Every smartphone, whether its considered flagship or not, can almost always be expected to be released in one very basic color: black. It's also a pretty safe bet that at some point in time, whether it's during its initial release or later, that the phone will also come in white. Those are the two most standard, basic and safe colors that phones can come in. Recently, however, I've been noticing more of a push to let users get a little creative with the colors on their phone by offering a wider variety of colors from the get-go. Some phones hitting the shelves are taking on a new look with bright, flashy and neon colors.
Nokia seems to be at the forefront of such a movement, with the Lumia line of phones having taken a walk on the brighter side of things for a few generations at this point. In my head, I automatically thought "Nokia" when I saw a phone sporting a brightly colored back. But now-a-days it's not so easy to tell whether it's a Nokia or another manufacturer's device. In particular, I see the most striking similiarity of the signature bright Nokia colors in the new Apple iPhone 5c.
The Apple iPhone 5c was presumably Apple's answer to those who were requesting to see a "cheaper" iPhone, and while the phone may be slightly less expensive than its more posh brother, the iPhone 5s, it's not exactly a bargain hunter's dream come true. Instead of the "c" standing for "cheap", like many of us thought, it really stands for "color", as that's probably the biggest selling feature of the device. The iPhone 5c comes in neon green, sky blue, pink (salmon?), yellow and white. Colors. Bright, happy colors.
But even the iPhone 5c isn't alone in making colors the most important feature of a phone, as we have another contender that takes adding color and a splash of your own personality to a device to a whole new level. The Moto X's Moto Maker is the only personalization tool of its kind when it comes to smartphones, and although Moto X has a whole list of other compelling features that make it a flagship device, Moto Maker is one of the more appealing aspects to purchasing the phone. You literally have thousands of options of color combinations of how you want to color your device, which is more than any other phone has ever offered. Ever!
Personally, I am happy to see more choices being added to the colors of phone lineups. Although black and white are certainly solid colors that can match pretty much any accessory, any case and any outfit you decide to wear, sometimes people just want their stuff to "stand out" a bit more. They want to go against the grain a bit, and I've always thought that the more options you have to personalize your phone and make it yours, the more you're likely to appreciate it.
I think Motorola has customization right, though. The iPhone 5c has plenty of colors to choose from, sure, but they also opted not to go for one of the most popular colors for a smartphone, which is still black. Just because black is overused doesn't necessarily mean that people don't want to see it in a smartphone; the argument for more colors just stems from the fact that not everybody wants black. And while Nokia generally offers both white and black variants of their devices, the amount of colors that the Lumia line offers is still no match compared to the behemoth personalization tool that Google and Motorola released with the Moto X. And honestly, I hope this is the start of a popular trend among phones. I really do think that the Moto Maker is what we've been waiting for when it comes to phone and color personalization.
I will say that I personally don't care as much about phone colors as others do - I feel like the color of a phone is the least of my problems if what's under the hood isn't up to par with performance, or if the platform is lacking in certain areas. I will say that it is nice to have a phone that I think looks as good as it performs, and sometimes just having something other than standard black and white is refreshing to say the least. All in all, I would say that for me color doesn't have a lot of influence in how I choose a smartphone, but I have a feeling that in the near future color variety in smartphones is going to become a big deal.
Readers, how do you feel about colors in your phone? Do you prefer to have more color options, or is that something that isn't really a concern for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Images via Digital Trends, Android Headlines
