It’s not that HMD Global, manufacturers of phones bearing the Nokia label, isn’t coming up with smartphones to challenge the best. It’s just launched four Android phones that run the gamut from budget starter smartphone to deluxe special edition.
But there’s just something special about its Originals – the name it gives to its new versions of classic handsets – that’s irresistible. The design language on the new phones is exciting and attractive, a mix of reliability and sultry elegance. I'll be discussing that in more detail soon, but this is all about the new Matrix phone.
This year’s new, old phone is the Nokia 8110 4G, a skillful reworking of the classic Banana phone that appeared in modified form, with spring-loaded mechanism, in Keanu’s hands in The Matrix.
I sat down with Raun Forsyth, Head of Design, and Andrea Finke-Anlauff, who designed the original Nokia 8110, 25 years ago.
Here are some of the neatest secrets that were revealed…
The Nokia 8110 designer wanted a touchscreen, instead went for soft keys
Not the 8110 4G, please note. Oh no, I’m talking about the original Nokia 8110 phone.
Andrea Finke-Anlauff told me: ‘When we designed this phone, we actually planned to have a touchscreen below, just above the keypad. But at that time, there wasn’t a touchscreen. At that time there was only keys and all these keys, well, it was very complicated. The more keys, the more complicated the product. That’s why we came up with the soft keys design, which makes it much easier to do the things you want to. With soft keys you just see what you need at that point, not everything at once. Soft keys guide you through the process without compromising. It was all part of this DNA that we created at Nokia where nobody was scared of these products because they were complex.’
For the Nokia 8110 4G, everything was considered
So, the fact that there’s no spring-loaded slider came down to several reasons. First, the original didn’t have a spring-loaded release, which is a pretty fair call. But also, adding one on the new manifestation, which was explored by the design team, meant that the shape of the phone changed in different ways.
Raun Forsyth explained: ‘We looked into it but it was a matter of the complexity and the cost and space it took up. So, the width grew, the thickness grew, there were difficulties of making it reliable and risk-free. In the end we had so many concepts on how to do it: one guy wanted an eject button, then we needed something to dampen the eject and so on. In the end, it came down to that conversation of the sweet spot of being reliable, essential, not over-complicated. The phone’s dimensions are very important. Keeping this to what we consider the perfect size is a real challenge.’
Even a touchscreen was a possibility this time around
Maybe a touchscreen on the 8110 4G wasn’t classic enough for some tastes but Raun Forsyth said it was discussed. ‘It was a hot debate, but we have a holistic view with our feature phones that there are a billion people who are really comfortable with ITU-T [the standard numerical keypad found on phones]. It just naturally gravitated to ITU-T. And then to put the touchscreen in and obviously optimize it for the curve would have taken it to a price point that would have eliminated a lot of consumers. It was a big debate, but I think that that all-round package should have the most global reach. If they love it, they should be able to get their hands on it.'
Technologies to kill for
Finally, I asked Andrea Finke-Anlauff if there were any other technologies, besides the touchscreen, which she’d have killed for when designing the original 8810.
‘A camera and internet. When we did the first camera phone, the Nokia 7610, it had a resolution of just 640 x 480, VGA. But it was so cute. Sometimes you could send the images, on your holidays, sometimes it worked out, but now with the internet, it’s so easy.’
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