Some technologies are tools, others are toys, and still others are attitudes. A case in point is the 7280 cell phone just introduced by Nokia. The 7280 is the size and shape of a candy bar. It's unusual not so much for what it has -- a built-in 640-by-480-pixel camera and voice recognition -- but for what's missing. The work of Nokia's Mobile Phones Business Group, the 7280 has no keypad at all. Numbers and names are entered by voice only and are displayed on-screen at a fraction of the size of those on conventional instruments. If less is more, the price is nice, too: about $600 retail.

Unhappy with this design philosophy? A separate Nokia division, Vertu, has just the instrument for you -- a personal project of Nokia's design vice president Frank Nuovo. The top-of-the-line Signature has a keypad. It also has 18 jeweled bearings, spring-loaded with microscopic rubber bands for what Vertu's website calls "the perfect click." The display is made of what Vertu says is the largest sapphire crystal ever offered on the market. The earpiece is made of aerospace ceramic for a warm touch, while the logo is deposited in a vacuum chamber for permanence. The Signature bezel is offered in platinum and gold; the platinum version sells for an eyebrow-raising $32,000.