Which manufacturer has better designs

Forget about the Operating System. Which of these manufacturers are better when it comes to smartphone design and adding features.

Well, I had a fight with some fanboys. My argument was that Nokia and SE are better when it comes to Smartphone design when compared to Samsung and HTC. What do you guys think?

As far as designs go, I'll have to give it to Nokia. They have produced some of the most robust, and visually stunning phones throughout history.

Sony.

BTW nice to see you back bro. After quite sometime :smile:

SE have really good design, I remember its Arc won a couple of awards for the same.
And even HTC design is pretty good and as well as rugged.
Samsung and nokia lacks in that case.
And I think we must not compare Apple with anything other because totally different and really good with whatever they comes out.

Sam said:
Sony.

BTW nice to see you back bro. After quite sometime

Busy with lot of things. finally, me and my friends have our own site up and running

Nokia....Majority of phones of Samsung and HTC looks the same.

Voted for Sony.

SE tries to follow the right things, but they never really do it right, the SE Arc had those chunky buttons when it could have easily implemented feathertouch like its Active, which has a nice robust dongly attachment but only seems to be there because of how the Defy turned out - their design is reactionary to what competition is doing
Nokia has a lot of components, as against something like Apple which has as few components as possible... but Nokia's design is not reactionary, they do their own thing at least, but they rarely make something that others react to or carves a niche for its own. That we in India treat Nokia like our family jeweller is another thing.
Apple yeah, they have the tightest fitting parts on the logic board. Their battery is tiny, could have def been larger... some things like they use one antenna for both 3G and 2G whereas every single other manufacturer has to use 2 saves them a lot of space... in fact the closes company that does this as good as apple is HTC

Apple has consistently designed products to adhere to Dieter Ram's design principles >> Dieter Rams: ten principles for good design thats for good design of any product, dont even know if the others have some central logic to their design, would like to hear of Nokia or Sony

iPhone 4/4S looks like a geometry box.

Most Samsung ones look similar.
Nokia and SE for me.

My Vote for Sony and Nokia.

I have voted for SE and HTC.
Was thinking to also vote for Apple but then droped out the Idea as they just design a single handset in a year, and yes they are good at it but still....

Voted
Nokia for the amazing plethora of phone that they have released till date. Almost every shape and size has already been done by them. Love them for concentrating more on the Asian market and catering more to the Indian consumer unlike others. But, yeah, that was in the past. I like the purpose built, classy phones they out. Still Nokia design stands out.

Apple for quite opposite reasons of Nokia. Just a couple of models, that can be counted on fingers but is sold like hot cakes. They just give one shot at a design, a quite ballsy move, I must say. They look the part too. Every iPhone lover (and hater) can tell an IP from some other phone. Their design oozes beauty and class. Their 3GS is IMO the best they have outed yet. iP4 is good but doesn't live upto it's predecessor.
One thing that surprises me about apple is they are never subjected to, "it's too common, nothing special about it anymore" phenomenon. No matter how many of them sell, they still are considered special and awesome.

Sony is one company that shrinks supermodels into cell phones. Their phones are an absolute beauty. It's a company I loved to hate for destroying their products with one or the other goof up, they still do, how lovable. But their design oozes sexiness, it's just raw beauty. As an owner of the Xperia arc, I found the design was enough to overcome my hatred for SE. It's breathtakingly good. I find them the only competition to Apple in exterior design and with the boring iP4, they might take the cake.

oh wow go sony, not really surprised by how the poll is shaping up... their organic designs rock
The yendo and the spiro are definitely stunners, with looks well beyond what they actually can do
if not for Apple, it would have been Sony... some xperia pieces are in a design league of their own
but Arc, Neo... X10... some of these phones had design decisions a little behind times .. small things like where the lock button or camera buttons are located, or just the buttons themselves a stark contrast to their phones a generation before that... the original xperia was prolly more exclusive than the iPhone at that time

if you look at the core of design, there is no "good" or "bad" design... just appropriate design. Sony's design is very, very good, even exceptional in an artistic or aesthetic sense, maybe not so much on a practical front... design can be considered about aesthetics, or can be evaluated as tools that just perform their function without distractions... things that are "neither decorative objects nor works of art."

Voted for SE & Nokia for their variety of well designed/looking devices...

for me SE Arc is one of the best looking phone till date...

Samsung seriously lacks in design innovations. Their phones dont make heads turn. Once a design gets going in the market, they stick to it and keep expanding the range. But nokia designs are quite innovative. SE makes good designs, but they lack on ergonomics in many phones. Apple? they made one design and are sticking to it. Even HTC is reluctant to try out radical changes in design. So my vote for Nokia.

Nothing beats Sony in design.

Voted. Sony

*i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc480/sarathmay3/DSC00101.jpg

I've got the best looking phone

voted for sony ericsson

best designs

New sony mobiles r also great designs

knocked this together from ifixit
*i.imgur.com/B0dk8.jpg

@anrion.nice one there. iPhone 4S's mainboard is unbelievable!

If it's only design then SE ruled, still rules, there was never a competitor.
Second is hTC IMO, Touch Diamond Pro was class.
Really lol seeing Nokia in that list.
Apple vs Samsung ongoing for the worst design.

ithehappy said:
If it's only design then SE ruled, still rules, there was never a competitor.
Second is hTC IMO, Touch Diamond Pro was class.

currently all HTC mobiles looks the same.

ithehappy said:
Really lol seeing Nokia in that list.

Hardware design ---> N9 & N800/N900 looks great still simple design.

ithehappy said:
Apple vs Samsung ongoing for the worst design.

true.
iPad = stretched iphone.
Galaxy S2/Note = stretched galaxy S.
Galaxy Ace = shrinked Galaxy S.

G

btw what aspect of design we are talking about?

If its outer looks and finish,its SE and apple.

Most rugged design -Nokia

Voted for nokia, don't know why,may be bcoz we indians have blind faith on nokia

gopi_vbboy said:
btw what aspect of design we are talking about?

If its outer looks and finish,its SE and apple.

Most rugged design -Nokia

How many types of design are there? I thought by design we only mean design

@Sam- I agree. N9, N800 both do look very good. I also liked E7.

Sarath said:
*i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc480/sarathmay3/DSC00101.jpg

I've got the best looking phone

Me too got the same here ( Except its Xperia Arc S and Black :))

Went in to get Galaxy R but saw this beauty near it. Instantly ditched the idea of purchasing SGR and brought Arc S home

For me SE and Nokia makes best designs.
But in too many occasions I have noticed that nokia handsets are quite strongly built that it can survive several drops without getting s(rewed.
I have not tried dropping Sony devices yet. :wink:

Anyone have any experience dropping Sony Ericsson handsets ?

No doubts SE is a clear winner when you talk about design, but when it comes to rugged designs then Nokia might be the second winner.

But why Motorola is not listed here ??

how can we forget motorazr especially ???

G

This movie was epic fail ... sorry for pj

*2.bp.blogspot.com/-I97d3vP3gGI/TxLqVrkzLtI/AAAAAAAARDA/LRaBZhLXQBc/s1600/Mr.Nokia.jpg

*movieslinkonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Mr.Nokia-2012.jpg

ithehappy said:
How many types of design are there? I thought by design we only mean design

@Sam- I agree. N9, N800 both do look very good. I also liked E7.

Hardware,Software,Mechanical,Graphics Designs are some of the eg.

^ i guess design here means only the outer hardware or looks.

Even I perceive the same.

In matter of design no one beats SE now Sony

Industrial design it's the process of designing the entire sourcing and crafting process of any single model

most of the actual work is in choosing the materials and how it fits together

heres what looks like the key design decisions from manufacturers

Nokia - make something for everyone
Sony - add form to function, give natural or human touch
Apple - kick the mini-USB, make our own screws, so no one can get in without our screwdrivers
Samsung - put a mini-USB and regular screws and a memory card slot into the iPhone

Anorion said:
Industrial design it's the process of designing the entire sourcing and crafting process of any single model

most of the actual work is in choosing the materials and how it fits together

heres what looks like the key design decisions from manufacturers

Nokia - make something for everyone
Sony - add form to function, give natural or human touch
Apple - kick the mini-USB, make our own screws, so no one can get in without our screwdrivers
Samsung - put a mini-USB and regular screws and a memory card slot into the iPhone

LOL...

I think you are spot on with your observations. :lol:

R2K said:
Anyone have any experience dropping Sony Ericsson handsets ?

I have dropped my phone many times, but all were unintentionally. Most of the times on roads.

But it survived

F

@dashing.sujay which phone ??

*2.bp.blogspot.com/_vAMjUYZBhms/S9fanBVf4CI/AAAAAAAADjw/19Fs-l0yAfc/s1600/Sony%20Ericsson%20Hazel_6.jpg

I had many SE but dropped it rarely...always cautious about its built

^You should be. SE were never rugged.

Sony Ericson now Sony always come up with best design...