O2 blueroom

Candy bars and clam shells, that’s what we expect our mobile phones to look like. And sure occasionally there have been attempts to get us to buy into something new: phones that look like rocks, lipsticks, have more buttons or get rid of them altogether. But on the whole we like it simple.

Enter the O2 Cocoon with a letter saying ‘give it a go’.

It doesn’t completely throw the design book out of the window; it’s a clamshell, but it does look striking. In a world where MP3 players and handsets are regularly lurid pink, violet or whatever, the Cocoon squarely plants its flag in the modernist camp with an icy black and white exterior straight out of the film 2001. Alternatively, you can pop it on a book in the corner of the desk; half close your eyes and imagine you’re opposite the media centre at Lord’s cricket ground.But silliness aside, a lot of thought has gone into the design of the Cocoon.

My handset came with a PDF explaining how Amsterdam’s Streative Branding, the brains behind the Cocoon, explored every avenue in its construction. It seems a shame such ideas were eventually distilled into an essentially conventional handset, but this overlooks the abundance of neat design touches.

I really like the scrolling exterior LED screen which displays time, caller ID and music info seductively below the handset’s surface. It looks really cool and got me pawing the text like a dog chasing a yo-yo. Oh, and finally somebody has put a chunky volume dial on a music device. I say finally, because I listen to my music when cycling through London.

Much is made about the Cocoon’s music credentials and it was now time to put them to the test. Riding through the West End requires a certain cavalier attitude to personal safety and listening to music is important. It transforms the art of avoiding black cabs and bendy buses from a white knuckle ride to the mildly surreal. The last thing you need is a flimsy player with no memory and complicated buttons. On the streets of Soho, the Cocoon truly excelled with easy to navigate buttons, playlists and ample memory, leaving my Zen state of concentration undisturbed.

It’s a good looking piece of kit, but the Cocoon really excels with its no nonsense interface design. Now if you could get the exterior screen to display rude words…