Sunday, April 10, 2016

Overatting the color gold

50 shades of gold


Smartphone trends are (almost unpredictable) shifting from one concept to another. Take the original iPhone for example, Steve Jobs was a heavy advocate for one-handed usability and it turns out that you could also fit 4-inches into one hand (that's why we have the iPhone SE). While the original trend is about smaller phones, it is apparent that small phones are no longer the next big thing as everybody is on the ship of the idea behind big phones. Don't be confused, this article is not another rant regarding bigger phones. It is all about the color of gold (specifically) on smartphones.
The Mobile World Congress Battle — "the first wave of flagships this year look impressive enough for an upgrade over it's predecessor but none of them justify any groundbreaking innovations. Maybe LG's dual camera system and magic slot expansion can be counted as groundbreaking but I personally think It will end up just being a cool little gimmick to increase sales." Continue reading. 
Apple made quite a statement last year when they announced the Rose Gold color option for it's new iPhone (the 6S) and now we basically have the Rose Gold color treatment on most of the new Apple devices that have come out. As usual, companies are following the footsteps of what Apple is doing and the inspiration for this article comes from the Huawei P9 series launched earlier this week which not only comes with the Leica branding on the back but the device is unique in the sense that is came with an unmistakable choice of colors. Three shades of gold to be exact. One is more different from the other.

The Huawei P9 will come in three shades of gold
The gold rush in the modern days smartphone took off when Apple announced the iPhone 5S which included a new color option. Gold. Apple's hitch to bring a champagne gold color to the smartphone race turned out to be truly successful as the color received great response and just like every other notable Apple innovation, other smartphone makers began to mimic Apple's success with the iPhone by combining a premium design with a nice shade of gold.
My Initial Thoughts of The Samsung Galaxy S5"The word which i’ll use to sum up all the comments on the Galaxy S5 articles is “RUDE”. You know why? Because as i’m reading the comments especially the long ones, it feels like i’m being berated because the people are just venting their hatred towards the stupid dotted back looking like a band aid Galaxy S5. It’s safe to say that the majority of the commenters are saying that the Galaxy S5 is equivalent to a failure" Continue reading.
Soon after that, Samsung chimed in to the trend with their latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S5. Besides coming with the standard white and black color options, the Galaxy S5 also came with a color option called Copper Gold that was supposed to complement the "Glam" design that Samsung was aiming for. That didn't end too well as the reception towards the Galaxy S5's gold color option ended up being jokes about how the perforated back looked like a band aid.
These days, smartphones no longer just come in the shade of black and white. Gold is the new black and white and is almost always a color option for smartphones with an aluminium build. Sony is calling it Lime Gold, HTC is calling it Amber Gold, Huawei is calling it Haze Gold (or Prestige Gold) and both Xiaomi and LG is calling it just gold. Whatever mystical name that companies are coming up with, the end result is indefinitely just gold.
Gold is the new black and white
With the announcement of the Huawei P9 earlier this week, only have I truly realized that the color gold is being abused. Apple sure made fun of the color gold when they unveiled the Rose Gold iPhone 6S last Fall. They could have just named it the Pink iPhone but Apple will be Apple, they can't seem to stick with the mainstream naming convention. Make no mistake, gold is indefinitely still the signature sign of wealth and also the look of rappers where they basically wear gold from top to bottom. My thoughts on the color gold is that the color is becoming increasingly common and it is time for a brand new color. Other colors like Red and Green might make the cut if the tone is set right but I am expecting to see a new color wave to come out within the next year or so.




But beyond that, gold has actually existed on smartphones a long time. Third party firms like Goldgenie have been doing the gold treatment to existing flagship phones way before people even wanted gold phones. But the difference between that kind of gold and the gold that Apple or Huawei puts on their phone is that those gold are real specimens of gold opposed to just being a shade of color on the surface. This brings us to the idea of the Apple Watch Edition twhich came with a 18k gold case that shows everybody how loaded you are to get the gold treatment.

See what I mean about this craze for gold through the images below
Samsung's new Galaxy S7 edge in Gold
The new LG G5 comes in gold too!
Xiaomi's flagship phone (the Mi 5) also comes in gold
Huawei's (Nexus 6P) first Nexus phone also gets the gold treatment
Sony's new Xperia X Performance in a lighter tone of gold 
The LeTV 1S in gold

No comments :

Post a Comment