Feature Articles

A Call from the Past - 10 Years of Mobile Phone Development

By Seow Tein Hee - 11 May 2009

Timeline: 2005

2005


  • The Windows Mobile platform, as we have mentioned earlier, was a fast and growing OS that would soon take the mobile world by storm and notably, in 2005, we had the Motorola MPx. Yes, a Motorola device powered by Windows Mobile. Earlier Windows Mobile devices such as the O2 XDA IIs had already introduced the much wanted WLAN 802.11b Wi-Fi connection, which brought about a new age of mobile internet. With the MPx, it was not the features, but the form factor and design aspect found on this phone that made it into our reviews.

  • Devices such as the O2 XDA Mini was also the talk of the year with its candy bar form factor that effectively shrunk what was once a chunky piece of mobile computing platform with cellular functions, to a device that's easy on the eyes, the hands and the pockets. Though the memory expansion feature had been around for quite a while, the use of SD cards to further expand your storage capacity on your device created potential to build a mobile phone into a mobile entertainment device.

The O2 XDA Mini, though lacking in a few features such as Wi-Fi support, was one of the few devices that has attained a high level of convergence with the help of the Windows Mobile platform back then.

  • Lest you think the multimedia aspect hasn't been explored properly, we will now provide you with a series of phones that adopts a popular branding more than 20 years ago. That's right, the Sony Ericsson Walkman series became one of the definitive devices in first decade of the 21st century, bringing music to your ears, on the move. The Sony Ericsson W800i utilized its Walkman moniker and brought attention to its focus in providing audio entertainment to the masses without the need to carry multiple devices at a time when the iPod gained prominence in the consumer electronics market. Of course, memory expansion will be part of the deal, and Sony guarded its interests with the use of its Memory Stick Duo memory cards.

  • Four years ago, the N-series device from Nokia made its appearance with the Nokia N90. And it was a time of rejoice for Symbian users who were then finally able to appreciate the full features that the N90 smartphone possesses. With a 2-megapixel camera with multiple hinge points for you to twist and turn according to your whim, it was the beginning of an approach to capture the mobile phone market, and it definitely did so, but not without the stiff competition that's coming up for them.

The N-series device, Nokia N90, was the start of convergent devices (we've been mentioning a lot about convergence) that would soon make the distinction between phones and computers much harder to differentiate.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.