Bond movies since the Brosnan days have been pretty generous with their product placement. In addition to expensive watches, cell phones are among the devices that we often see in the hands of 007 and his comrades.
Unsurprisingly, Sony, the distributor of most Bond movies, has a large number of devices in these movies. But Sony isn’t the only company whose devices have graced Bond’s palm. HMD Global, which took the stage in No Time To Die, becomes the manufacturer of Nokia phones.
In honor of the latest Bond movie, No Time to Die, we’ve reviewed all the movies where 007 or his friends use a cell phone. Thus, we had the chance to see how we came from the old “brick” phones to today.
Here are all the mobile phones and their stories that we have seen in James Bond movies. . .
Tomorrow Never Dies: Sony Ericsson JB988
Bond’s first famous cell phone was a cell phone that didn’t actually exist. Sony Ericsson JB988 was specially designed by Sony for Tomorrow Never Dies. It’s probably a good thing that this phone never hit the market, as some of its highlights were that it had a 20,000-volt shocker and acted as a remote control for Bond’s BMW. Probably none of us would want people to have such a phone in their hands.
Die Another Day: Sony Ericsson T68i & P800
While Bond has digitally detoxed in The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day, rest assured that product placement hasn’t stopped. Another character stepped in and again Sony Ericsson was in the lead role. Sony Ericsson T68i was used by Halle Berry’s character Jinx. It was literally the bomb.
The larger phone in the picture, though, was the Ericsson P800, used by Rick Yune’s character Zao (the man with the diamonds on his face).
Casino Royale: Sony Ericsson K800i and M600i
Casino Royale has two Sony Ericsson phones with keyboards: the K800i used by Bond himself, and the M600i used by Eva Green’s Vespa Lynd. . .
The K800i didn’t do much in the movie, but Sony struggled to present the devices (at the time, at least) as a competitive camera phone.
In short, neither phone was exactly yelling “we are super spy phones”.
Quantum of Solace: Sony Ericsson C902 Cybershot
James Bond really remembered to use his phone in Quantum of Solace, take pictures with the 5MP camera that the C902 has and answer some calls. In other words, in this movie, Sony wanted to present the real capabilities of the phone to the audience, and it can be said that it succeeded.
Skyfall: Sony Xperia T
007 finally joined the smartphone world with Skyfall, as our spy in this movie was carrying an Xperia T with Android. In fact, this meant a big promotion for the Xperia T, which Sony called “Bond”.
In Skyfall, Bond doesn’t do much with the Xperia T – at one point he gets a text with it; this is everything. . . It didn’t even try to take pictures with its 13MP camera or look at hidden files on its (then clear) 720p screen.
Specter: Sony Xperia Z5 & Samsung GT-S5611
Bond appears to be calling Moneypenny with his Sony Xperia Z5 during a car chase in Specter, and the phone is basically nowhere to be seen again. In the movie, we also see the Samsung GT-S5611, a non-Sony phone. Bond sends her to Moneypenny so he can continue to communicate with her when dark comes. However, it is worth noting that the Samsung logo is hidden in the film. In other words, Sony did not allow the rival’s logo to enter the film.
No Time To Die: Nokia 8. 3 5G
While waiting for No Time To Die, HMD Global also showed us that a Nokia phone will be used by Bond with promotions. The Nokia 8. 3 5G was announced in conjunction with the movie as it is the brand’s newest device. However, with the delay of the film, this phone is no longer a “new Nokia”.