Back in the days Nokia phones tended to be different. They weren't just boring candy bars or slabs of glass. Nokia also tried out new/different things. Nokia set itself apart with new ideas and concepts, unlike today's manufacturers who try to sell new phones almost solely trough its specs or lack of updates for their older devices.
Devices such as the Nokia Communicator, with its dual display, dual keyboard design, were nowhere to be found by its competitors. The Nokia E-Series, with its interesting keyboard mechanisms, such with the E60, was also unique in their design. (as far as I know)
Or the Nokia N86/N95/N96, with their dual-slider mechanism, are, as far as I know, also unique. Not to mention that the hidden multimedia-keys were useful as f***.
The Nokia N93(I), was a phone with its main focus on the camcorder function.
What about the Nokia-NGage? Sure it flopped, yet Nokia tries sth different than the rest of the market.

Then there was the N900, which was promoted as open device, meant for hacking and "doing what you want" with the device. There even was Nokias "Push"-event, inviting others to show Nokia what they could do with an "open" platform like the N900.
There hasn't been a manufacturer, yet, who did the same, with the same amounts of effort.

Even Nokias newer phones were different than the like of Samsung and such.
The Nokia N8 for example, although running an truly aged OS, was still a neat phone, with cool ideas, excellent built-quality, and spec-circle-jerk-free advertising, inviting people to make short movies with the N8's camera. (There might've also been a short movie produced by Nokia, promoting it's cameras macro capabilities. I remember it leaving me quite stunned, when I first saw it. I don't remember it's name, though

There were even more "weird" devices from Nokia, but I have no experience with them.

There was a Nokiaphone/Series for almost everyone!
Want a multimedia-focused/all round device? Pick sth out of the N-Series.
Want a messaging device? Pick sth out of the E-Series.
Do you want a phone only for SMS and calls? Pick any of the other Nokia phones, in your preferred size, form and color!


Nowadays, (android)phones usually are a boring sandwich of metal and glass, using the same chipset across almost all manufactures, with the rest of the phone differentiating in only nuances. Snapdragon Chipset, 4-6Gigs of ram, camera sensor from Sony, waterproof-aluminum-glass housing with all its pros and cons, a 5" to 5.5" IPS or SAMOLED screen, varying amount of bloat on the device and a almost guaranteed lack of updates as soon as the successor of the chosen device was announced.

To me, it feels like, you get the same phone only with a different housing and brand on it.

tl;dr: Smartphones are boring nowadays and Nokia phones were not.

Well, it's an official statement, that Nokia will kinda supervise HMD's production.

"Nokia Technologies will take a seat on the Board of Directors of HMD and set mandatory brand requirements and performance related provisions to ensure that all Nokia-branded products exemplify consumer expectations of Nokia devices, including quality, design and consumer focused innovation."

Source: http://company.nokia.com/en/news/pre...es-and-tablets

"Consumer focused innovation", sounds like sth the old Nokia would say.