Released in September of 1996, the Nokia 8110 was a unique member of the Finnish company’s high-end 8000-series line of phones. The device’s curved shape and manual-sliding keyboard cover earned the device the nickname of “banana phone.” The device operated on the 900MHz GSM frequency, had a monochromatic, dot-matrix display, and could store a whopping 125 contacts in its on-board address book. As the press release boasts:

The revolutionary curved design fits the natural shape of your face. It has unique sliding mouthpiece for maximum voice quality. The mouthpiece, which has microphone embedded within it, both protects the keypad and slides forward to fit the contour of your chin. [...] The Nokia 8100 is an ideal combination of size and weight, design and ergonomics, quality and features for people looking for the best. It will set the pace for a new generation of mobile phones.

Three years after its release, the 8110 gained a cult-like following after the Wachowski brothers used a modified version of the handset in their breakthrough film, The Matrix. For the film, the handset was modified with an automatic sliding mechanism to give it an extra dash of flair. In October of 1999, Nokia released the 7110 handset, which incorporated the popular automatic-sliding key-cover.

What do you say? Did any of you trendsetters have a Nokia 8110 or 7110?

BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

Wondering what your shopping list might look like this holiday season? One of our AT&T ninjas got his hands on an internal control document outlining new release between now and the holidays so if AT&T is your carrier of choice, here’s what Big Blue has in store for you between now and the holidays:

• Pantech Matrix: $80 after MIR
• Samsung Propel:$80 after MIR
• AT&T Quickfire: $100 after MIR
• Samsung Eternity: $150 after MIR
• Samsung EPIX: $200 after MIR
• LG Incite: $200 after MIR
• HTC Fuze: $300 after MIR

Last but certainly not least, our ninja did in fact report that the Bold is on the list – with no pricing specified of course. At the very least, this may put the Bold on store shelves by the time the holiday shopping season starts, though we expect that it’ll drop sooner rather than later. Then again, as much as it has been delayed thus far AT&T may just be holding the spot without any real indication that it will be ready in time. Fingers = crossed.