Consumer Electronics: Aesthetics, Design, Functionality.

[Orpheus]

Always take my posts with a grain of salt. Let's get back to posting some great design, and not derail the thread further.

Agreed, and hopefully I can come back and contribute later today.

 

[BryLmoo]

i love great electronic design. stuff like nintendo's NES system which is very simple, but functional. omg i sound like such a snobfag saying that...but it's true. i don't know if there's ever been a thread about one's love of consumer electronics....i must say that kid aphex's first couple of posts in this thread come off as him trying to use big words and sound sophisticated...but whatever, i chuckled. still, great thread, and i look forward to seeing pictographs of some cool electronics ; P

when i read about KidA's love of his parents pioneer receiver, I thought, oh no...not another pioneer circle jerk lol j\k

 

[terry.330]

 

[aria]

Another mobile I had to own was the Sony Xperia X5 Pureness (and yes, its worse design sin is the piano black buttons):

I'm absolutely enamored by this phone. The understated design, and very modern look especially when it is not transparent/off, seems to get more wow from people than when they can see through it.

I love this stuff, though... Honestly, I pick up a lot of these phones on the cheap since they're just so out of sync with what people want today. It's a shame really. All of these phones are great phones first and foremost. Sure, they may not have 4 inch screens and be mounds of plastic and touchscreen, but they excel in being fantastic phones and are so pocket friendly it is ridiculous. We've really lost touch in the mobile markets. The push now is for bigger and bigger, do more and more of what nobody really gives a shit about. I defy that logic. I carried the Sony Pureness for a full year as my main phone and it was a champion, doing everything flawlessly... I'm getting a bit carried away, but yes, I really do think design aesthetics have taken a complete shit.

Oh, quick bonus... One device I'll never own, but would love to have is the Mobiado 105 GMT in stealth black. Something about that phone just speaks out to me. It's stupid expensive, though, at $4,500. The company also says they won't ship them to the USA, so I'd probably have to have it sent to my villa in Italy... Heh. Seriously, though, rich-fag-dream, but I think it is amazing looking. I really hope someone brings out something similar for us sorry people one day (even if it is minus the yards of sapphire crystal this thing is bathed in). Ah well...

It's amazing what Vertu has caused. Sure Bang & Olafson were early to the super-fancy phone market, but now they're getting to be awesome --I respect any company willing to charge a ton to create the perception of exclusivity. I remember seeing the Ferrari Vertu. It was a chic design, but --LOL.

 

[ki_atsushi]

I have 3 MiniDisc players... they are really awesome pieces of kit. They really look sleek and sound great as well.

 

[Igniz v2]

also not really "consumer but

 

[Igniz v2]

double post

 

[Kid Aphex]

The thread is nonsense because Kid Aphex and Buro Destruct have always seemed to have a elitest design based mentality, from their forum signatures, to their podcast etc. A "I'm better than you" vibe. And this thread just emphasized that.

He states that it's a time of horrible design. And I wholeheartedly disagree. Beautiful design, design that exceeds any past era, is there if you look for it. Even in times of economic hardship.

Sorry you don't like me.

Will you like me more if I make my signature as stupid and garish as yours?

Anyways, I'm assuming the (cliched) Gehry image-drop was posted to exemplify great design in ... consumer electronics?

Never mind. Sorry you couldn't figure out this thread either.

 

[Kid Aphex]

Also, thank god someone posted the StarTAC

 

[Kid Aphex]

Wondermega was amazing too. Terribly 80's and terribly Japanese. So ... great.

A few years ago, Sony released an OLED TV, the XEL-1.
It was "new tech" so it was prohibitively expensive ... still, the design was unlike anything Sony was doing at the time: http://bit.ly/kyKxre

For a while I was excited, assuming the designers at Sony had gotten "back on track" ... but no such luck.

Still, they recently put out the NEX-5, which I happen to love.

 

[Takumaji]

I always loved the Bauhaus-inspired Braun design.

Then again, I like good design but it does not have a big influence on my buying decisions. Function über Alles.

 

[Curt]

Sorry you don't like me.

Will you like me more if I make my signature as stupid and garish as yours?

Anyways, I'm assuming the (cliched) Gehry image-drop was posted to exemplify great design in ... consumer electronics?

Never mind. Sorry you couldn't figure out this thread either.

I'm just joking around. You've had some LOVELY signatures. Back in the Day Buro, Mushiki and I used to use the image rotation Php script or whatever. Really nice widescreen style cropped stuff. I think you SHOULD post some good "garish" signatures.

Frank Gehry is absolutely architechture. But it was the first thing that popped into my head when I thought of insane design.

Chris Bangle ex BMW is another example of architechure/architechts seeping into industrial design.

And I do like you, quite a bit. I just like to poke fun at holier than thou mentality, because i'm guilty of it myself. Lately, i've been more into equality, and just having fun. Because in the end isn't that what it's all about?

 

[Curt]

Also nice post on the OLED TV. It had one of the most beautiful promo videos i've ever seen. I saw it at the Sony Metreon here (now defunct) and it was truly beautiful, not worth the 6,000 or so they were asking at the time, but very nice. If I can ever get one for a couple hundred bucks I will put it in my bathroom. Just because.

Okay enough sucking sonys dick. They got PSN back online. But seriously fuck those guys. Samsung? Apple? Pioneer...

 

[SNKorSWM]

From a functionality standpoint, the iphone pack in earbuds are failures. The sound is initially decent, but if you expose the control piece under the right bud to fluids, it will short and from then on, the earbuds will either activate voice control, speed up the playing of songs, and turn off music randomly. Definitely not well made. ade in China in fact. Unsurprising craftmanship from a failure of a society based on slavery via impoverishment. Problem is that Apple carries such shit products. What would fix this is waterproofing the pcb inside the little control device.

But the price wouldn't be as cheap...

Yeah shut the fuck up and die. What a stupid argument. Price would only move a cent or two. No need to gouge the consumer in response.

That's what makes the newest estimate that China is going to overtake US economically within 5 years such a huge shocker.

 

[fake]

Resurrection!

 

[cdamm]

Resurrection!

i may or may not have have came a little when i saw that. then i saw there was a lady in the pic.

also there is this:

 

[doggydodomi]

American consumers kills all pride in American Manufacturing by buying up China produces. No more made in USA Marantz Model 19..No more Merlin Bike...gone gone gone.

 

[fake]

American consumers kills all pride in American Manufacturing by buying up China produces. No more made in USA Marantz Model 19..No more Merlin Bike...gone gone gone.

I hear Timbuk2 have moved manufacturing to China, too. >_<



No pictographic pun intended.

 

[Takumaji]

cdamm,

the Teenage Engineering OP-1 1 is a very cool little machine, looks like those old Casio minikeyboards from the 80s but is in fact a powerful sequencing and sampling workstation. I've worked with one and it's fun to no end, endless loops mode roxx!

Too bad it's still friggin' expensive, I'd love to have one.

 

[Late]

Klein Mantra, coolest looking MTB ever made.

 

[doggydodomi]

Merlin

Elegance in simplicity

 

[Late]

^Nice one, Specialized also makes pretty cool looking bikes.