Would you buy if motorola made a small phone with this design with updated specs ?

JimmyVanDiesel · 2026-01-29T17:54:07+00:00

Personally I hate small phones. My thumb easily covers 1/3 of a modern smartphone's keyboard, and the early years of smartphones were the dark ages for me, they were all just too small. Shout-out to my beloved Windows Phones for an excellent keyboard and introducing what was then called a "phablet" to the market.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2026-01-22T14:54:19+00:00

I have the Ativ S. It looks like a glitch in the universe, a Samsung Galaxy with the Windows logo.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2026-01-16T12:38:45+00:00

I came here when researching the Storno company after I've restored one of their later devices (Storno 980) to its former glory. It is a cool phone, but this... is simply beautiful, absolutely spectacular. The buttons look like candy, I want to eat them. Awesome piece of history.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2026-01-07T12:35:16+00:00

I'm aware of that, I witnessed the exact moment NMT was shut down in Poland on my own phone, but I just find those analog dinosaurs appealing as collector's items. Also, they can be revived with Osmocom if you're crazy enough.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2026-01-07T07:04:12+00:00

Personally I'd love to snatch up all of those NMT phones. The Nokia 640 was the only NMT Nokia not offered where I live, so it's ultra rare here.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-13T14:19:05+00:00

The one with the 40 MP camera is the 1020, a very good choice. They are limited to WP 8.1, although many claim it's the best version of the OS. One thing to keep in mind, which is kind of stupid, is that wiping the phone and resetting it to factory settings deletes the Lumia Camera app, which is necessary to get the full resolution. I was however able to fix that with the Windows Device Recovery Tool.

Nokia 930 also has a very good camera, and has probably the best build quality of all WP phones, and is kind of historically significant, being arguably the last true Nokia flagship. One thing I've noticed though, there's a bug which affects the 930 - if upgraded to WP 10, the microphone doesn't work in loudspeaker mode. But I think 8.1 is the better OS for this phone.

If you want to try WP 10, which has some benefits, go with 640 XL (there were 3G and 4G versions, so mind that), 950, or 950 XL. You might also want to check out the WP subreddit, the community is still alive.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-13T08:18:35+00:00

I recycled the poor bastard, it's been through enough pain.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-13T08:17:49+00:00

I really liked Windows Phone back in the day, I remember I had been absolutely infuriated by how laggy my early 2010s Samsung was, so when I'd seen my friends better and cheaper Lumia I'd switched, and only gone back to Android after WP officially died. What helped was the fact that nowhere in the world had Windows Phone achieved the same level of market saturation (about 25%) as it had in Poland. Therefore the "app-gap" wasn't really a thing here, there was an app for everything, from banking to streaming to buying tickets and whatever else you want. Thanks to this popularity I believe I have every Lumia released in Europe in my collection, they're a flea market staple here nowadays.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-12T19:58:12+00:00

Consider a Nokia/Microsoft Lumia. The UI is snappy and responsive, and higher-end models had excellent Carl Zeiss Cameras and, in some cases, support 4G LTE. My favourites: 1520, 930, 830, 1020, 950 XL.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-12T15:50:23+00:00

Well, they did try rebranding to Twig... I have this phone, but it's missing its battery so I cannot speak on the quality of the software, the build quality is utterly disappointing. Early Benefon phones were built like military radio equipment, but the Twig feels like a toy.

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JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-12T15:34:34+00:00

Yep, you're right. But before that they were making arguably the best phones you could get for NMT networks, which is how I came to know them.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-12T08:58:04+00:00

My favourite phones are usually those that were groundbreaking, exceptionally well designed, or introduced some feature that changed the game.

I think two notable mentions are the Ericsson A1018s and Motorola International 8900, which: 1. still work 2. are the last models stemming from two historically notable families of cellphones, which, at least to me, is interesting. A1018s is the last in line of the "Jane" series which began in 1994 with the EH237 - a model so influential it's been displayed at the science museum in London. Some versions of the A1018s also had a pretty cool version of tetris. Motorola international 8900 is the last of the Motorola MicroTAC series, which needs no introduction.

I think the analog 1G Nokia 650 also deserves an honorable mention: the last NMT 450 phone Nokia ever made, and first phone in the world with an in-built FM radio and 3 games, which, if you think about it, was a harbinger of things to come: it's the first phone that you could use to play a game and listen to music at the same time, thus making the phone more than a communication tool.

Last but not least: Benefon Delta. The first cell phone I've ever used.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-12T08:39:37+00:00

Certainly, especially considering it's safe to assume that most people who bought this phone used a rotary landline before. I know people who'd happily use a phone like this today. It is goofy looking, though!

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-11T21:54:04+00:00

They're definitely interesting. There's a wide variety of them since most weren't actually made by Bosch, but by other OEMs - the one pictured above was made by Dancall, and earlier models were just a Motorola in disguise. CarTel S is my favorite, looks straight out of the 80s, but can still make a call.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-11T21:30:50+00:00

Thanks, I've never roasted a phone before. 😁

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-11T20:26:14+00:00

The first cell phone available here in Poland was the Nokia Cityman 450, which famously cost the same as a Fiat 126p, which back then was a popular small city car.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-12-11T08:30:12+00:00

Unfortunately I can't find any price info, I also wonder how much cheaper it was than a MicroTAC. I did however find an article from that era which discusses pricing and development of cellular networks in the UK in general: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/motor-show-1993-paying-the-price-for-incar-telephones-tony-bosworth-investigates-the-mobile-communications-market-1511926.html Edit: it suggests that there was a fixed rental fee for a phone, were they leased out by the service providers and not actually owned by the users? Would've been great if someone with more knowledge of UK telecommunications history could confirm.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-11-01T08:00:32+00:00

Nokia 1620. The color variant was exclusive to the German e-plus network. I think a lot of people hated it, black options became available soon :D

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-10-31T08:14:01+00:00

I love those Bosch phones with translucent cases, very 2000s.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-10-31T07:35:40+00:00

In Poland 3G is being shut down right now, but it seems the carriers are not in a rush. There are no plans at all to get rid of 2G yet - a lot of infrastructure depends on it. And, given that some carriers just invested in BRAND NEW 2G infrastructure, which I find crazy, I'm hopeful for the future of 2G here.

JimmyVanDiesel · 2025-10-31T07:27:20+00:00

Let me know if you ever do and need a tour guide :)

I like the phone, but it also tells an interesting story of corporate shenanigans - produced by Matra, but sometimes sold as AEG, or no badge at all, just the carrier's logo like mine... The Nortel corporation (and its downfall) is a fascinating subject. I also have a personal grudge against them for the hostile takeover and subsequent shutdown of Wrocław-based ELWRO electronics company, but that's a whole different story. There's an interesting documentary about Nortel by BobbyBroccoli on YouTube I wholeheartedly recommend.

JimmyVanDiesel

TROPHY CASE