Back in 2007 Samsung (and Sprint) released the Beyonce-themed BPhone, a minimal edition version of the Samsung UpStage M620. The phone had two sides– a simple-looking feature phone and a media player with a music controls and a bigger 2.1″ 176 x 220 px display (well, larger than the line display that was on the other side).
Last year Samsung made a splash with the Galaxy S20+ 5G BTS Edition (and Galaxy Buds+ BTS Edition), but thats no surprise – BTS is one of the best-known music acts all over the world today and whatever they touch draws in crowds of fans (even if its a McDonalds meal). This was far from the businesss first effort to utilize music super stars to promote its gizmos.
The BPhone promoted by Beyonce – A regular Samsung UpStage, back and front
Years later the business tried something comparable with the Nokia 5228 X-Factor (in some regions the phone was called the 5233). This Symbian-powered (resistive) touch phone was a more affordable variation of the 5800 XpressMusic, Nokias very first attempt to combat the iPhone.
The simple 3200 got absolutely nothing however branding– without any card slot, hardly no music and any memory gamer, there was little wish for it. The 3300 was a various story. Regular readers of Flashback will remember it as a sequel to the QWERTY-packing 5510 and as the “Black Phone”, a Jay-Z branded unique edition.
The exterior was altered to a gold-and-burgundy color palette (developed by vocalist herself) and offered special downloadable content, consisting of a tune called “632-5792” (a telephone number) that Beyonce wrote when she was 10. That was it, though, if you desired more songs, you needed to pack them on a microSD card yourself (the UpStage supported cards approximately 2 GB).
Nokia knew the worth of celeb promotion too, however rather of going to any one celeb, the Finns chose to cast a wide web and in 2004 (in partnership with AT&T) launched the Nokia 3200 and Nokia 3300 American Idol limited edition phones. They were priced $50 to $70 and sold through numerous music shops (e.g. Sam Goody, Media Play, Suncoast).
The Nokia 5228 X-Factor edition: yes, it looks the same, but it has some pre-loaded content
Thankfully, it was 2010, so the phone featured a standard 3.5 mm earphones jack and microSD slot (not MMC like the 3300). All you got with this special edition was the X-Factor app pre-loaded along with some wallpapers and ringtones from the show.
A 16GB microSD was preload with some of Claptons best-known classics consisting of “Layla,” “My Fathers Eyes,” “Rock N Roll Heart” and “Wonderful Tonight”. Likewise, 2 apps came pre-installed: Guitar: Solo and Musical Light.
Also in 2010 T-Mobile partnered with famous guitar player Eric Clapton to expose the myTouch 3G Fender restricted edition. The Android 1.6 smartphone by HTC was offered a fake wood grain outside with the hallmark Fender sunburst surface (even the included earphones were tailored).
The (HTC) T-Mobile myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition with the hallmark Fender sunburst finish
Over the years there have actually been other phones promoted by well-known musical acts. A more current example is the Galaxy A80 Blackpink unique edition from 2019 (BTS wasnt the first K-pop band that Samsung has tapped for advertising purposes).
The T-Mobile myTouch 3G Fender edition was available in T-Mobile retail stores (and online) at $180 (plus taxes and charges) with a 2-year agreement.
T-Mobile likewise offered methods to fix up the device, including more Fender-branded backs, a Fender carrying case and the Rock Dock, a docking station with integrated speakers. The carrier likewise debuted a multimedia sync solution that allowed users to sync music, video and pictures between their Windows or Mac computer systems and their phone (its apparent that T-Mo was searching for an alternative to iTunes).
Whats your favorite music-themed limited edition phone?
