Chat on your cool hamburger phone just like Juno

If you've got an appetite for unusual gadgets, sink your teeth into this...

Think of a tasty phone as seen in a movie and you’ll probably start flirting with only the latest and most impressive technology. Well time to think again as we’re going more old-school and retro, more lo-fi than hi-fi looking to a modern movie that doesn’t include one single, solitary cell phone (yes, it is possible). Introducing the hamburger phone as seen in 2007 indie hit, Juno.

But this has been around for ages you cry and yes, you’re right. There’s absolutely nothing new about the hamburger phone, which rather non-cryptically is (wait for it) a phone shaped like a hamburger. It’s been kicking around for ages, or at least back to the days when Juno’s Oscar-winning screenwriter, Diablo Cody was a teen and spent all day talking on her phone, which unsurprisingly was also of the beefy variety.

The stripper-turned-Hollywood heavyweight has been very open about the autobiographical nature of Juno, as back in her younger years she too had a cheerleading best friend called Leah and a boyfriend with a love of Tic Tacs, so throwing in her favourite old gadget was a natural step for Cody and the phone, a natural fit with the lead character of “for shizz up-the-spout” teen, Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page).

Juno defies Hollywood’s neat categorisation of high school students, being neither a pampered princess, perky cheerleader, loser nerd or goth outsider; she’s just a slouchy, grungy tomboy and by defying these conventions, quickly became the poster child for another kind of teen.

“It’s a teenage female lead we’ve never seen before,” explains Page. “She dresses like she wants, says what she wants, and doesn’t apologise for it…. Girls haven’t had that sort of character before. We don’t have our Catcher in the Rye.”

And whether gal or guy, it’s irrelevant. Juno’s no nonsense attitude and quirky, off-beat sense of style doesn’t discriminate, this gender neutral quality most on show with the hamburger phone.

The phone scores some impressive screen time in the comedy smash, even notching up a name check (“Can you just hold on for a second, I’m on my hamburger phone,”) and being such an eye-catching and unusual item, it soon caught on. Fox Searchlight, the studio behind the movie was quick to spot the hamburger phone’s potential to grab attention, sending replicas to reviewers as an exciting promotional goodie. These were limited in numbers, but started to spread the word – the hamburger phone was cool again and we should all want one.

It didn’t take long for the message to get through, and after the movie opened sales went skyward. Sales on eBay climbed a staggering 759 per cent and likewise the price also escalated from around $10 up to nearly $60. The demand was huge in the initial aftermath of the movie and keen to cash-in on the budding phenomenon have been a number of electronic companies, quickly producing their spin on the sought after gadget.

“With the popularity of the movie Juno, more and more people are looking for a hamburger phone that the heroine Juno owned,” says Leslie Chan, the sales manager of one such company, Cellphonefocus.com. “So, we released this phone,” he announces along with a funky French fries one to neatly complement its meatier mate (well, you might be hungry still after just the hamburger).

Official acceptance came when Entertainment Weekly named the hamburger phone on its “10 Cool Gifts for Film Buffs” list, confirming what we all knew – the hamburger phone was a movie must-have. Forget that Juno complains that it’s “really awkward to talk on”, she wouldn’t want to make do with another dull phone and neither do we. And thanks to Juno we don’t have to.

The hamburger phone is now easy to find, won’t cost a fortune on eBay and is bringing retro cool back. For shiz.