Hey great feedback on my post at m-trends.org – in my experience many people love their phones based on personal aesthetics as well as secondary functional needs – but many do harp on about their phone and its flaws such as UI – but accept these as “natural design faults” – yet become very upset if their phone from the outside does not reflect the right image – i.e. becomes tarnished, scratched, or loses its “now” status –

The internal workings certainly are an annoyance at the best of times but beauty from the outside hides the flaws on the inside – and beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

I think most consumers are concerned about what their phone has in this order:

image
style
functions
usability

Form over function!

I am a self-confessed “fashion and design victim” and so many phones I have owned over the years that suck from a UI perspective but just knock me over with their looks e.g. LG Chocolate, LG Prada – and also garner many “ooohs” and “ahhhhs” around me – in this industry beauty and image counts! Well most of the time…

The only phone I own now that is not “drop dead gorgeous” is the SonyEricsson P990i – which also falls fowl of many UI and functional handicaps – i.e. it crashes even when just sitting their on the table!

But I love its status in that it does so much other phones can’t in one device – it’s the ugly spotty geek with the high IQ and clumsy like a clown kid at high school (with an early PHd) – but it is the “anti-cool” aspect which is very now!

The only thing that brings it back online to being “cool” amongst my design peers is the ringtone exclsuively created by those gods of creative Tomato!

Hmmm maybe “geek” has become the new chic!? Once again I reiterate that mobiles today reflect our own persona – whether you wish to exude geek or chic!

Mobile is the extension “Brand You”

Hey VT – this is a great example of “social audio branding” and exemplifies the positive reaction it can attain for the people bonding with common “tribal” affiliations (even if it is LFC! )

Personally I do not change the outside of my phone(s), yet! But I do change often my ringtone depending on my mood, as I can choose it freely from my own music collection stored on my phone.

FYI: my daughters do personalise their phones with stickers, pearls, etc. I’ll have to add some pictures of their mobile phones soon here it looks…