Some people may be drawn to the phones that everyone else has, but other people may be much more interested in standing out from the crowd with something a little more unique. Just as there are unusual sports cars and weird fashion accessories, the same can be said about the world of cell phones too.
Unique and Unusual Cell Phones
It wasn't that long ago that owning a Motorola RAZR V3 meant that you had a very unique and unusual cell phone, especially when everyone else was still using a "brick" style mobile phone. However, what was once unique can quickly become the mainstream. At the same time, many trends in the mobile phone industry never do catch on, allowing owners to maintain that level of originality that they desire. To get the most unique cell phones, users will oftentimes need to look to foreign importers, grabbing models that aren't otherwise normally available in their area through regular cell phone providers.
Some of the more original mobile phones include the following:
- Dell Streak 5: Dell isn't normally the first name that comes to mind when consumers consider cell phones, but the computer giant is also heavily involved in the mobile industry. The Streak 5 is an Android smartphone that doesn't seem all that special, aside from the fact that it has a large five-inch screen. At the time of its release, most of the "big screen" smartphones did not exceed 4-inches or 4.3-inches in size, making the Streak 5 among the biggest.
- LG Optimus 3D: Cell phone technology is constantly evolving and expanding into new areas. Other companies started to explore ways to get higher resolutions, as is the case with the Retina Display on the iPhone 4, but LG ventured into new territory by offering a 3D capable cell phone. Not only is the display capable of showing 3D; the phone also has a dual camera configuration on the back that can take photos and videos in 3D.
- Motorola WILDER: Going for a slightly different approach, the WILDER comes with two separate displays. The main screen is a 2.8-inch QVGA resistive touchscreen, but there is also a secondary OLED display that measures a mere 0.7-inches and has a resolution of 96x16 pixels. The WILDER is also known in some markets as the Motorola EX130.
- Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play: Nokia had previously approaching the mobile gaming market with its N-GAGE family of cell phones, but the XPERIA Play is the first mobile phone to be PlayStation certified. It also has slide-out gaming controls that mimic what gamers would normally find on a PlayStation or PSP.
- Pantech C790 Reveal: This phone never got much mainstream attention, but it did provide an interesting form factor. It followed a trend at the time to provide users the option of both a numeric keypad and a QWERTY keyboard, showing the numeric keypad when the phone looked like a candybar, but sliding out a full keyboard vertically in a similar way as the Palm Pre series by HP.
New Designs Emerge All the Time
Cell phones are undergoing a constant evolution. The industry has moved significantly since the days of the Motorola StarTAC and the Nokia 8890. Even the Apple iPhone has seen significant changes and upgrades in its relatively short history. Given that, what may be considered cutting edge and unique today could very easily become the norm tomorrow.
