Top 10 fashion mobile phones

Owning a mobile phone is just as much about the look of the product, as what it can actually do. When manufacturers started to target consumers as well as business users, design became a significant selling point way beyond the 'form follows function' approach that Nokia brought to mobile phones, it was about 'designer' as much as 'design'.

The golden age of the fashion phone was from around 1999 to 2005, when Nokia in particular launched new phones at fashion shows, but other makers also targeted the tricky, but profitable, young consumer market.

These are the ten fashion phones:

Swatch Cell phone

1994 - Swatch Cell phone

Swatch changed the world of watches in the 80s from expensive time pieces to fun fashion accessories. Could they do the same with mobile phones?

Swatch Cell Phone

Nokia 8110, 1996

1996 - Nokia 8110

Following function to its natural conclusion meant a phone that could fit to any face. Nokia's 8110 was the very best in Finnish design. Its hip credentials were confirmed when it was used in the science fiction film, The Matrix.

Nokia 8110

Ericsson GA628, 1997

1997 - Ericsson GA628

What the Swatch phone lacked was a new look every day. With its interchangeable panels, the Ericsson GA628 was the first phone to give people an easy way to change the look of their mobile.

Ericsson GA628

Nokia 5110, 1998

1998 - Nokia 5110

Nokia went one stage further with the 5110. Its Xpress-on covers opened up a world of customisation and instant designer looks. For the first time the mobile was a true fashion accessory.

Read more: Nokia 5110

Motorola v3688

1999 - Motorola v3688

Launched at London fashion week, the v3688 targeted young professional people with busy social lives.

v3688

Nokia 8210, 1999 (author: TEL0000)

1999 - Nokia 8210

Nokia's smallest and lightest phone. When Nokia launched it at the Paris Fashion Show in 1999 it became the most desirable consumer phone on the planet.

Nokia 8210

Ericsson T28S, 1999

1999 - Ericsson T class

Small, light and fashionable, the Ericsson's new T-Class offered voice dialling and a fashionable flip design.

Ericsson T28

Nokia 8850, 1999 (author:  Silkomat, Distributed under  GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2)

1999 - Nokia 8850

The Nokia 8850 was the ultimate designer phone. Clothed in a chic aluminium case it continued Nokia's tradition of super cool sliding phones.

Nokia 7280, 2004 (author: Pål Berge, distributed under  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)

2004 - Nokia 7280

Nokia pushed the boundaries of design with a phone that had no keypad. Calls were made using speech recognition and the display doubled as a mirror. This female oriented phone was known as the 'lipstick phone'.

Motorola Razr V3, 2004 (author: Miguel Durán, distributed under  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)

2004 - Motorola Razr V3

The Motorola Razr stunned the world with its credit card style thinness. It also boasted an array of different coloured and interchangeable fascias. The Razr later acquired the dubious status as the top 'chav' phone of all time.


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