Motorola L7

1 November 2005 phonehome 0

It is the start of 2006, and Motorola has decided that if you liked the Razr but found the whole ‘flipping’ thing a bit too much like hard work, you should probably buy the SLVR L7. Following on from the L6, the L7 is the premium ‘candybar’ expression of Motorola’s obsession with

Samsung D600

1 October 2005 phonehome 0

The king is dead; long live the king. The Samsung D600 arrived in late 2005 to replace the already legendary D500, and it has done so by taking everything that was good about its predecessor and turning the technical volume up to eleven. If you thought the slide on the D500 was

Nokia N70

1 September 2005 phonehome 0

It is late 2005, and Nokia has just launched the ‘Nseries’ with the N70, a handset designed to remind everyone that if they want a real smartphone, they have to come to Finland. It is the spiritual successor to the 6680 and currently the smallest 3G smartphone on the market, packing the

Sony Ericsson W800i

1 August 2005 phonehome 0

The year is 2005, and Sony has finally done what we all knew was coming: they’ve put the ‘Walkman’ logo on a phone. The W800i is the vibrant, orange-and-cream sibling to the K750i, and it is the first mobile device that truly prioritises music over calls. It is technically identical to the

Nokia 1110

1 June 2005 phonehome 0

It is mid-2005, and while the rest of the world is obsessing over megapixels and 3G video calls that nobody actually wants to make, Nokia has released the 1110—a phone that looks like it was designed for a minimalist cult or a very stylish toddler. This is the entry-level king, the ‘phone

Sony Ericsson K750i

1 June 2005 phonehome 0

It is the spring of 2005, and Sony Ericsson has just released a handset that has effectively made the mid-range point-and-shoot camera obsolete. The K750i is the definitive ‘Clara’ (its internal codename), and it is a technical masterpiece that has the UK mobile press foaming at the mouth. It’s a dual-front design:

Samsung D500

1 December 2004 phonehome 0

The year 2004 is coming to a close, and Samsung has just dropped the D500, a phone that has effectively ended the debate over who makes the best sliding mechanism in the business. Before this, sliders were often seen as a bit of a gimmick, but the D500 is a ‘semi-automatic’ marvel;

Motorola Razr V3

1 November 2004 phonehome 0

The year is 2004, and every other mobile phone on the planet has just been made to look like a piece of farm machinery. The Motorola Razr V3 has arrived, and it is quite possibly the most beautiful object ever fashioned from aircraft-grade aluminium. Measuring just 13.9mm thick when closed, it is

Sony Ericsson K700i

1 June 2004 phonehome 0

It is mid-2004, and Sony Ericsson has decided to follow up the world-beating T610 with a phone that feels like a piece of high-end hifi equipment you can carry in your pocket. The K700i is the ‘Dual Front’ pioneer; one side is clearly a mobile phone, but flip it over, and it

Nokia 6230

1 March 2004 phonehome 0

It is early 2004, and Nokia has just delivered the 6230—a phone so comprehensively capable that it feels like the engineers in Espoo were trying to win a bet. While the 6310i was the king of the boardroom, the 6230 is the emperor of the high street, the office, and the gym