The clamshell mobile phone popularly known as open and close in Nigeria, is a type of mobile phone which contain two section, with one of the section housing the screen and the other the keypad, which fold or close with the help of a hinge mechanism. The name open and close came as a result of, in other to access the screen and keypad, the mobile phone have to be open upward and when not in use, it is close downward.

Since the introduction of GSM (Global System Of Mobile Communication) on august 6, 2001 by president Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigeria telecommunication have witness a huge influx of different mobile phone brand with different type, style, operating system and configuration. Today we are going to look at the top clamshell mobile phone that were dominant in Nigeria.

Samsung SGH-T100

The Samsung SGH-T100 was release in 2002 and was available in the Nigeria. It was an early comer to the clamshell mobile phone technology. It screen technology was TFT (thin film transistor), resolution is 126 x 160 pixel, memory card slot was not available, it phone book was capable of storing 500 contact entries, phone record was also 10 dialed numbers, 10 received and missed call. Loud speaker, 3.5mm jack was not present, it alert type was polyphonic, monophonic and mp3 capabilities was not available. Communication channel such as Wlan, Bluetooth etc. was not present, though other version of the T series were available but none was as popular as the T100 in Nigeria.

Motorola RAZR V3

The Motorola RAZR V3 was release in 2004, it has clamshell configuration and was called Motorola blade or Motorola open and close in Nigeria. The screen type was TFT(thin film transistor), inches was 2.2 and the resolution was 176 x 220 pixels, it has no memory card slot ,camera was present, it uses a mini Sim(Subscriber Identification Module), it could only records 10 dialed numbers, 10 received and 10 missed calls, but what do you expect, mobile technology was still growing then. Loud speaker was present, 3.5mm jack was not, mini USB (Universal serial Bus) and Bluetooth are present. It could also download polyphonic and MP3 ringtones, composer was present, which some mobile phone then did not have. The Motorola RAZR V3 phone book was capable storing 1000 contact entries.

Other version of Motorola with clamshell configuration exit such as the Motorola V3re, V3i, V3r/V3t etc., of which some did not get into the Nigeria market, but no one was as popular as the Motorola RAZR V3


Bird S130

It also has a clamshell configuration, it was released in 2005 and it made its way into the Nigeria market and also won our heart. It configuration was a bit different from the others because, one section of the mobile phone housed the screen and keypad together, while the other section housed the speaker and a see through rectangular glass outside it, which enable user to see the phone main screen when the phone is closed. Its screen technology was TFT(thin film transistor) and its phone record could accommodate 20 dialed numbers , 20 received and 20 missed calls and phonebook could only accommodate 100 entries


Nokia 6133

Nokia was already a household name Nigeria, it popularity came as a result of the release of Nokia 3310. Nokia was no stranger to the clamshell mobile technology, a lot of version have been released in previous year. Nokia 6133 was release in 2006 and its popularity have no bound. It screen technology was TFT (thin film transistor), resolution 240 x 320 pixels, and size 2.2 inches. A dedicated memory card was present, first of its kind. Theme could be downloaded, a single camera setup was present, Radio and Bluetooth is also present


NEC e338

NEC was not a household name in Nigeria, though they did their best. The NEC e338 was a unique phone and world apart from other counterpart of same year. It had a rotating lens which can be adjusted to take picture. The screen technology was TFT (thin film transistor), no Bluetooth or wlan was present, Phone book could store 500 contact entries, phone record was 20 dialed number, 20 missed and received calls.


Motorola PEBL U6

The Motorola pebl u6 was release in 2005, it is also known as Motorola pebble due to it shape. We can say that it is a younger brother to the Motorola razr v3, it configuration is almost the same but different in some aspect like, it shape, no loud speaker present, Bluetooth is present, phone book could store 1000 entries and phone record could store 60 dialed number, 60 missed calls and received calls, camera is present.


AS from 2009, the era of clamshell mobile phone technology was coming to an end as manufacturer were adapting to the touch screen and pen touch phone technology. We can say that we enjoyed the technology while it last. In 2019 the concept of foldable came into reality when a mobile phone manufacture in china released the word first foldable phone, in conclusion we can say that clamshell mobile phone technology is coming back with an upgrade.

If you have use any, tell us your experience with those phone listed or any model you might have use