Flashback: weird phones from unexpected brands (Marshall, Puma, Facebook)

11 October 2020
Your phone has a 3.5 mm jack? The Marshall London had two! Meanwhile, the Swiss were trying to incorporate watch parts into phones.

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@ 'GSM ARENA' - Thanks for this article's topic.

    no mention of the audiophile grade android phone onkyo dp-cmx1 which was a very good audio player, but it was a dodgy phone to use over time, the ui was slow and clumbersome.

    this could of been the ultimate walkman phone if sony ever gets the initative and compliment it's bigger brother nw-wm1a or even a sister phone to it's awesome android based high resolution player nw-zx507

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      • sadh
      • tDF
      • 12 Oct 2020

      Anonymous, 11 Oct 2020I remember vertu, but are you sure they were not produced i... moreVertu is made by Nokia (old Nokia) before they were collapsing and selling their assets. Vertu was one of those. Nokia is still holding 10% stocks on the company tho.

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        • Viper
        • 8kE
        • 11 Oct 2020

        i was hopping i'll read about the Kodak Ektra. Anyway Philips can be found in my country with just one model E106, but that's pretty basic phone something like Nokia 215

          How could you forget amazon fire phone...

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • y8x
            • 11 Oct 2020

            Mobilemaster, 11 Oct 2020I remember around 2007 there where some European companies ... moreI remember vertu, but are you sure they were not produced in china?
            I even saw them on display for sale.
            Holy they were expensive

              AnonD-807890, 11 Oct 2020Good lord, I hadn't heard of Sagem for the longest time. I remember around 2007 there where some European companies too making some nice phones. Back then there was Philips, Sagem and Benq-Siemens, and the luxury brand Vertu.
              Nowadays almost every phone is coming out from Asia(made in Asia).

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                • Dometalican
                • IbG
                • 11 Oct 2020

                The Marshall is the most interesting as a guitarist such as myself. It would've been cool to have a pocket amp to take wherever I went. If Line 6 POD ever made it into a phone, take my money.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • RIL
                  • 11 Oct 2020

                  Except everything else I feel that for Marshall, Puma and Adidas; these 3 could have went further but they all share the same core problem = phones are just not their main business so whatever money they got for any serious R&D it won't ever be large enough to keep their phone projects go long term.

                  Which is a shame really because they all got their own brand strengths that can really tie in their phones respectively but only if there's serious money put aside. For example Marshall could have just stuck to their music/audio/sound forte; quality DACs, headphone jack, yes front speakers and maybe just specific guitar/sound apps baked in for the experience. I'm a bassist myself so that "Marshall amp look" design-wise is something that I can warm up to easily.

                  Puma and Adidas could have really forwarded the fitness/outdoor life envelope better and both enjoys widespread sports' biz exposure so there's already a pretty large audience base to push products on. But alas yeah you'd need seriously good ones by today's standards.

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                    • AnonD-909757
                    • pZQ
                    • 11 Oct 2020

                    Good time when audio specialist made phone with two 3.5mm Jack and peoples were happy about that, nowadays there are stupid idiots who defend removal of the Jack despite the fact there isn't any justification for that except forcing user to buy wireless craps, and this despite the Jack causing absolutely no negative effect by its presence but being greatly convenient for those who want/need it.

                    Also it looked quite good and I would love for modern smartphones to have something else than two buttons for volume like this one !
                    I mean, how many times you looked at something like a Snapchat storie, then suddenly an ad which is 5 time as loud pop (or any of the many other crazy volume differences) and with the buttons it take ages to either spam it to lower volume or to react to long press...
                    It was the good time (despite being only 5 years ago) peoples were happy to have a better control and amazing features, nowadays peoples would complain that the phone don't have IP rating because of that, despite that they will never use it underwater, that IP rated phone still die because of water and that no brand cover water damage anyway...
                    And Mother of Stereo Front Speakers ! The sound must be amazing on this beauty !

                    THAT is what I call features and innovation and what I mean by diversity, not reducing slightly the size of the hole that everyone want gone and giving it a name, "Infinity-O Display" while pretending the display is uninterrupted...
                    Quote from Samsung website : "The Infinity-O Display is the truly uninterrupted view on the Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, S10e, S10, S10+, Galaxy Note10, and Galaxy Note10+".

                    This is the kind of amazing unique smartphones we could have if peoples were not complaining about every features that won't affect them.

                      Garmin Nűvifone

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                        • AnonD-807890
                        • 6sE
                        • 11 Oct 2020

                        Good lord, I hadn't heard of Sagem for the longest time.

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