Before smartphones ruled the world, no-one could beat Nokia for elegant, reliable handsets. Nokia still makes some of the best non-smartphone handsets, ideal for customers who just need a phone to make and receive calls, and these are often available for free on a contract. But the Finnish giant's smartphone operating system lost ground to Apple's iOS, Google's Android or Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating systems.

Nokia will use Microsoft's Windows operating system on future releases and the agreement may help it to regain much of its former popularity. Although the latest smartphone handset from Nokia, the N9, still uses Nokia's own operating system, the phone has been praised for its beautiful design and intuitive swipe navigation.