the screens as a QWERTY keyboard without reducing the area of \u200b\u200bthe second. The smartphone used two 4.3-inch screens with a resolution of 960x540. The smartphone was running OS Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, inside was dual core processor Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 with clock frequency 1.5 GHz, 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal.

Nokia 7600

The Finnish giant Nokia at one time did not hesitate to experiment with form factors and design of its devices, and there are many strange models in the portfolio. The company could afford it without any special plans for the commercial success of such a single device. Nokia 7600 is a fashion device with a non-standard shape, remotely resembling a leaf of a tree. It is an asymmetrical candy bar with a color display and buttons on the sides of it. From a technical point of view, the 7600 was pretty packed (by 2003 standards): it had a built-in VGA camera, Bluetooth, infrared and an MP3 player.

Motorola A925

We have recalled many interesting and innovative Motorola mobile phones in the corresponding article, and here we can recall the strange candy bar A925. It was equipped with a touchscreen display and physical buttons, both above and below the screen. It had large dimensions, a large antenna and outwardly resembled a tourist GPS navigator, which is not surprising: the GPS module was almost the main feature of the smartphone, it was possible to connect external antenna... The gadget had a built-in camera, supported memory cards, GPRS-Internet, Bluetooth 1.1, and it worked on Symbian OS v7.0, UIQ 2.0.

Samsung SGH-E910 Serene (Bang & Olufsen)

Samsung has collaborated from time to time on phones with Bang & Olufsen and each time the result is weird mobile phones with eye-catching designs but highly controversial ergonomics. One of these devices was an imageSGH-E910 Serene. It was a clamshell like a powder box with an automatic opening mechanism, the ability to work in different orientations (the image was rotated upside down) and a round keyboard unit. Inside there was a navigation circle, around which there were alphanumeric buttons.

Sharp Touch Wood SH-08C

Another strange Japanese phone is Sharp Touch Wood SH-08C, which resembled legume seeds in shape. It was released in a circulation of 15,000 copies at home. The main body of the hull was made from specially treated cypress wood. The wood is heterogeneous, as a result - all specimens were unique. Despite this unity with nature, the phones were quite technologically advanced: they were installed 3.4-inch screens with a resolution of 854x480, work in gSM networks and 3G, there was a card slot microSD memory and a 5 megapixel camera.

BenQ Qube Z2

Not long before the purchase of the Siemens mobile division, in the same 2005, BenQ released a square-shaped Qube Z2 mobile phone, which visually resembled cheap Chinese MP3 players. The navigation block was located under the screen, the rest of the buttons were to the right of it. I'm not sure if this solution was usable. The phone had a color screen, M P3 player, support for miniSD memory cards, 1.3 megapixel camera and FM receiver with recording capabilities. The phone supported the transmission of MMS-messages, GPRS (class 10) and t Java.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X5 Pureness

The latest mobile phone has become the first of its kind with a transparent screen. Sony ericsson Xperia X5 Pureness is a fashion device into which the manufacturer deliberately decided not to shove as many functions as possible, but to concentrate on the unusual appearance and "lightness". The phone had a 1.8-inch transparent screen, which did not always remain readable, but this did not cancel the "wow" factor. The Xperia X5 Pureness was comparatively small in size: 102x43x13 mm and weight: 70 g. And yes, despite the Xperia in the name, it was not a smartphone and was not equipped with a built-in camera. Only a set of basic functions and a media player.