There’s always a lot to say about Nokia, an iconic brand that was once the world’s leading cell phone manufacturer. It was the glorious era that saw the pagers phasing out, and being replaced by cell phones. Around 1995, there were only a handful of prominent phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Alcatel, Siemens, Motorola and Panasonic, having their thick and bulky phones with the antennas sticking out. Mobile phones started gaining ground in the year 2000 and since then there was no looking back. Over the next decade, Nokia went on to become the king of the mobile phone sector and taking the peak spot.

Those who have been in the industry for long would remember Nokia the brand that didn’t shy away from experimenting. Take a look at Nokia’s entire product lineup, and you’ll see how adventurous it was with the design and form factors. Be it the Nokia 3650 with circular dial pad, the Communicator with appearance like a compos box, the Nokia 7650 slider phone, the Nokia 6810 with an unusual fold-out QWERTY keyboard, or the weird Nokia 7280 ‘lipstick box’ like design phone. There was also Nokia 3220 with pulsating multicolored lights on the sides that would light up when playing the ringtone. These are just a few examples that prove how brave and courageous Nokia was when it came to trying things.

Then, as Google’s Android OS and Apple’s iOS started gaining ground, Nokia’s downfall started. Under Stephen Elop’s leadership, Nokia moved away from Symbian OS to Meego OS, but it didn’t get the required traction. Later, instead of embracing Android, Nokia went ahead with Windows Phone OS, which never really got the prominence like its competitors. 

In 2014, Microsoft acquired Nokia’s handset division for making Windows Phone smartphones, but that didn’t work in its favor. With the Microsoft-Nokia acquisition deal, the Finnish company wasn’t allowed to produce smartphones under Nokia branding until fourth quarter of 2016. Come next year, Nokia is all set to resurrect – it has signed a deal with HMD Global to manufacture its smartphones and tablets for the next 10 years. There is a lot of competition in the smartphone space today. Even with a budget under Rs 15,000, you can get good value for money smartphone that comes with a good design, and offers a good performance and battery life. In today’s market, just Nokia’s legacy isn’t going to be enough to make a grand comeback. But, ahead of the Finnish company’s return, we take a look at some of our favorite Nokia phones so far.

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