It’s rather odd, and certainly something I’d never expect, but my wiki gets more hits for the flip factor Series 60 phones than the “normal” ones.

Maybe these results are skewed at the moment by the leaked N71 but it’s still a little puzzling, surely the 6680 or the E70 are more worthy than the crap-tastic 6260?

I’m probably biased, possibly because in Europe most flips are rubbish phones, either low end and/or ideal for fashion victims (RAZR, I’m talking about you). Given this prejudice it’s hard for me to get excited about any flips, take for example the Panasonic X700 – I’m told it’s a pretty good phone, but god it’s bland looking. The N90 isn’t bad spec wise, and the screen is gorgeous, but it’s bigger than a big thing and the 101 ways to fold it makes advanced origami seem trivial – incidentally I’d love a picture of an N90 looking like a swan or a pirate’s hat!

Is the N71 going to make me change my mind? I don’t think so, and the few remaining pictures in circulation (Nokia’s lawyers have gone on a mad C&D spree) make it look very like one of the Japanese FOMA phones. I half suspect some mad swivelling action going on with that keypad, this is after-all Nokia, and a simple hinge appears to be a red rag to their designers, do their designers have four knees and double jointed elbows? Perhaps we should be told! Still, we shall see what happens next week, if the phone really is announced at Nokia’s Mobility Conference in Barcelona. Personally, I’m looking out for the Nokia N80, the next slider from Nokia.