Too much Shine
Love glossy shiny gadgets?? read on >>
Working with a Lifestyle and tech magazine gives me access to a lot of shiny new gizmos and from the past few months I have been noticing that more and more manufacturers are just pushing out products with glossy exteriors. At first I though that maybe this is just so that large devices such as TV’s that need to be put on a wall or on a table and then just be controlled via remote would give the place a classy look. It would stand out thanks to the shiny surface and attract attention easily. Fine, I understand and that is the only point that I can think of that makes sense in practical life.
But this is also true that Shiny glossy things makes one want to touch the shiny surface and just get a feel of the surface. This is where the problem starts, the glossy exterior attracts fingerprints, dust and scratches as much as it attracts attention. People tend to touch these shiny objects and once a couple of fingerprints get embedded, say bye bye to the device’s shiny look. In terms of TV’s and DVD players etc, I can understand, you just clean the surface off with a soft damp cloth and the exterior regains its smooth glossy texture. But what these manufacturers are doing now a days is totally uncanny.
Pick up any new device… be it phones, notebooks, net books, gaming consoles hell even LCD monitors now come with a glossy panel. Yes they look very nice…. Yes they look very shiny.... but only as far as the protective plastic cover is on them. Take it off and Walla your shiny new device is subjected to huge noticeable fingerprints. The general human perception is like I said… if its shiny one would want to touch it. So why handheld devices such as phones and notebooks are being pushed out with glossy panels. They would be kept in hands, and they would get tons of fingerprints on them…. Personally, I have started to get irritated with it… take the notebook out of the case, use it for a while, and then before keeping it back, wipe the fingerprints off so that the next time you take it out, it looks neat and shiny as ever. Why make the glossy panel in the first place if I would be spending half my time just cleaning it….
It gets worse in case of Cell phones, Phones from various manufacturers are also getting glossier by the day. It was one thing that you can save the display screen from scratches and fingerprints using a Scratchguard, but now what ? I have usedquite a few glossy phones myself and frankly speaking I kept cleaning them after every call I made and every sms I sent… I have to be extra careful because these phones are demo units and have to be sent back, but what about an average consumer, would someone spend so much time to clean a phone?
What worse that any scratches on devices with glossy panel stand out like a nasty scar. Think of it, a nice shiny surface, but there is a small line in a different color and without the shine… How bad it would look..
So what’s the best part… Get Scratchguard, screen guards or protective covers…. That would be effective for a while, but no matter how hard you try, your beloved device would get a fingerprint or scratch sooner or later during usage… I just Hope that the manufacturers would reconsider going glossy on every damn thing that they can churn out.. The consumer now is smart and knows that maintaining glossy panels is pain… that Is why more and more people are going for matte finish devices…. I wouldn’t deny the market for these shiny toys is not present, its present at a large scale, but once the shine fades away under scratches and fingerprints, it just feels plain sad seeing the once lively device so dull and scratched.
