Personally, I think both are a waste of money.

OK, the Serene is not bad but the Serenata is just awful imo.  Ugly, too big and more of a portable music player than a phone.  Both cases B&O missed the point of the mobile phone/mp3 player.

I own an iphone (have also owned an 8800/50), and to me the iphone think ticks all the boxes for what I want from a mobile phone and this to me will proabably be a phone that I keep for a long time. Your 4 questions are all relevant to the iphone, again only my opinion.  the user interface on the iphone is simply amazing as if teh overall feel an quality of the handset.. we have not even gone onto looks.. Both phones to me represent B&O of today which is confused.

The only critisism I have of the iphone is that it slips and could have done with the rubber feel layer around the edge of the iphone that you see on the serene.

I hear the 2nd gen iphone is on its way with 3g etc.  I dont want 3g so will happily keep my iphone for the next year or maybe even buy another one when they go down in price again due to the release of the new iphone.
 

The 8800 series is definitely what I would expect as a B&O phone as I think these are the best designed phones in the world. 

I guess that B&O wanted to make something different from everything else on the market, which is why their phones look like they do.

As I see it the costumer segment for a B&O phone don't want a hi-tech phone with very techy features, but a nice design that does all the basics.

If I were to make a wish on features for a B&O phone it would be to incorporate the possibilities from the keyring, so you can turn on/off your Beolink system from your mobile, and control the volume like from the BC6000. I've thought about this before, but can't remember which other ideas I had. 

Serene : unparrallelled simplicity, individuality and wow-style, but quite delicate and with a poor camera

Serenata : Beautiful feel, alot more practical and functional, not for me, a little cumbersome, beautiful, but still annonymous looking - along with a nice sounding little (unnecessary) speaker

IMHO the iPhone is very clever, but stressful to use, and just plain boring. 

I actually expected the Serene to have a Beo remote feature built in before i bought it... :( would have been lovely 

I think B&O and samsung collaboration with cell phones was more of a business move.
I may be mistaken but feels like B&O completely designed serene & serenata phones and handed to samsung for production.
If that is the case than it's pure win situation for B&O as all they did is invested is the design.

I can't blame B&O for making few bucks that way. And in this case I'm glad that these phone have samsung logo on them as well.
Of course I would prefere wording designed by B&O instead but then it would not justify their pricing.

I love my Serene and although laughable to many of you, it's the best cell phone for me. It does everything I need from my cell phone, calls, SMS, calendar, little camera for the odd occasion, clear and simple software and navigation, and finally a beautiful and compact design. I don't need Internet on my phone, videos, a whizz camera or anything else. I have a BlackBerry for email when I'm not moving about with my laptop, but even that I could do on my Serene according to my dealer.

My only complaints about my Serene is its poor battery life and that it's more fragile than other phones. I used to have a 8800 which I liked, but in some places still felt like an average phone. I wouldn't pay £800+ for a 8800. As for the iPhone, it's a remarkable piece of technology, but it has no design in my opinion and is full of lovely gadgets I would never use. The touch technology is the most impressive bit for me (which may I add, kills the battery) along with the usual outstanding Apple software. The iPhone is more of a gadget to me, with a rip-off monthly network rate (in the UK atleast).

For now, I don't want to change my Serene, and if it broke tomorrow I would buy another one. I haven't owned Serenata so I cannot comment much, but I demoed one for a week and preferred my Serene.

Who says Serene is ugly or dated? What phone do you have, or what is your preferred phone?