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Is beauty only skin deep?

While comparing all the new flagship handsets and sharing them on my Instagram account, we got a lot of feedback from a lot of people about their preference. This gives us pause and also ask the same existential question — is beauty only skin deep?

Unlike many other devices or gadgets, a mobile phone can be considered as an extension of a person or a reflection of themselves and how they perceive things. The level of affinity is not the same compared to other devices like a camera or laptop.

So when we ask the question what’s the best smartphone for you, we tend to immediately associate it with beauty, perhaps even at par or higher in importance than hardware/performance (just look at the iPhone). That’s also the reason why phones are also a status symbol.


Sony Xperia Z2, HTC One M8, LG G3

So where do we look for signs of beauty?

Design. The most obvious and the clear choice for many. How a handset is designed primarily reflects how good-looking it is.

Materials. The type of materials used plays a huge factor in the perception of what is beautiful. The market is foten torn between aluminum alloy and glass but from time to time, polycarbonate materials can score a point or two.

Color and Finish. Why a champagne gold iPhone 5s is twice as expensive as space gray is no longer a wonder. That’s also the reason manufacturers gravitate towards feminine colors like pink or younger vibes like lemon green. How the device feels is also a factor — form pure glossy finish, to matte or textured, and the popular brushed-metal look.

Logo. Brand affinity and loyalty can be blinding. It trumps everything else. This is why Apple has been in a very strong position for a long time and the same reason why Samsung is spending so much money in marketing. (Thus, the title of this blog post.)

So yes, beauty is still subjective because our criteria for judging can vary and the weight that we put into each criteria are not equal.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

13 Responses

  1. Avatar for i want to move to i want to move to says:

    What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious familiarity concerning
    unexpected feelings.

  2. Avatar for HiERARCH HiERARCH says:

    @Hello: “Many Filipinos are too conscious about their self image and theyll do anything to look ‘cool’.” SO TRUE!

  3. Avatar for Wis Wis says:

    That’s not true…people look at the price to feature…as for the case of iphone it’s the apps that kept it on top…and see how android is catching up? htc m8 looks good but s5 still trumps it (sales wise)….and so is vertu…it’s not how it looks but what you get from it with the price your willing to pay for…

    • Avatar for Hello Hello says:

      To the discerning few who have very specific needs, this might be true. But to most users this isnt. Especially in our country wherein certain things/ brands are worshipped like gods and are used more as a status symbol than anything else. Many Filipinos are too conscious about their self image and theyll do anything to look ‘cool’.

      Sandly that is the reality. One has to be blind not to see this.

    • Avatar for Sandy Sandy says:

      Mukha mo sandly!

    • Avatar for Trix Trix says:

      LOL. sandly enough…

  4. Avatar for abuzalzal abuzalzal says:

    no S5? racism dude HAHAHAHA!

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