VK Mobile
VK2000

The VK2000, produced by the South Korean manufacturer VK Mobile, was a standout device in the mid-2000s "ultra-slim" craze. Launched in late 2005, it was marketed primarily as a "card phone" due to its small dimensions (89.9 x 49.9 x 8.8 mm), which were roughly equivalent to a stack of credit cards. At a time when Motorola was dominating the market with the RAZR V3, VK Mobile took a different approach by applying the "thin is in" philosophy to a tiny candybar form factor. Weighing in at a mere 48 grams, the VK2000 remains one of the lightest GSM mobile phones ever produced. Its super-lightweight construction made it a popular "second phone" or "evening phone," designed to slip into a shirt pocket or a small handbag. To achieve such a slim profile, VK Mobile had to make several hardware compromises. Most notably, the device lacked a camera, a brave omission in 2005 when camera phones were becoming the industry standard. It also lacked Bluetooth and expandable storage. It had a striking blue-backlit keypad that gave it a premium, high-tech look. The display was a 1.5-inch CSTN screen capable of showing 65,536 colours with a resolution of 128 x 143 pixels. While the screen technology was entry-level, the interface was colourful and relatively snappy for the era. The phone supported GPRS for basic WAP browsing and featured 64-polyphonic ringtones, which sounded surprisingly clear given the tiny chassis.