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Anyone missed the "Dual Front" design?


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Posted by razec
^^
Topic subject is self explanatory... The last one to make use of it was Satio, after that almost every SE phones released have far too simple back designs. This was one design aspect that made me love SE back in their early days and this made them very distinctive from others. Of course many would say that the minimalistic back design used by SE is still nice but we can try comparing Satio and Arc/Nozomi's back design and see what how beautiful it is to have both sides of your phone to turn heads

What about you? do you guys share the same feelings with me?
[ This Message was edited by: razec on 2011-12-27 07:24 ]



Posted by shaoran
i do...i love Satio dual front design, sexy classic luxurious...still hoping SONY continue that design though they even not called it Cybershot anymore...n MXE 60 successor will be the new bazzoka for their android xperia serries if built in xenon still being harm object in their line

Posted by razec
Indeed Satio's camera design is splendid, pit it on any currently hyped smartphone and even its most loyal user won't deny the fact that its camera inspired layout really turns head. Vivaz was also dual front and attractive but Neo's back design was made too bland already (Although I understand SE wants to make it look European but then again, imho it made the phone look pale in comparison to the previous models)

Posted by goldenface
I think most new phones have the dual front element still but not as pronounced as they used to be.

I loved them, the C905 was one of my favourites - very neat.

I guess that new phones are now a lot better at doing many things and are no longer just camera-phones so I wouldn't expect to to see one - not unless Sony decides to resurrect the Cyber-shot brand on it's mobiles again.

Posted by Bonovox
More than anything for me whats missing these days is decent lens protection. I have a Nokia N8 for a camera and forever worry about scratching the lens. Thats more important to me. I always thought the old s700 looked like a proper camera from the back. It reminded me of the one of Sony dedicated cameras

Posted by Marly
IMO the back of my W800i looks good too, even though it's not a dedicated camera phone


Posted by razec
So to reminisce the good days here's a collection of most (if not all) of phones with great emphasis on dual front designs until Vivaz

T630



S700



K700



K500



W550/S600



K750



W800/D750



K550



K850 (this has the ugliest design imvho)



W610



W810



W960



K800



K810



C905



C901



C902



C510



C702



C903



K770



P990



Satio



P1



Vivaz (Notice how the phone's camera design signaled the end of the era of dual front)


[ This Message was edited by: razec on 2011-12-27 07:26 ]


Posted by Tsepz_GP
I definetly miss the dual-front design, these days phones look so plain at the back, my favourite was the K850 as it looked like a real digicam at the back, fooled many of my friends.

Razec
Think you missed the W900: http://gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_w900-pictures-1325.php SE's own "Concored moment" Walkman phone that had a Cyber-shot Camera, 3G, video at QVGA@30fps (amazing at the time), and one of the first phones to carry a dedicated GPU.

Posted by Marly
Here's the W900i (copied the pic from my ad ), imo the back design wasn't so spectacular (unfortunately no lens protection) , the phone itself was, though. Being one of the few Japanese phones sold in Europe, it was ahead of its time in many ways.


[ This Message was edited by: Marly on 2011-12-27 08:08 ]


Posted by razec
@Tsepz

Marly said what I meant when i discarded W900 as the back design can't be considered dual front (in my own eyes), even though the cameras is as great as K750

Posted by Supa_Fly
I have to agree with Bonovox, the S700 was a PROPER dual=front device and looked the part it portrayed: a digital camera.

The K700 started it all though (dual-front; besides the K750/W800 those didn't have that official branding but we know better) and THAT was an incredible phone - camera quality was years beyond the 1.3MP/2MP cameras from the competition, and the K750 ... well that goes without mention as we all know its prowess.

Of all the camera phones that had exposed lens ... the K700's was THE most difficult to damage ... I swear it was crystal quartz (not just a plastic/simplistic glass lens). I payed $500 for my girlfriend and that lasted almost 2.5yrs for her.

It brings a tear that SE is a shadow of its former self ... but at least the top breed of Ericsson's technology will go into future Sony smartphones.

Posted by vlotnet
I prefer a far more understated design but I still want lens protection, like mentioned above.
A K500 I used to use had great lens protection identical to one of the pictures above.
(not that the camera was anything worth writing home about)

Posted by adsada
What do you guys mean when you say 'dual front'? I don't understand

but in terms of how SE's classic java phones looked, I definitely miss the look, there were very few phones which looked ugly/unstylish I don't know how many other phone manufacturers can claim that...

Posted by goldenface
Dual-front meaning that just as much emphasis was made on design of the 'rear' of the phone look and perform like the front of another device, camera or mp3 player, for example.

Great pics razec. Even the T630 looks great!

I had the S700i and that was one of my favourites, as well as the K850i but there are many great designs. The latest is the S007 which doesn't seem to be as dual-front as previous designs - no active lens cover, etc.

Posted by Run_dawn10
I definitely miss the old SE design philosophy. But I don't think it's possible nowadays due to the emphasis on thinness in modern phones.

Posted by razec
@vlotnet

- K500 had one of the best VGA cameras at its time same with K700 which was the first mass market product to feature an LED flash, even the megapixel packed nokia 7610 couldn't match its colors, detail wise the 7610 camera is like an interpolated Nokia 6600's

@goldenface:

Casio exilim phones still put emphasis on Dual front design

http://www.au.kddi.com/englis[....]n/mobilephone/ca006/index.html



it may be 3mp less than S007's camera but the design can really turn some heads (I know i overused this term )

I think these are the two reasons why dual front design isn't that popular nowadays

1 - iPhone style is the trend (simple but elegant design) - sadly it rendered manufacturers to fire their best (and highly paid) designers and settle with those that can do the job at the very least This also appllies to Sony/ IMHO
2 - Phones are too tall/wide that giving it a digicam like back design would only make it look overgrown. think about the P990's design and we can notice that the phone's back may not be really resembling a digicam at all just as how W800/S700 do. I would go for a phone with a smaller screen (as long as its bearable), smaller dimensions and quality camera with a digicam look and feel than a phone with an oversized and pixel-dense display anytime
[ This Message was edited by: razec on 2012-01-03 07:03 ]


Posted by vlotnet
Razec, if that's the case about the colours, maybe I wasn't impressed with the compression and/or the VGA aspect of it

I did really love the phone in general though. Until the joystick failed
Would probably still be using it today if it hadn't.

Those Casio models are quite nice.
[ This Message was edited by: vlotnet on 2012-01-03 07:32 ]


Posted by paulmcauley
Really agree that they need to bring back the camera protection of the c901/c902/k770 style. Also would like some of the finish of the Satio.


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