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There was a time when Android phones were coming out so often that companies were using anything and everything for names. Rocks, stones, metals, liquids, animals, weather conditions, an even emoticons were used as inspiration. Most companies have come to their senses on naming standards, like Samsung with their letter and number scheme. Let’s take a look back at the wild west of Android device names. Here are the 12 weirdest/worst.
12. Samsung Galaxy Mega
When someone in the tech community jokingly creates a name for your next product, and then it actually gets used, you know it’s a bad name. That’s exactly what happened when Chris Ziegler mockingly said that Samsung would use the name “Mega,” and they actually did. What’s next? The Samsung Galaxy Ginormous?
11. Asus PadFone
Anything that could slightly be confused with a feminine hygiene product is automatically a bad name. To make things worse Asus changed the “ph” in “phone” to the letter F. Replacing letters with phonetic equivalents is never a good thing. Just look at all those “cool” products that replace the “s” with a “z.”
10. ZTE Skate
This is the story of a company who ran out of adjectives so they started using verbs. Rejected ideas include “ZTE Run, Shoot, Skip, Pass, and Jump.” Or maybe we’re not taking this literal enough. Maybe the phone was literally named after a roller skate. Either way, this is a real fail.
9. YotaPhone
The YotaPhone is one of our favorite devices, but we have to admit the name is a little weird. The first time you hear it you are guaranteed to think it’s the “Yoda” phone. The first time I heard about this phone I didn’t even think it was real. I just thought it was a joke. “Who would name a phone after Yoda?” If people think your phone is a joke it might not have the best name.
8 OnePlus One
The device may be great when it finally launches, but this name is just plain weird. First of all, the company name sounds like a feature on Google+, but then to name your first ever phone “One” is either really dumb or really cocky. HTC already has a thing with “One,” but even if you ignore that the “OnePlus One” name just sounds silly. Someone just really likes addition.
7. HTC ChaCha/Salsa
The HTC First was not the first “Facebook phone.” HTC released the ChaCha (in the US, Salsa everywhere else) with a dedicated Facebook button. What do you think of when you think about Facebook? Latin dance moves of course. Makes sense, right? We like to think someone at HTC just really likes spicy condiments, and “ChaCha” was their way of sneaking it in.
6. HTC EVO 4G LTE
Back in the day the “4G wars” were a lot more intense than they are today. Every company under the sun just had to put “4G” in the name of their device. HTC decided to take it a step further and add “LTE” on top of that. What makes this name even more ridiculous is the uppercase letters. The official branding is “HTC EVO 4G LTE.” Stop yelling at us!
5. Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
“Wait, are you telling me the display is 210.1 inches!? Does it come with a stand?” Samsung has moved to a numerical naming standard since the silliness of some of their early Android devices, but that hasn’t solved all of their problems. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 has an excessive amount of numbers in the name. Is this a tablet or an area code?
4. Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman
I honestly could not believe this was a real name for a real device. Want to make sure people know what feature your phone has? Just include a sentence in the name of the device. “Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman.” “LG Nexus Live with Google Now.” “Samsung Galaxy Live with Cheap Plastic.”
3. Casio G’zOne…
If you’re naming a phone here’s some free advice: don’t choose a name that no one knows how to pronounce. Casio did not take this advice with their series of G’zOne devices. Is it “G Zone?” Is it “Gzzz One?” For a quick laugh go to YouTube and watch people try to pronounce “G’zOne” in unboxing videos. The sad thing is these devices could have had so much better of a name. They are all super tough and durable. Let your imagination go wild.
2. ZTE Iconic Phablet
Another bit of advice for anyone naming a phone: don’t just plainly describe the device. Or, in the case of ZTE, how you want people to describe the device. I can’t wait for their next device, the “ZTE Best Phone Ever.” To make things even worse they have a special variant of this device for Boost Mobile called the “Boost Max.” Generic names for the win!
1. Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch
The grand prize of weirdest and worst Android device name has to go the “Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch.” This name is so long that some places even put a comma between the “II” and “Epic.” It’s so long that you have to take a breath halfway through it. To me this phone is the perfect example of corporate branding gone wrong. Samsung wants their branding in the name, and Sprint wants something unique for their network. The result is this obnoxiously long abomination of a name.
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Do you agree with our rankings? Which phone do you think has the worst name? Did we leave any out? Let us know in the comment below!
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It could just be me, but I actually like the OnePlus One name.
It’s just you. It took me forever to figure out who was making it. Google? HTC? (To be honest I’m still not 100% sure. Some Chinese company?)
and on top of that, the guy behind it came from OPPO. The people on the oneplus forums abbreviate the phone OPO.
=.[
The company is called OnePlus, it’s going to be CyanogenMod’s phone maker.
Stupid company name. Didn’t they have any foresight that their phones will always sound stupid no matter what you call them? OnePlus X. OnePlus One. OnePlus Evo. OnePlus Nexus. OnePlus S5. No matter what name you put in their it sounds stupid.
Well…
I can see their power now. The nickname for phones they bring out will be “OP”.
“What phone do you have?”
“The OP One.”
LoL!! Oh my gosh!! That’s going to work. =.P
I like it too. The bad thing (if any) about it is the company name (Oneplus).
It would be a good name… if every other tech company didn’t already have “One”.
Nexus One
XBox One
OneDrive
HTC One
Apogee One
etc, etc
thank you…someone with logic…no idea how anyone could like that name
Can I just say, the galaxy tab 2 10.1 sucked too. I got one for free. I can see why it was free. It wins the award for laggiest pos ever.
These numbers… I’ve lost track on which one is the latest. =.S
We are on the Tab 3 now, right?
Tab 4 is almost here lol http://bgr.com/2014/04/01/galaxy-tab-4-specs-and-release-date/
Regarding the padfone… everyone thought the iPad was a bad name at first too but… I’d say they couldn’t have named it better looking back. And it’s a bit hard to diss it completely when our name is phandroid… even though it does stand for phone fans
I always thought they should have named it the iTab.
But PadFone is particularly stupid because Asus also sells products called… FonePad! How anyone thought using those two names was a good idea is beyond me.
In terms of the Live with Walkman, it sounds like a way to advertise the device’s features without the specs or details.
Reminds me of what operators of British motorway Services operators did (before they changed the rules), changing their names to just be brands to advertise them (eg “RoadChef” → “Costa McDonald’s”)
“HTC EVO 4G LTE” – pretty sure it was Sprint who gave it this name to have something unique (it’s a modified One X) and keep the EVO line going. It’s a great phone, but I wish it had a shorter name – like HTC EVO 4L, or 3, or whatever number EVO it was.
It really came down to that they already had an EVO 4G (WiMAX) and when the new one came out, the wanted to keep the EVO name, include 4G since that’s the term marketing put in the public’s mind, and LTE to differentiate the name.
I will admit the “4G LTE” is a bit much, but to this day I think “EVO” is still the best name for a phone I’ve seen.
It’s quite evocative…or evolutionary…or evolved…or…
For some reason made me think of EVOO. Extra virgin olive oil.
Evo and the original Droids were the best i think
I’m still waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch 2
No!!
I had the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch. Having to type it in to Google to find accessories or reviews or forums was always a hassle.
yes, that one should be definitely on the list. It’s even a hassle to say lol
you don’t need to use the full name.
for you “epic 4G” probably would’ve been enough.
for my “LG Optimus 2X speed” I only had to search “P990”, “O2X”, or “optimus 2x”
for my “Samsung galaxy note 2” I only search “note 2” or “N7100”
Well there was already the Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G, so searching for Epic 4G usually brought up all the threads on that phone, even adding touch wasn’t enough because contextually that word was used a lot in conjunction with a touchscreen smart phone. In my experience “S II Epic” was the way to search, and even that was hit or miss.
you forgot iPhone 5c
Android phones buddy
Pretty much the same thing, buddy
iOS and Android phones the same thing?
Not exactly the same but close enough that not most people can’t tell the difference
Who are those people? Most elderly folk can tell the two apart.
Those peopke are the people who don’t work for either company. Other than people who work for these companies, nobody knows the difference between the two. I’ve used cellphones for 3 or 4 years and can’t tell the difference.
I don’t see how you don’t know especially after so many years, unless you’re just a troll.
No need for insults. I doubt you can tell the difference either. Even if you can, there’s no need to act like you’re so much better than everyone else
What insult? I’m not acting like I’m better, I’m sure most of the users on this site could tell you the differences. The operating systems are different, the voice controls, cameras, chip sets, displays, size of the devices, etc.
You seem to be talking to someone with very little technological background. I’m pretty sure you lost them on that last post ;)
Lol was seriously beginning to think it was troll
“Hey everybody, check out my new Galaxy 5S!”
HTC One series has the worst naming convention. I like … HTC Flagship 1 … Trademark it for me, thanks.
I was think about the HTC One as well when I saw the headline. No foresight when they named it. I can see it now, they are working on the sequel and then are like,
Engineer 1: “hey guys, uh….what do we call it? The HTC Two? HTC One Plus One?”
Engineer 2: “I don’t know man, you think they’ll go for the code name, M8? I mean, it kinda sound cool; like a sports car or something.”
I think that worked out lovely, though. So you don’t call it the 2013 version, you call it the M7.
I think this phone is slowly going to lose it’s One line and become the M# line.
Yeah, they kinda forced the branding toward the M series. Problem is, now they’re at 8 while iphone is going to be on 6 and the the Galaxy S is on 5. What happens when these guys hit 11? I’m curious whether they’ll change the branding. I personally don’t like the sound of a galaxy s 11.
yotta (Y) phone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_prefix
Geez One.
That is all.
The Samsung E4GT may have had a weird/funky/long name, but, it was arguably the best Samsung GS2 variant.
Nailed it.
How about any and every device named G? There was the original G1(the father of all Android devices), which was fine. But then it got hairy, the G2(codenamed HTC Magic) which was only released in Europe), the T-Mobile G2(a variant of the HTC Desire Z), the LG G2x for T-Mobile which was released not long after the T-Mobile G2 phone, how’s that for confusing(not to mention the G-Slate), and now the LG G2 Pro. Let’s just drop the G’s people.
The biggest joke was the HTC EVO 4G
You know WiMAX isn’t 4G!!
Motorola Devour
Is the article still editable? I would like to nominate “LG G Pro Lite Dual”
How about the fact that Huawei came into the international market and decided to spell their English name completely different from how it’s pronounced? And then they proceeded to make a YouTube video where the host went around and taught people on the street individually how to pronounce it.
I think I’m going to start a phone company and name it “Hoohoo”, but it’s pronounced “zoinkers”.
I started off calling it “How-we”.
But I think it’s pronounced “who-way”?
While we’re at it, Hyundai: “Hon-die”?
he-oon-die
I’ve heard it pronounced “waa-way” from some folks that work there.
Okay. So I give up. LoL!!
E. Honda?
YES!! I’m so glad the E4GT made this list. I loved telling people what phone I had when I was on Sprint.
When I saw the article title, I just knew the E4GT had to be here. LoL!!
It’s even more lovely that it’s number one. I feel special now. =.3
P10AN01
that’s the full name of one of the first android dual-core tablets.
luckily it was resold by many smaller companies rebranded.
(advent vega, mobii tegra, and several more names)
I had a good laugh..
See, most of these are Korean and chinese manufacturers.. I think they are directly translating their weird names to English..
Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch def takes the cake…i do rem some other sammy/htc earlier phones that had uber long names….for Best names you got to go with the original Droid and Droid X and the Evo
Sony Ericsson Droid Neo Prime X2 Z Plus
Joe, you just let me down with your musing about YotaPhone. First of all, it takes it’s name from the company that made it – Yota. It’s a Russian company that’s been in business for quite some time, making some of the best 3g/4g modems for weird Russian frequencies. AFAIR it’s a group of companies, all hitech/mobile related. But you don’t have to know that, because you don’t live in Russia.
Second, Yota is the name of the Greek alphabet letter “I”. Do you find letter Alpha funny too? Or Beta? Oh wait, Kappa must just render you historically laughing.
And I somehow thought you were the most serious out of our favorite bunch.
I understand that, and it’s still a cool device, just sounds like “Yoda” phone to me.
What no devour?
HTC ChaCha was ChaChaCha in Spain over some copyright issues there.