Ever since the first mobile phone was created in the year 1973 by Motorola, the industry has seen significant technological advancement; which has led us to where we are today, in a world of super advanced smartphones. But, in all the innovation, there were many failures. And some were so remarkable that they are still talked about today, as they have left a considerable mark on technology history. Here are the top 10 mobile phones that have failed badly in the market because of many reasons, but are still remembered for a major reason.
1. Nokia N-Gage
The Nokia N-Gage was released back in the year 2003, when the company was at the pinnacle of mobile technology.
Phones from Nokia were everywhere and for good reason, but then it unveiled the N-Gage. Featuring a weird design, the mobile phone was marketed as a phone, a portable media device and a gaming console. Unfortunately, the N-Gage failed to deliver on either of the promises. The sub-brand was subsequently shut down in 2009, and the mobile phone has been since known as the Taco Phone, because of the shape. The Nokia N-Gage has been honoured by being included in the famous Museum of Failures in Sweden.
2.
Red Hydrogen One
Red, the
company behind some of the best cinematic quality available today, tried
its hands at making a smartphone in 2018. Called the Red Hydrogen One, the device boasts of a few
impressive specifications, including a 4D Holographic display, a sturdy and
different design and the ability to attach future camera accessories to the
handset. However, due to the eye watering price tag starting at about US$ 1300
for the base variant, the smartphone did not sell well. Add to the fact that
the display did not work as advertised and the processor used was also from
2017, the Snapdragon 83
The Red
Hydrogen One is a classic example of a company trying to do
something they have no experience in, and failing badly. While it is all but
confirmed that Red will not release a “Hydrogen Two” in the market, but the
company is still expected to give the mobile phone business idea another try, hopefully
in a different form.
3. Microsoft Kin One
The main idea behind Microsoft Kin One was a loop — a phone that collected all your social media feeds into one.
The phone came into the market at the right time. Social media had just started becoming popular. However, the phone lacked many features. The feeds would update only once every 15 minutes and the biggest drawback of the phone was that it didn’t have an app store. The use of messaging applications was also restricted. For a company like Microsoft to have overlooked such important features in their phone is a pretty big fail, and they incurred fitting losses for it.
Vertu was a company founded by Nokia that designed supremely premium phones.
The price range of their devices went all the way to $50,000! The purpose behind Vertu was to introduce very fashionable and stylish looking phones to separate themselves from other phones in the market. But, these phones didn’t last long, the main reason being that Vertu didn’t pay much attention to the important features of the phone. Also, they were competing against companies like Samsung that had mass-production and Vertu phones lagged behind them. Due to poor sales, Nokia finally shut it down.
5. HTC Facebook Phone
The phone was launched in the year 2013 and was targeted towards youngsters. It was the first phone to introduce Facebook Home.
It was a mid-range phone built for the masses who used social media at that time. The phone also introduced Facebook Chat Heads where one could see notifications on their lock screen but the phone did so poorly that it was called off within a month of its launch. AT&T dropped the price of HTC Facebook Phone from $99 to 99 cents. Even though it was a fresh-looking phone compared to the other stock android phone, most of its features were very similar to its competitors. Apart from being able to use Facebook, the phone was overall a bit underwhelming.
6. Amazon Fire Phone
In the year 2014, Amazon decided to enter the smartphone market while doing well with their tablets.
For some odd reason, they ignored the budget approach that had served them well. The Amazon Fire Phone was a big disaster for the company. It had poor battery life and extremely dull design. It also lacked support for Google apps and had lethargic performance. To make up for all the defects, Amazon decided to add a 3D gimmicky effect without any actual purpose. After all the negative response it received for the phone, Amazon finally decided to accept a loss worth $170 million.
7.BlackBerry Storm
When touchscreen smartphones started to take off in the market, BlackBerry was one of the brands that were up in the game until they launched the BlackBerry Storm.
Reviews described the 2008 BlackBerry Storm as ‘the worst smartphone ever’. The smartphone had a clickable touchscreen that some users found satisfying but many found rather confusing. The smartphone had a laggy screen, outdated software, and horrible battery performance and life. It was badly designed, poorly thought out and had a very short life on the shelves. It didn’t even have a Wi-Fi-support system. Around one million BlackBerry Storm phones sold in 2008 were returned.
8. HTC ThunderBolt
The phone was launched in 2011, HTC ThunderBolt was one of the first phones that enabled 4G with LTE support.
It was one of the most hyped phones before its launch, but the hype soon turned into huge disappointment which left many customers angry. The phone’s launch was delayed and when it was finally released, the limited availability of LTE networks was one of the major setbacks that this device suffered. Apart from that, the abysmal battery life, extremely slow software updates, random restarts, and poor performance led the phone to become one of the most hated smartphones ever.
9. Samsung Galaxy Fold
Nothing worked out for the Samsung Galaxy Fold, it started breaking down before it even entered the market. IFIXIT, a private company that sells repair parts and publishes online repair guides for consumer electronics and gadgets, found several problems with the smartphone, starting from the gap in between the screen and the rest of the phone.
This gap left room for dirt to enter which wasn’t a good sign. Apart from that, the display structure of the phone started peeling off after certain folds. All these vulnerabilities in the phone led it to become another failure for Samsung. We have seen a drastic change in how smartphones were before and how they are now. With advancing technologies and huge competition in the market, every company works hard to put its best foot forward. Some succeed and some fail miserably. The silver lining is, we get to fondly look back, and enjoy this opportunity to roast them!
10.Motorola Backflip (2010)
At the dawn of
the decade, we were still somewhat enamored with real keyboards; a hold-over mentality from BlackBerry's heyday.
Moto's Backflip was a weird mix of Android touch screen coupled with a
foldout keyboard you accessed via a "reverse flip"—when closed, the
keyboard was the back of the phone. It was also the start of everyone trying to
cram social media down our throats via portables, in this case with the
MotoBlur software that put Facebook, Twitter and, yes, MySpace front and
center. That and tons of AT&T bloatware.
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