Hasta La Gadget!

When Nokia partnered with Paramount for the 2009 Star Trek movie, they got a little product placement in the movie and in Europe released a Star Trek themed version of the Nokia 5800 with a couple of special wallpapers, screen savers, and some alert sounds. What’s just come to light however is that Nokia actually built a prototype Star Trek communicator flip-phone that looks a lot like the communicators from the movie and the original Star Trek television series.

The communicator phone was based on Nokia’s N76 flip phone, and featured a brass screen on top with lights underneath to make it look like the old television props, a black body with a large screen on the inside and soft black buttons, and a Starfleet logo on the back. Best of all, it’s a fully functional phone, not just a prop for a movie set or a toy. Unfortunately for Star Trek fans, only 14 of these prototypes were ever made, but at least it shows that while it’s often been said Star Trek communicators inspired flip-model cell phones, it’s easily possible to make cell phones inspired by Star Trek communicators.

[via TrekMovie]