A Lot Of Older Smartphones Looked Really Really Good
When we started on the smartphone journey with the earliest Android and iOS devices, things were not good-looking and that’s me saying it straight. I don’t think any amount of nostalgia can make me feel like some of the earliest Android smartphones have aged amazing. Back then, they might have looked good, but I don’t think that applies in 2024. Think of the Google Nexus One made by HTC. It has the kind of very curvy design that could only work in the early 2010s and that just looks extremely dated now.
However, as time went on, most brands started to find their groove in terms of design language, and that’s when we started to see some pretty sexy phones take shape. Sticking to HTC as an example, we were lucky enough to get what I personally consider to be one of the most beautiful smartphones overall (even to date) in the form of the HTC One (M7). The device had a metal body (which I personally miss, though it doesn’t mix well with wireless charging), a sleek slightly curved design, and a tasteful metal chin and forehead.
Shoutout to the Moto X Pure Edition as well. That was a phone on the simpler side, but it made very good use of its minimal design to be quite eye-catching. Another minimal phone that looked great was the OnePlus X (and I always wonder why they never revisited that device concept). That was one of the phones of the time without a semblance of a camera bump. That doesn’t happen anymore.
Big Bezels Allowed Devices To Have Character
In fact, now that we’ve mentioned chins and foreheads, I think that’s part of what allowed older smartphones to have more compelling designs. There was simply more to work with on the front of the phone. Sony’s earlier smartphones are another good example of this. Look at the Xperia S and what it did with its chin; there was a whole lightbar in it! You can’t say that’s not unique.
Not All Brands Had Their Best Designs Back Then Though
I don’t think all brands had their best mobile fashion in the past though. Samsung is a good example. I personally think older Samsung phones stuck to the same “alright” design language for way too many generations and that same design spread throughout its entire smartphone portfolio. The average person couldn’t tell a J series apart from an A series.
I’d toss Huawei in this category too. I’d say it wasn’t until about the Mate 10 in 2017 before the phones started looking really good. You might disagree with me though, and I’d love to hear your arguments in the comments.
Phones Have Embraced Modernity, But The Consequence Of That Is A Loss Of Uniqueness
We’re in 2024 now. Don’t get me mistaken, I’m not saying that modern smartphones look bad or are ugly. That’s far from my argument. However, I do have to say that they have lost the excitement and uniqueness that older smartphones were capable of evoking.
To me, the reason for this is pretty clear to see, and it’s all based on the fact that modernity these days in smartphones is as much screen as possible and as many cameras as possible. This means the bezels have taken a hike, and most phones aim to eliminate them entirely. Perhaps Sony’s Xperia 1 VI is the only modern phone that embraces the bezels wholly. You can hardly tell two phones apart by looking at them head-on.
Since modern tech means fingerprint readers can be on the side of the phone or under the screen, all the back panel really needs to have is a camera module. This is perhaps the only major differentiating factor in modern devices, beyond the actual shape of the device. And since cameras are such a huge focus and phones have gotten very slim, there’s virtually no modern flagship without a camera bump. I miss the days of phones that didn’t rock on tables.
Maybe We’ll See More Exciting Designs Going Forward
Enough with the nostalgia. I do think there are some smartphones right now that look pretty darn good, or at least, stand out in a crowd. I think the newer Pixels, with their visor design, are instantly recognizable. Motorola’s newer Edge phones also adopt a modern yet unique look.
Although the front of modern smartphones will be doomed to a bezel-less fate, the back panels can still try and do things different, and hopefully, we’ll see more of that going forward.
