GLOBAL – Last week, we asked you to choose between three different designs for the Nokia U, the concept device whose features and specifications have been voted for by Conversations readers. Well, now the votes are in, the ballot boxes have been emptied and it’s time to reveal the final results for each of the candidates. Read on to find out more.

You had to choose between three sketches created by the design team to meet the specifications set by you. Over 18,000 of you voted for your favourite.

This is sketch one.

Sketch two.

And sketch three.

And here are the results.

Sketch one wins with 7276 votes. It’s a margin of just 1754 votes over the closest runner-up, number two. That’s just 11 per cent more of the vote. But a win nonetheless.

It’s a lot closer than you might have anticipated. But what does that mean? The first thing it might suggest is that people’s tastes are more varied than most of us think. There’s clearly a market for more than one model out there and no such thing as the ‘perfect’ design: even when the required specification meant they’re not radically different from each other. Also, they are all handsome in their own way. As Adam F said in the comments, “All three look good, let’s make ‘em!”.

A lot of people commented – quite rightly – that the designs resemble existing or announced product lines. The design team told us that they’d used the existing “design language” of Nokia’s devices to produce the sketches. This means that they are all identifiably Nokia phones. They were also cautious about releasing “spoilers” of device designs that may or may not appear in the future.

A number of people said that they still wanted keys, either in the form of an Eseries-style candybar or hidden away like the Nokia N97. Unfortunately, though, that vote took place in March and more people voted for a touchscreen. We’re sympathetic at the same time – and fortunately, in real life, there will always be a variety of models to choose from.

And finally, it became abundantly clear that making everyone happy isn’t going to happen. Here are two comments from the Chinese blog that perhaps demonstrate this best:

hillguy said: I like Sketch Two, because I love the two green lines.
toyawork said: I like Sketch Two, except for the two green lines.

Ah well. There were always going to be winners and losers from the start. But on to the next stage. We’ll take the winning design back to the team for them to model and render. Look out for more updates in the near future.