Well, I admire Nokia for their ability to spend a lot of time on design and UI for their mobile devices. I honestly feel that there isn’t a perfect phone that will fit everyone, more that there is a particular phone that suits each persons lifestyle and fashion sense. Form follows function as the saying goes? Problem is that we are quite price sensitive as well. I wrote about this previously a couple times on my blog: 05.21.2005, 06.14.2005, and 07.13.2005. While some of the designs are pretty wacky, for example the Nokia 7280, it proves that looks can be deceiving as well as a bit hard to manage! Looks more like a large tube of lipstick or maybe a bottle of perfume. No wonder so many women think it’s chic and svelte.
So why does Nokia keep at it? I think it’s because people have begun to crave more and more individuality. Not to mention being trendy (see 06.11.2005 post). The Nokia 3250 is quite the case. The design of twisting the base allows distinct tactile feel that you are transforming your mobile into different devices that you would normally take with you: phone, digital camera, and mp3 player. This makes me think about the Transformer toys I used to play with and how if I twisted here, extend there, and voila! it was double the fun. Now that it’s all in one…but I still need it to transform into my keys and wallet! Maybe Victorinox should work on a special model phone with Nokia? We can have that toothpick and tweezers pop out as well as a small blade and scissors?
Well, for those who are perhaps less fashion conscience, but more worried about getting work done, I’m happy to see Nokia embracing the “kit kat candy bar format” with a wide screen and QWERTY keyboard layout. More buttons equals, more numb thumbs! I knew as adults, we needed something to resemble a video game console control pad; Treos, Blackberrys, and now the N61 suffice.
I think this departure from the Communicator series is one step to provide alternate form factors that are less bulky, but can accomplish the same tasks. At the end of the day, since I am a proponent of swapping SIM cards, maybe we decide to carry more than one device. We have our work phone, our “club phone,” then our weekend, leisure phone. Hmm, perhaps we also have one for travel as well? That Samsung 5MP camera phone doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Related Posts:
