Top 5 unique mobile phones

By Damian Koh

We've seen our share of bizarre cell phones on the planet, some of them downright ridiculous, some a hair's breath from making the list of stupidest phones ever. Concept phones are nice to look at, but some are horribly flawed--like the one that requires the user to insert his finger into the appropriate keyhole to dial a number. That said, we did coo over the Transformers mobile bot. But before I digress any further, we've selected five mobile phones (yes, real ones) that are special in one way or another. We've also decided to include the Apple iPhone as an honorable mention, even though we're still sore that we have to wait till 2008 for it in Asia.

Touched by a screen: LG Prada Phone

So the iPhone isn't coming to Asia until 2008? Fine… whatever. The LG Prada Phone is a trendy touchscreen mobile phone that's available in the market now. Synonymous with class and style, the Prada Phone courts the well-heeled and fashion-conscious. It doesn't have the latest features, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

Bend it like Beckham: Moto Z8

Slider phones? Totally passé. The Moto Z8 re-jigged the whole sliding motion with a kick-slide mechanism that curves the phone closer to your mouth and ear. We must say the idea is pretty cool though we're not too sure how useful it will be. Remember the old Nokia banana phone (made famous in Matrix)? It's the same idea here. If you like that one, you'll probably fall in love with this Moto.

Glass act: Nokia 8600 Luna

When it comes to phones crafted from unique materials, Nokia comes to mind. Its 8600 Luna sports an opaque, smoked glass cover over its keypad. Did you just say glass? Yeah, we're still worried it might break if we drop the phone, but who can resist a handset that is romanticized as "mysteriously, it glows, magnetically, it calls", "inspired by moonlight, it pulsates with allure". We can't.

The show must go on: Samsung Ultra Video F500

Here's a candy-bar phone for movie aficionados who need their screen fix. Sit this Samsung on a desktop with the screen facing toward you and you're all ready to catch the latest blockbuster on this DivX-certified device. And when your boss walks past, you can flip the lid down and pretend you're talking to an important client on the earpiece. Quite easily done.

Just shoot me: Sony Ericsson K850i

We're still not convinced that camera-phones will replace dedicated digicams, although the upcoming Cyber-shot K850i may just change our minds. Sony Ericsson isn't the first to have a 5-megapixel shooter, but its Cyber-shot pedigree should have people clamoring for the K850i. Will this Sony Ericsson best the 5-megapixel Nokia N95 in terms of performance and image quality? We'll find out toward the end of the year.