It’s been pretty well documented that Bond will be using the brand new Sony Xperia Z5 in Spectre, the latest in the 007 franchise, and with the top of the range 23 megapixel camera with new Exmor RS image sensor, sleek aluminium and frosted glass body and subtle fingerprint sensor, it’s easy to see why.

People have criticised product placement in Bond, but such are real life gadgets these days that Bond doesn’t really need the highly inventive gadgets of old, these once upon a time fictional gadgets are simply be a reality today, so why not use the real thing?

Whether you’d ever need a gun for combating sharks or a set of bagpipes with hidden machine gun is up for question, but we’re sure they’re well within the realms of being able to be created, but when it comes to communications there is no reason to make something up with the top of the range smartphones on the market at the moment.

With focus of product placement in Spectre squared centrally on Sony we wanted to look at the evolution of phones through the Bond eras and surprisingly enough there’s no images of the slick spy using a brick to communicate, in fact the mobile phone didn’t make a significant appearance in the Bond franchise until the late 90s, here’s some peeks at the mobiles Bond has used though he ages.

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) – Ericsson JB988

The first appearance, and probably best, of a mobile phone in a significant way in the Bond franchise was during the Piece Brosnan era and 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, in which Bond’s top gadget is the Ericsson JB988 a mobile phone which doubled as a stun gun, lock pick and BMW remote, along with now come to life fingerprint sensor, albeit with the ability to transmit said fingerprint to other locks – saying that using a smartphone to drive a car might not be as ridiculous a concept as it seemed some 18 years ago.

The JB988 was only ever designed as a concept phone, with only 12 of them manufactured for use in the film and promotional use only, of course without any of the working features Bond uses, however much of the style of Brosnan’s top gadget was incorporated into Ericsson’s 2000 released, early smartphone, the R380, which combined mobile phone, WAP services and PDA-like tools.

Casino Royale (2006) – Sony Ericsson K800i

We have to skip two movies and nine years before the mobile phone made its next appearance and became a regular feature of the Bond franchise, with Daniel Craig touting the Sony Ericsson K800i.

This time there’s no hidden gadgets that weren’t available to the general public, just Bond using the height of technology at the time; sophisticated GPS, 3G and 3.2 megapixel camera. It even came in a special edition Royale Silver for the movie,

Although not one of Bond’s gadgets the Sony Ericsson M600i, with TFT resistant touchscreen and handwriting recognition, also makes an appearance in Casino Royale, as the phone of Eva Green’s ‘Bond girl’ Vesper Lynd.

Quantum Of Solace (2008) – Sony Ericsson C902

Two years later and mobile phones have advanced… slightly, Quantum Of Solace sees Bond ultilising the Sony Ericsson C902 to photograph members of Solace, but aside from the bump in camera and the device more than halving in thickness the technology in 007’s hand hasn’t done much more than fit more comfortably, well that’s in terms of the one that went on sale to the public. The photos Bond manages to take of the Quantum leaders way outstrips the capabilities of the top of the range phones now, never mind the 5MP Cyber-shot camera on the C902, so maybe the days aren’t quite done of Bond gadgets being slightly beyond the realms of the public.

Skyfall (2012) – Sony Xperia T

Four years later and smartphones have taken a more familiar look to how they are today and 007 predictably has another Sony in his hand, this time the Xperia T. Bond’s use of the phone itself in the film is minimal, no future camera or hidden taser function this time, however three years ago the Xperia T was state of the art; Skyfall sees Bond using touchscreen for the first time, on the T’s still perfectly acceptable 4.55 inches, 323 ppi screen, which dwarves the screen on 007’s previous model at more than double the size.

Spectre (2015) – Sony Xperia Z5

We’re yet to see how Daniel Craig’s Bond will use the new Sony Xperia Z5 or whether there will be any added features, but there’s no doubting this is Sony’s best device to date. Three years on from the last time 007 was in cinema’s phone screens have yet again increased in size (5.2 inches, 428 ppi this time around), he’s upgraded from dual-core to quad-core 1.5GHz processor and the jewel in the Z5’s charm, the 23 MP, 5520 х 4140 pixel camera, with phase detection autofocus and LED flash.