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Winner: Motorola Razr V3
Its slimness—0.5 inches—was unbelievable. At a time when most phones were still clunky and utilitarian, the Razr (starting at a whopping $449 for Cingular customers) became a household name almost overnight. This svelte clamshell really wowed, thanks to its metal exterior and keypad with electroluminescent backlighting. Moreover, Motorola crammed a surprising amount of functionality into the 3.3-ounce device, including a huge 2.5-inch display, Bluetooth, instant messaging, a speakerphone, VGA camera, and Web and e-mail access, Although its software was criticized by many as sluggish, the Razr V3 put industrial design at center stage, and literally forced other handset makers to go back to the drawing board. Ironically, despite the fact that it sold more than 110 million units by the end of 2008, Motorola’s addiction to Razr-like clamshells nearly buried the company—until the Droid came calling.
Finalist: Sling Media Slingbox
Before there was Hulu, there was Slingbox. This clever $250 set-top box broadcast your entire cable or satellite TV lineup, including DVR content, to your laptop or Windows Mobile smart phone over the Web. Using SlingPlayer software, you could change channels remotely and watch recorded shows on the go—no subscription fee required. The setup required a bunch of wires going in multiple directions, but the surprisingly good video quality was worth it for TV junkies.
Loser: Motorola Rokr E1
You win some, you lose some. The same year Motorola scored early on with the Razr, it flopped in the fall with the Rokr E1 ($249), a bland music handset hyped as the “iTunes phone” but that had only a 100-song capacity and couldn’t download tracks wirelessly. While the E1 could load songs from iTunes, the interface was frustrating and sluggish, and it could only retrieve songs from one computer. It also lacked a click wheel interface, 3.5mm headphone jack (though an adapter was included), and stereo Bluetooth. The lackluster VGA camera didn’t exactly boost its popularity, either. It took two years for Apple to make the Rokr E1 seem like just a bad dream.
Finalist: Gizmondo
After the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP hit the market, the one thing the world didn’t need was a Windows CE gaming device with an excruciatingly slow boot time. Despite having a 400-MHz Samsung ARM9 processor and 128-bit Nvidia graphics, the Gizmondo was the little PMP that couldn’t. Its camera, GPS, video and music playback, and SMS messaging were all lackluster, and most developers declined to release games for it. Plus, at $399, it cost about 50 bucks more than the PSP—unless, that is, you opted for the $229 ad-supported version.
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