Attractive mobile phones are many and easy to find. Ever since Motorola's C Series and, later, the
iPhone, a
smartphone from
Apple, manufacturers have had to work hard on delightful designs. Gorgeous, sleek steel or shiny chrome, giant glass fronts framed in elegant black,
smartphones pack brains and beauty. But not always.
Before the mobile phone industry got all busy with design makeovers and tummy tucks, there were some delightfully hideous phones that represented the other side of the beauty trend. The Street has gone back through the past decade to dig up some of the best examples of designs that make you wince and stare in disbelief. The clueless stylings, the flights of fancy into odd shapes, the obsession with square versus rounded -- it is a wonderfully colorful history. Here are 10 of the most unattractive mobile phones that ever launched:
1. Palm Treo 700p
Palm, now a division of HP, arguably invented the
smartphone. But the signs of Palm's eventual demise were evident with this later generation Treo. While its contemporaries were slimming their designs, Palm's Treo 700 arrived not only thicker but heavier than its Treo 600 predecessor.
2. LG VX9800
Two big speakers inside LG's horizontal flip
phone didn't really compensate for the two puny display screens. LG, which had a decent track record with
phones, apparently put aside its talents and let Verizon take over the design decisions. The VX9800 was intended to be a big vehicle for Verizon's VCast media offerings. Any wonder why Apple wouldn't play ball with Verizon all those years?
3. HTC Apache
Before HTC made sleek black
phones, they cranked out clumsy, silver bricks like the Apache. The Apache was part of a pioneering
smartphone effort by Sprint, Microsoft and HTC. The
phone was hot, but not in a good way. And it was pocket-straining heavy. Let's just say HTC has done well not to follow the silver brick road.
4. Microsoft Kin
Teen
phones are a questionable move by any company, but ugly teen
phones like Microsoft's Kin beg the question: What were they thinking? At least the Sidekick, the Danger-made predecessor to the Kin, had a cool look. The boxy shape of the Kin almost assured Microsoft's
phone failure. It only took two months of sales for Microsoft to kill the Kin.
5. Motorola Flipout
Is there a demon whispering "make it square" in the ear of
phone designers? Even the new Motorola couldn't resist the temptation. The
Flipout,
launched earlier this year, brings a whole new approach to square with its interesting corner hinge. Foxy? No. Weirdly boxy? Oh yes.
6. Sony Ericsson t61z
It was a radical move by Sony Ericsson with the T61z
phone. Do people want corners or curves? Let's give them both. Sony Ericsson made the T61z square on the bottom and oval on top. Brilliant. Who wouldn't like a
phone shaped like a shoe-print?
7. Nokia 3620
Not to be outdone by those pesky Swedes, Finnish
phone giant Nokia totally turned the tables on the Sony Ericsson T61z and made the 3620 with an oval bottom and a square top. Take that Ericsson.
Business folk cherished this squat, homely little
phone. Who cared that it was pudgy and unapologetically plastic? One redeeming feature was the thumb wheel, which allowed hard-chargers to scroll through emails with one hand and, you know, master the universe with the other.
9. Samsung Cleo
Ah yes, the "lady"
phone. The Samsung Cleo really hit the mark with this one. Pink is bad enough, but does square really speak to the female
phone buyer? What a cute, ah ... cigarette case? um ... makeup compact? Oh, look at that, it's a
phone!
10. Nokia 7600
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. While Apple was changing the
phone industry with a super-slim touchscreen
iPhone in 2007, Nokia came out with this gem. (Shown above) It's not clear what inspired the small screen and the pig's ear shape, but it gets top honors in this contest. Any wonder why Apple is cleaning up in mobile, while Nokia is clearing out.
