• On TechRepublic: 2 humane ways to fire someone
April 28, 2009 4:01 PM PDT

Star Trek Nokia 5800: Set sorry movie tie-ins to stun

by Rich Trenholm
  • Font size
  • Print
  • 6 comments
(Credit: Crave UK)

Let's imagine for a second you make mobile phones. Let's say you're planning a tie-in to the new "Star Trek" film. You've seen "Star Trek," right? It's the show that involves such cool gear as flip-open handheld communication devices. Now, what kind of phone would you choose for your tie-in? One that flips open, obviously. So which phone has Nokia gone for? The 5800 XpressMusic phone. Is it a flip phone? No. No, it isn't.

The 5800 includes a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics, built-in GPS, and a touch screen with tactile feedback. A touch screen? That's a bit too "Next Generation" for us.

Perhaps the 5800 will come in Starfleet mustard, blue, and red? No. It comes in Nokia blue, red, or black and silver. So what actually is the "Trek" connection? Take a wild guess. That's right. Screensavers, wallpapers, and ringtones. As movie tie-ins go, it's hardly the final frontier.

Toshiba couldn't stretch to a "Star Trek" laptop, settling instead for themed stickers. We covered that because, well, it's "Star Trek." But our geek largesse will only stretch so far. Here at Crave, we take our tech and our Trek very seriously, but really all we ask is that these tie-ins are put together by someone who's, y'know, given it more than five seconds of thought. And someone who can spell "phaser" right.

Yes, Nokia is offering a special "Phazer" application. We give up.

The Star Trek Nokia 5800 will be beaming up--no, our hearts aren't in it anymore. We're off to read Captain Kirk's Guide to Women to cheer ourselves up.

(Via Crave UK)

Recent posts from Crave
Killer deals on BlackBerry, Droid, and Palm Pixi
This week in Crave: The boxed-in edition
Ricky Gervais helps reveal pain of cell phone salesmen
Indecent Exposure 68: Inky extents
Apple fixes AirPort problems marring video playback on 27-inch iMacs
iPhone: The board gamer's paradise
Can erasing your iPhone's memory improve performance?
Top 5 best products of the fall
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (6 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by Weudel April 28, 2009 4:18 PM PDT
Motorola missed out on the one way to get rid of those warehouses full of Kraves.... A Star Trek logo on the back and you have the classic communicator.
Reply to this comment
by Jouten_Za April 28, 2009 9:25 PM PDT
Even a crystal case with a screen door cover that could flip up would have been good too!
Reply to this comment
by gadjitfreek April 29, 2009 2:40 AM PDT
Or an LCARS interface!
Reply to this comment
by Wes#1 April 29, 2009 7:34 AM PDT
Typical... instead of aiming this squarely at the Trek universe with cool retro looks and unique features (which could have made this a true collectible phone), these guys wimped out and tried to make it appealing to a broader base of buyers. In the end, it's not likely to satisfy anyone. Missed opportunity.
Reply to this comment
by mraif April 30, 2009 6:03 AM PDT
Man, that picture cracks me up!!
Reply to this comment
by GetWirelessFreedom May 2, 2009 6:24 PM PDT
The Phone that should had made the cut is the T-Mobile Blackberry Flip! Looks like what Jim use to carry around and with the the Bluetooth Apps, he can just link right into the computer for information. Also he'd get great coverage!
Reply to this comment
(6 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Crave topics

A CNET Conversation with Eric Schmidt

CNET's Tom Krazit and Molly Wood sit down with Google CEO Eric Schmidt to discuss the future of Android, the Chrome OS, the problem of real-time search indexing, and more.

Verizon tests sending RIAA copyright notices

The No. 2 phone company, known for its reluctance to intervene in antipiracy cases, strikes an agreement to forward copyright notices on behalf of the music industry.