Some of the Biggest Smartphone Failures
Smartphones have become such an integral part of our lives and even more so as they continue to boast innovative and revolutionary features that continue to get better with each new release. Whether its competing names or upgrades to existing smartphones, each new release claims to have newer and more unique features than the last.
The technology is amazing and some names lead the industry but for every Samsung or iPhone that’s boasts near perfection, there have been many others that have succeeded or failed. Sometimes regardless of the amazing features.
Here are some of the biggest failed smartphones in history.
The Nokia N-Gage from 2003
Nokia has, and always will be, one the most successful mobile phone makers ever but as smartphones emerged, so did portable gaming and the famous iPod and MP3 players.
Nokia thought to combine the lot, which is how the Nokia N-Gage was born. This device was meant to be innovative and consist of a smartphone, gaming machine and media player but it unfortunately failed at being all three.
Its awkward shape made it great for gaming and playing online pokies NZ games was a pleasure, but as a phone it was a nightmare to hold and use. The media player’s features were rather limited too.
The BlackBerry Storm from 2008
Just before the iPhone’s rise to fame, BlackBerry was one of the leading names. Their smartphones such as the Curve, the Bold and the Pearl were popular and since then BlackBerry has seen quite a few failures but none as bad as the BlackBerry Storm.
This was the first to feature the innovative touch screen but in order to retain the keyboard BlackBerry was famous for, they created the touch screen where it had to be pressed in to get the same click type of feel that other BlackBerry keypads had. It was such a failure that even the software was below standard and it made playing any type of mobile game a nightmare too.
The Facebook Phone from HTC
In 2010, rumours emerged that Facebook were planning on creating their own smartphone. Rumours went on for about three years and there was a lot of hype around them because Facebook was the world’s most powerful mobile app.
In 2013, HTC released the HTC First Facebook smartphone which only really featured a launcher called Facebook home. This is where messages could be received, chats could be had and Facebook notifications were received.
This wasn’t much to boast about and the smartphone didn’t have any other unique features that made it stand out from the rest, so it failed very soon after being released.
The 2010 Microsoft Kin Smartphone
Microsoft is a massive name in desktop technology but has never quite managed to keep the same level of innovation when it comes to their mobile technology. There have been quite a few failures with Microsoft smartphones but the worst was the Microsoft Kin.
The Microsoft Kin was strangely meant to be a mix of a smartphone and a regular mobile phone with no apps but access to leading social media networks such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. It had its own internal network to store photographs and videos.
Its biggest downfall was due to its pricing which was a bit too extreme for a mobile phone that just wasn’t quite a smartphone. The Microsoft Kin was killed off only six weeks after it was launched.
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