Comment: What's the colour of your gadget?

Black is no longer the new black

19 September 2007 10:27 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It used to be that all gadgets were grey, black, or beige. Not anymore as more and more designers turn to those paint charts found in DIY stores for more inspiration.

Take the PSP Slim and Lite, for example, it's not black in colour - it's "Piano" Black don't you know.

Likewise the idea that your TV is black is simply absurd to most PR people when talking about its company's latest products.

For Samsung it's Signature Black or Grand Piano Black, Sharp has settled for just Piano Black, while Toshiba for the perhaps low key Glossy Black.

Pioneer prefer the Japanese word Kuro to give is a slightly more international edge.

TV maker Loewe has got Anthracite, a dark grey colour, while Sony, is happy to settle for just Classic Black when it comes to black, but also sell a range of colours from silver to mocha, white and fuchsia pink for its "Art Frame" Bravia range just in case black is not for you.

We wouldn't be surprised if someone was to come up with Lloyds Bank Horse Black for that extra speed element suggestion to the colour.

Move over to mobile phones and you get stuff like Wasabi Green, Hearty Red, Noble Black, Crimson Red, or Truffle Brown as just some of the choices for colour, while laptops once just grey, now come in a range of colours from Gold to Ice White.

Even digital cameras haven't escaped with hints of hot reds and cool whites and blues all making you want to be proud of your device.

Pink is still around of course. Only last week LG confirmed Orange has a Pink Shine mobile phone as an exclusive but it shows that when you want Black to be the new Black is has to be Something Black rather than just Black.

Oh, and the red power switch in the Pocket-lint logo, that's not red, its Power Red.

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