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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Worst Cell Phones - Serene Mobile


This is quite simply on of the ugliest things disguised as a cell phone I have ever seen - The Bang and Olufsen Serene Mobile.

Years ago, my father owned a Bang and Olufsen stereo system when I was a kid. He purchased it new at Marvin Electronics and when he brought it home, I thought he had scammed it off a space alien. That stereo was the coolest piece of home hi-fidelity ever.

To this day, that stereo continues to crank out the tunes as it resides in my sister's home.

So B and O decided to get into the mobile (cellular) world and this Frankenphone wandered out of the laboratory.

Uggh.

First, who had the idea I wanted a phone that looked like a time clock? Also, who cares if this thing can sit on a desk and play music or some other celliness? Look at that key pad! How can you text with any degree of accuracy?



Here's another thing. The Serene co-operates with a B&O phone system (bet that costs a few francs!). When connected to a B&O phone system and when an incoming call or text message arrives, the Serene opens automatically and displays the message.
How much would you pay for that feature? Wow - talk about the useless function of the year..

And get this, the Serene comes with a docking station which also acts as a recharger. Did anyone at Bang and Olufsen study cellphonehistory and learn that recharging docking stations went out with Skylab?

Uguhlee. I wonder how many of these gems were sold?

No thanks. I will listen to my Bang and Olufsen stereo and continue to use my plethora of non-B-and-O cell phones, but never shall the twains meet.

2 comments:

Postal said...

Next question is: have you seen the newer Bang & Olufsen phone, the Serenata?

http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/10/01/bo.and.samsung.serenata/

It looks (and works) a lot better, but every time you use it you'll still look like you're holding your phone upside-down.

Anonymous said...

Commodus - Thanks for the feedback. I have not seen that particular phone but it is nicer than the the Serene. But still something is missing...
I think B&O sees the phone as a MP3 player which can make dinner reservations.