We all love beautiful things. Yes, even those of you who believe placing importance on outward appearance is juvenile will have to concede that some things are objectively beautiful. This applies to people just as much as it does to electronic devices.
There are ugly phones out there. Do not trust anyone who says this phone has any redeeming design qualities:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but on this one, only liars will say there is any beauty to it. However, I wonder if that should matter.
Listen, the fact remains—if everything else is the same, if the specs are the same—a prettier exterior is preferable to an ugly one. However, if they are both going to be covered up 100% of the time, does it even matter what the exterior looks like?
If your other half could never remove the following burqas, you would look at character and not be swayed by a shiny exterior:
Phone burqas
I think the same should apply to smartphones. Surveys show that globally, over 75% of smartphone users use a case to protect their fancy toys.
iPhone users love their cases, with some surveys showing that 86% of them use cases. Not surprisingly, women use cases more (90% of them), choosing them based on design, while men (82% of case users) choose cases for phone protection.
I have just given my case a second look, and my goodness, it is ugly. It’s a black silicone one with no design elements to talk about. However, it has kept my phone safe, and that’s all I bought it for.
I’m talking about phone cases right now because I’ve just dropped my phone from about head height straight onto granite tiles. It was a nasty one, and for a second, I thought, this is it. However, it appears to have escaped unscathed.
Maybe there is some internal damage, but for now, I’m able to continue like nothing happened. I drop my phone at least once every month, and clumsy people like me cannot use these glass-backed phones without cases—or we would be buying phones every other month.
What of design?
The unfortunate part is that when we cover our phones in protective burqas, we don’t get to gaze at their beauty. Some of these phones are truly works of art, and just looking at them makes one’s day. But into the burqa they go.
Which raises the question—is smartphone design even important? I mean, if over 75% of people don’t get to even look at their phones after the original unboxing, does it matter what they look like?
I’ve been thinking about how Apple and Samsung have been using the same design for over four years now and have faced heavy criticism for it. I agree—it’s not exciting to see these stale designs. But if most people are sticking these phones in burqas, what are we even talking about?
Once in a case, all you see is the display. All you hold is whatever plastic, rubber, or silicone your case maker used. At that point, does it matter that your phone has some fancy frosted glass on the back and a titanium frame?
All that matters is that the titanium will help it withstand drops and that the glass is Gorilla Glass, which is also drop-resistant. Everything else is fluff.
So, I ask again—if you’re going to stick it in a burqa, does it matter that the S25 looks like the S24? Smartphone design is of no importance to me now.
Galaxy S25 Edge/ iPhone 17 Air
This takes us to these two phones yet to be released. I’ll admit, I was one of those hating on the idea of building extremely thin phones. Nobody was asking for thinner phones, and yet here these market leaders were, wasting time working on this.
However, after my case just protected my phone, and I realised I always have a case on it, I understood that I would appreciate a thinner phone that stayed slim even after it was in a case.
The S25 Edge and 17 Air will not only be thinner than regular flagships, but they will also be lighter. That now sounds like a good deal.
I use an iPhone 14, which is 7.8mm thick. However, a typical silicone case like the one I use adds about 2mm to its thickness. So, it’s good to think of my phone as 9.8mm thick.
The phone weighs 172g without a case, but I’ve only ever known it as a 202g phone with the case on it.
The 17 Air is expected to be around 6.25mm thick (or 8.25mm thick with a standard silicone case). What’s amazing is that 8.25mm is the exact thickness of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. So, the 17 Air with a case will match the naked 16 Pro Max. I can get behind that.
The S25 Edge is expected to be about 6.4mm thick, or 8.4mm thick with a silicone case. The S25 Ultra is 8.2mm thick, which is slightly thinner than an S25 Edge with a case. The S24 Ultra came in thicker at 8.6mm.
I now get the appeal of super-slim phones.
Comments
8 responses
I am wondering what the Trump and Musk fans in Zimbabwe are like right now? And not mention the groupies who were working USAID.
Don’t say I did not warn about those two
Okay, I’ll take the bait. Are you OK? You keep commenting on the wrong (unrelated) article and possibly even the wrong site🤷🏾♂️
If you are looking for people to laugh at or argue. Go to Tiktok. There’s plenty of people willing to entertain you there
Looks matter. The design helps draw us into the purchase, functionality and user experience keeps the phone in the pocket.
Personally, the 3 times i got cases was because the phones were
– super slippery, sliding off of tables and slipping out of pockets
– super soft, getting deep frame gouges a week into ownership
– double fragile from having glass backs
I admit though, one case purchase was because the case just looked cool.
And they celebrate a new colour… Lol… The you put the black icon case
I honestly can’t remember of the top in my head what colour my phones are. Cos the 1st thing I do when I get a new is put a case on it. I care more about it’s power and capabilities than I do about how pretty it looks.
The main advantage with phone covers is that they help keep a phone in decent condition, because let’s be honest, we all drop our phones every now and again. So a good phone cover can be the difference between a beat up phone after just a year of use. Or a good condition second hand after 3 or 4 years of use. These days the more expensive phones are at least fitted with the tougher gorilla glass victus screens. Some are even waterproof. But even the upper mid range phones with these qualities are unfortunately beyond the reach of many. Particularly in countries that do not have dealerships that offer trade in and swop deals.
So in conclusion, a good phone cover will keep your phone looking newer for longer. It can also save you the hassle of having to buy and then pay someone to fit a new screen for you. And it gives your phone a decent second hand value. Whether you are passing it on to someone else, or trying to sell it.
I recently upgraded to a Samsung A55, and consequently gave away my old Samsung A11 to a friend in desperate need of a phone. He was so impressed with its condition, he wondered why I wasn’t selling the A11. I simply told him the truth, which is that I purchased the phone brand new during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The phone had therefore served me well for a good 4½ years. And hence as an ageing phone, I really didn’t see any point in trying to sell it to anyone. So giving it away to someone in desperate need of a phone, made better sense.
Well done on the upgraded website. But if you can bring back the feature that shows the profile picture of the writer. It adds an extra touch of class.