Nokia, as we all know, is a veteran when it comes to manufacturing handsets and lead the mobile industry for the longest time. The company has so much pride in its work that it can afford to produce the weirdest and strangest handsets ever made. For that, here are the top five weirdest Nokia phones ever.
Author’s note: Article was updated to include the Nokia 7380.
1. Nokia N-Gage
Nokia’s first venture into a dedicated gaming phone is the Nokia N-Gage. It was released in Q4 of 2003 and features a 2.1-inch display with a resolution of 176 x 208 (130 ppi). It has a five-way directional controller on the left along with some other dedicated keys while on the right is the keyboard for T9 input. Its main feature other than gaming is the mp3 player. I can’t remember which games played on its Symbian S60 OS but I remember that I used to look at it as the coolest Nokia phone ever.
2. Nokia 3650
Now this one brings me back to my college days as I used to have this phone. The Nokia 3650 was released in Q1 of 2003 and sports the same display as the N-Gage. It doesn’t have a weird form factor but it does have a weird keyboard. Instead of having the regular T9 keypad arrangement, Nokia decided to place them keys in a circular fashion. It took me one week before I got used to those keys. The last memory I have of this phone was when it flew across my room out of frustration because of the “5 times reboot” issue that its Symbian S60 is having.
3. Nokia 3250
The Nokia 3250 was released in 2005 and is also known as the Rubik’s phone due to its ability to twist its lower part where the keyboards are to give you access to its dedicated music buttons. It has a 2 megapixel camera, built-in radio and was the first phone to utilize the Symbian 9.1 OS.
4. Nokia 7600
Also known as the leaf phone because of its leaf-like shape. The Nokia 7600 was released in Q4 of 2003 and like the 3650, Nokia has also decided to play around with its keys. Other than the odd shape, the 2-inch display and VGA camera, I don’t know what else this phone can offer. Lethal when thrown, I guess.
5. Nokia 6800
I consider the Nokia 6800 as nifty rather than weird. Released in Q1 of 2003, the 6800 bridged the gap between having a regular T9 keypad and a QWERTY keyboard. The 6800 has a hinge located on its sides near the display which allows the keypad to flip 180 degrees revealing a fully-fledged keyboard. The screen would also rotate 90 degrees to accommodate your landscape typing.
Bonus: Nokia 7380
The Nokia 7380 is part of Nokia’s stylish L’Amour Collection. Released in 2005, it’s the successor to the Nokia 7280 “lipstick” phone. It features a very small and reflective screen that doubles as mirror, 2 megapixel camera, and a sensory navigation key.
And there you have it folks, the weirdest Nokia phones ever that can make Sir Jony Ive cringe. It also makes you wonder what the Nokia peeps are smoking in their HQ when they decided to produce these handsets. I’m sure there are more out there so feel free to share those in the comments section below.
sakto lng design ng nokia n-gage…
nokia 3300 kamukha rin ng n-gage. then yung 5700, upgraded version ng 3250.
Parehong nanakaw ang phone ko #2 and #4. Napapalingon mga tao pag nakikita leaf phone ko kakaiba raw. ???? Galing England pa yun bigay ng brother-in-law ko na nagwowork sa Nokia noon.
“lethal when thrown” got me on this one hahaha but i guess that’s the thing with Nokia lols
Ahhh reminiscing the good old nokia times… Na hindi ka in kapag hindi ka naka nokia…. I remember the ngage… Yan nun ang phone kasama ni 7110 na dream phone ko talaga…. The lipstick (7380)the leaf and the butterfly phone (6800) nakakita at nagamit ko nun… Haiii kakaiyak naman to….. Those were the days papauso p lng gprs at mms. Na tinataype ang ringtone. Na inn ang pagdownload ng picture mms. At pagbro browse ng text only at gblogs… Nakakamiss…
nice one :)
ngkaron aq n-gage dti ang sarap panlaro..paborito q ung skyforce at rayman :)
You missed nokia 6260, nokia 7700 and the 7710. Nokia N92 and N93 are also weird for me
They’re probably part of Top 6 to 10. ;)
Good ol days, dati puro nokia ang cp. Pag hundi ka naka nokia di ka in haha. 1St phone was 3310 10k pa sa ghills noon unang labas. 5510 1st music phone Then 3530 1st. Colored. 3650 1st ko na may camera. 6260 un nga ba un na flip and twist phone na ung cam nasa gilid hehe. 6680 1st na maexperience 3g video calling. 9500 communicator unang may wifi. Nagka 8890 pa ko ung may nahihila na antenna manipis aluminum grade case pa ata un. Syempre 5110 haha pataasan sa snake ng score. Whew dami hehe. Heres hoping Nokia will change the norm again.
gandang ganda ako sa 7600! i so wanted that before! i also like the nokia phone with the flower design, gold pa nga yung color ng phone. (syempre girl eh ;P) just can’t remember the name of it.
Great compilation sir Louie. They really look weird. =)
Really had a good laugh reading this. 7600 – lethal when thrown. :D
This is a very informative reading. You’ve really gotten my interest on many points. I agree with most of your points and am presently examining the rest. Thank you for keeping your writing so interesting.
I miss my Nokia 3650.. :)
N90 can be a good candidate for that list
Old school! Haha I remember wanting the N-Gage phone when I was younger because it was just so cool to have a portable game player that happened to be a phone as well.
And Nokia 3650 was the worst. Especially when the friend who has the most load had this phone and lets you text people… it takes forever to type!!
5210 is the shi**est of them all.
that’s 3660
nokia released a device similar to the nokia 3650 but with the normal keypad. i guess many found that circular keypad too out of this world.
Yong nokia 3650 or 6630 ba yon, basta bilogan ang keypad, nagkandarapa talaga ako dati. Gandang ganda ako dati sa design ng nokia, ngayong pasimplehan na ang labanan, ang weird na nia tingnan.
Very nice article… very nice… Thanks Yuga
Tawa ako ng tawa sa lethal when thrown. Nice article.
Now it all looks weird because nowadays most phones have streamlined designed and simple aesthetics. But, back in the days when Nokia was the king, these phones were considered cool and definitely not weird.
refreshing and original albeit out-of-this-world, designs only nokia could pull off. sadly, they were relegated into has-been by the apple/android juggernaut. oh those were the days, when you hold your new shiny nokia proud.
That’s what I like about Nokia (more of the ‘before-Nokia’), they aren’t afraid to take risks on hardware design
Well done! My personal choice for weirdest phone ever is this.. http://www.gsmarena.com/vk_mobile_vk4100-1517.php Straight out of Star Trek. LOL!
I miss my favorite 7110
weird or genius?
Both! :>
damn, bigla ko naalala ung nakaraan ah.. haha.. 1st phone ko is nokia n-gage QD.. ang 256mb memory card mo nun, mdami nang maila-lagay na games, 50 per download.. hahaha.. until now, naalala ko, hndi ko alam para san yung n-gage arena.. haha..
nice article sir.. reminiscing.. haha..
I used to own a Nokia 3300 (http://www.extragsm.com/images/phone/big/Nokia/3300/Nokia-3300-01.jpg) and had a blast converting my old cassette tapes into mp3s with the included 3.5mm-USB cable.
They should have made the Nokia 7380 and 7280 on the first spot.
oo nga! para sa akin ytan weirdest phone nila. lipstick style.
yup i agree. how can the 7380 not be on this list? its the weirdest of them all! tsk tsk kulang ata sa research…
Yeah. Missed out on that one. Thanks for mentioning it here though.
tama! hahaha
the phones in the 7*** line were all experimental in design and never made past 2nd production.
i would have loved the popping out of the keypad shield and the scroll wheel of the Nokia 7110 to have made it into another phone back then..
The Nokia 7110 was my dream phone back then, beside the the Nokia 5510 way back in 2002