Over nearly 15 years as a journalist at CNET, I've had the opportunity to test and review a remarkable variety of gadgets—from electric cars and drones to cameras and even novelty items like magic wands. However, my primary focus has always been on mobile phones, which have undergone tremendous evolution during my time in the industry. Throughout these years, I've witnessed the dominance of stalwart brands like Apple and Samsung, the meteoric rise of newcomers such as Xiaomi and OnePlus, and the decline of once-powerful names like BlackBerry, HTC, and LG, which have now largely disappeared from the mobile scene.
While many phones have arrived with grand launches that revolutionized the industry, others slipped quietly into obscurity. Yet, it is the peculiar and unconventional devices that have left the most lasting impressions on me—phones that dared to be different by offering features we didn’t even know we wanted or simply embracing quirks for quirkiness’s sake. These strange devices often tried to carve out unique niches or appeal to specific audiences, sometimes succeeding, often failing, but always memorable.
In this reflection, I revisit some of the weirdest phones I’ve encountered throughout my career, many of which I still keep in a cardboard box in my office. Although some no longer function, I was able to dust them off and revisit their stories and designs.
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**BlackBerry’s Square “Passport” – A Bold but Awkward Attempt at Reinvention**
At its peak, BlackBerry was synonymous with mobile communication, especially in the business world. It seemed unthinkable that this giant could fade away, but the company’s decline was marked by a series of unusual missteps, culminating in devices like the 2014 BlackBerry Passport. This phone stood out for its nearly square 4.5-inch display with a 1:1 aspect ratio and a physical keyboard that stretched across the bottom.
The idea behind the Passport’s square design was to appeal to business users who frequently worked with square-ish documents like Word files, Excel spreadsheets, and emails. It also coincidentally aligned with Instagram’s then-square photo format. While the concept made sense on paper, in practice the phone was awkward to hold and use—the wide, narrow keyboard was uncomfortable, and the BlackBerry 10 operating system lagged behind Android in terms of app availability.
BlackBerry quickly abandoned the square form factor and tried to regain relevance by adopting Android with the Priv, a device I personally liked despite its clunky name. They even hired singer Alicia Keys as Global Creative Director in a cheeky nod to the “keys” on their phones. But by 2016, BlackBerry had ceased manufacturing its own devices, marking the end of an era.
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**YotaPhone 2 – The Dual-Screen Pioneer from Russia**
Few have heard of Yota, a Russian company that released only two phones—the original YotaPhone in 2012 and the YotaPhone 2 in 2014. What set these phones apart was their innovative use of a second display: an E Ink screen on the back of the device.
From the front, YotaPhones looked like typical Android smartphones. However, flipping the phone over revealed a 4.3-inch E Ink display, similar to what you find on e-readers. This secondary screen was designed for battery-efficient activities like reading ebooks or displaying notifications without draining much power.
While the concept was clever, it didn’t catch on. The small size of the E Ink screen made reading ebooks difficult, and the phone suffered from slow processors and clunky software. After just two models, Yota went into liquidation, leaving behind a curious footnote in phone history.
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**HTC ChaCha – The Facebook Button Phone**
Back in 2011, Facebook was the social hub everyone wanted to be part of, especially among young people. HTC tried to capitalize on this by launching the ChaCha, a phone with a dedicated Facebook button. Pressing this button instantly took you to Facebook, making it easy to post status updates, share memes, or engage with friends.
The name “ChaCha” itself was a bit odd, and the concept of a single-button shortcut to a social media platform was novel but ultimately didn’t catch on. HTC exited the phone business in 2018, and the idea of hardware buttons linked to social networks remains a rarity. Still, the ChaCha serves as a reminder of a time when Facebook’s dominance seemed unassailable.