Concept & rare

Sees sense in earphones built into a phone but is unsure it would succeed commercially.

Thinks the rollable concept solves almost every problem of foldables and is a step beyond them.

Finds Vivo's detachable camera weird and unconvincing, but certainly not boring.

Impressed by Vivo's phone whose whole back panel can change colour on command through electrochromic glass.

Sees a single retractable zoom camera as a game-changing fix for the three-lens compromise.

Smaller, subtler and with noticeably better self-healing than the original, though still imperfect.

He admires the e-ink vision, but Android's power draw meant the battery benefit was far smaller than claimed.

Astonishingly thin at 5.2mm, but thinness stopped mattering once durability problems hit the industry.

A rare Project Tango phone that was overtaken when Google's ARCore made the extra sensors unnecessary.

Curved design and self-healing back were interesting ideas, but the healing was underwhelming in his scratch test.

Technically plausible and better than a transparent TV, but he thinks it will fail because AR glasses will make it redundant.

A phone with a built-in projector whose other specs were sacrificed, so nobody bought it (5/10 fail).

An iconic, beautiful best-seller that made phones fashionable; the fail is Motorola's later fall rather than the phone (8/10 fail).

An exciting early big-screen phone with a monstrous spec sheet, undone by a niche size, fiddly software and ancient Android 1.6 (5/10 fail).

A tiny companion phone for minimalists that contradicts its own purpose and is weak at everything, rated 2/10 fail.

A fun 3D phone that failed because of limitations and no 3D content, but he thinks LG's gamble was reasonable (3/10 fail).

A phone with an e-ink screen on the back that was a good idea in theory but hurt the battery, and its maker went bankrupt (6/10 fail).

A quirky, gimmick-heavy Note 4 with a curved edge screen that was historically important for Samsung's later curved designs.

Cited as the most expensive first-party phone at $2,500, though its tech is no better than the cheaper Mate 30 Pro.

A 2014 near-bezel-less flagship that still looks impressive, let down by grim software and Sharp giving up too early.

Hugely ahead of its time for camera hardware, but crippled by dead Symbian software, and not as good as an S20 Ultra.

An odd, ugly iPod-style music phone with a great spin wheel, which shows Samsung copying rivals before it found its own way.

A sustainable modular phone idea that made no commercial sense and was only a concept, never a product.

Discontinued within six weeks with no apps and iPhone pricing, and reportedly selling as few as 500 units.