alt Hacker NewsNokia Design Archive (2025)
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I think it's funny how most of the pictures are about people doing usual things (talking with friends physically present, having dinner, having a meeting, etc.) and there is also a phone in their hand, like it's nothing. It feels weird to see people doing something on the phone while also being so present in other activities, and also interesting that some photos from 90' nailed it how it will be in the the 20'
I find Nokia's reaction to the iPhone release always interesting: https://repo.aalto.fi/uncategorized/IO_926740c7-5165-439a-a0...
Opened a random one: https://repo.aalto.fi/uncategorized/IO_b81c4b91-a275-40b5-9b...
third slide...
I think browsing this gives you a good idea of why Nokia failed. they really thought they had it all figured out and it was now time to lay back and just try out random shit.
they would never have the same kind of focus or philosophy as Apple, nor the willpower to pivot to real smartphones and a proper OS for them
I miss my Nokia N9 so much. As far as I’m concerned it (with Meego) was the best phone ever made, with an awesome design that the OS itself was built around: the curved pillow shape of the screen was used for the core gestures that you used to operate it
Ahead of its time, IMO. I wonder how Jolla is gong these days.
The captions are pretty great:
"Image of a man holding a woman and a phone."
> Strategy2 : Maslow’s_Media Scenario’s Media for a purpose. ‘Need to Know’ Media. Media not only for Entertainment. Foreground and Background – I am in control when I can see and access simultaneous media. Routine and Rituals – I have sensible devices that respond to my daily rhythms. Forecasting and Broadcasting – I can ‘anticipate the future’, future needs and responsibilities.
> Strategy 3: Media_Passions Scenario’s Behaviour Passion Experience Product categories and communication strategies defined by media passions Behavioral passions: I’m Social and Share – Focus is Sociability I Consume - Immersive consumption I Organize – Media management I Collect and Mix – Low threshold creativity
> Trans_Life is a project sponsored by the Nokia Multimedia Business Group, to investigate the convergence and integration of multi media products, and develop scenarios visualizing new use patterns and new product propositions for the near future
https://repo.aalto.fi/uncategorized/IO_3a24c0ae-8f52-4cf4-a7...
Still have fond memories of my Nokia Lumia 925. The combination of an OS based around a pure black background and that beautiful AMOLED display put it a solid class above anything my peers had at the time, and I loved Windows Phone 8.1's implementation of the Metro UI after drooling over a friend's Zune several years prior. Shame that Snapchat killed Windows Phone.
More discussion from 2 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42721915 (58 comments)
In the UK the N95 was the first of what they called a multimedia computer. It was a huge success...the N96 was launched a year later in 2007, right before the first iPhone. The rest is history.
It's missing the Booklet 3G. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_Booklet_3G
I love whenever this is posted everyone gets so mad about the UI (it is terrible)
Yeah, they used to be way more adventurous with design. Retro-futurism and all that stuff. Now everything just looks so boring.
Cool, but damn this is annoying to browse with phone.
what a coincidence, less than an hour ago I looked for pictures of Nokia 2110 since I just found out that the letters on older phones were placed on different keys: OQZ were on the 0 key, not listed alphabetically, and that is still happening on small keypads used by cashiers, at least here in Italy, that's why I noticed it
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"Hey claude make me the most annoying bs UI possible for the data I want to display, make no mistake"
The unknown model here [1] looks a lot like the Nokia E6 to the point it might be a prototype. The date on the screen suggests it's from ~8 months before the E6's launch. AFAIK only the mic hole is places slightly off from the E6.
[1] https://nokiadesignarchive.aalto.fi/index.html?node=A0383
Not sure what others are seeing for this to be upvoted as I get this error message at this URL:
Aalto University web hosting service
nokiadesignarchive.aalto.fi
403 Forbidden
Access denied by server configuration and/or resource permissions.
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I don't think Nokia deserves all this hate. Sure, they made mistakes, but it wasn't entirely unfeasible to assume that the mobile phone market had matured in terms of features, and the next big thing was going to be "phones as fashion statements." When you think about it, prior to the phone, everything people carried on them everyday was some sort of fashion statement. Clothes, glasses, jewllery, watches, handbags, backpacks etc. I think they assumed that the phone was like the watch; peaked functionally, but room to grow in terms of form.