Verizon’s Nokia Twist 7705 with its square design is a very different-looking cell phone. From its twist-to-open functionality to the circular light that changes color for different types of calls and messages, it also has distinctive features. In fact, it is so unique that we were impelled to take a closer look.

The Twist comes in a small white box, as shown in Figure 1. The box is quite small. Nokia says that moving to smaller packages since 2006 and removing some in-box collateral has enabled Nokia to save over 100,000 tons of paper and take 12,000 trucks off the road.

Inside the box (shown in Figure 2) is the Twist with a black cover, an AC charging cable, a small Tips, Hints and Shortcuts booklet, a Safety brochure, and a purple cover.

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Figure 1: The box.

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Figure 2: Inside the box.

Figure 3 shows the Twist itself. The first thing that you notice is the unusual square form factor design. The second thing you will see is that the circle in the lower right corner of the device is actually a hole, as shown in Figure 4. The circle, which is called the “contact ring”, is trimmed in silver. It is actually the hinge or twist mechanism of the phone. It allows you to twist the top and the bottom away from each other to open the phone.  The twist mechanism works quite smoothly and clicks into place quite nicely.

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Figure 3: The Nokia Twist 7705.

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Figure 4: The hole.

The hinge hole can also be used to hang the device from a belt, keychain, pocket book or even from your neck. The design is so unusual that several people stopped us when they saw us carrying the phone to ask what it was. Wearing the phone around the neck prompted even more questions, especially with the purple cover, which can be seen in Figure 5.

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Figure 5: The purple cover.

The covers slip on and off easily and we found ourselves immediately longing for additional covers.