Gold phones are staging a comeback. Having been popular with everyone from celebrities to Russian oligarchs for a number of years, the devices had gone out of vogue. But the 'taste'-makers at Apple have brought them back, with the gold-coloured iPhone 5S. Thank goodness for that.
The re-emergence of the colour into the mobile market has started yet another spat between Samsung and Apple. The Korean smartphone maker announced its plans to launch a gold variant of the Galaxy S4 shortly after Apple unveiled its gold-hued 5S, causing a storm of criticism and cries of ‘copycat’ from frenzied fanboys. It retorted with a blog post outlining the inventory of gold Samsung phones already released. Yawn.
Well now HTC has joined the fray, but instead of using a gold ‘colour’ for its latest device, it’s actually gold - 18-carat solid gold - created to coincide with the Mobo awards to be held later this month. The winner of the newcomer award will receive one of the £2,750 handsets.
‘The best artists have always been given gold discs to celebrate their success, but today most people listen to music on their phone. We wanted to celebrate that fact,’ said Phil Blair, head of HTC in Europe.
Well, MT was thinking, why stop at your phone? If the idea of surrounding yourself with gold takes your fancy (and not in a Goldfinger ‘epidermal suffocation’ kind of way) there are legions of gold gadgets you can buy…and use in the office.
MT suspects the continuing fall in the price of gold might pave the way for even more. Here’s our pick of the bunch.
1. Gold-plated staples
Yes, never again will your hastily stapled together documents look shoddy. No, no – they’ll ooze opulence.
You can buy these beauties from online shop Oooms. The store reflects our own opinion in the product description: ‘We can all agree that the overly bland corporate environment can use any type of excitement boost that it can get.’ Amen to that. For €59 you can order your very own 14 carat gold staples.
2. Gold and diamond encrusted Bluetooth set
Why stop at gold when you can add diamonds to your office gear? Hop onto the aptly-named Born Rich website and you’ll find the ‘stunning’ Discovery 925 Bluetooth headset from Plantronics: it’s gold with diamonds, and what also looks like pearls.
The piece is limited edition so is likely to be sold via an auction and is expected to fetch $50,000.
3. Gold Eames office chair
If sitting on your average ergonomic office chair is too mundane, you could try a Charles Eames gold chair. There are a number of models with gold elements. Our personal favourite is the classic scoop style number, but it’s pretty hard to track down and reportedly costs around $2,000 when you do find one.
Another option is the gold plated aluminium swivel chair, but only the arms and legs are gold so it’s just not as exciting.
4. Gold Pot Noodles
Okay, okay it’s not a gadget but we couldn’t resist.
If you’re sick of being slagged off for eating Pot Noodle for your lunch, this is for you. Hit back at your harshest snack critics with this Pot Noodle from Harrods. It costs £30 and comes in a hand-flocked gold leaf cup.
Sadly only a number of these were made, with the proceeds going to charity - so again getting hold of one might be hard. Worth the effort, though.
5. Gold reading glasses
If you can drag yourself away from Specsavers for long enough, you could check out this pair of reading glasses. Made by a company called CliC Gold and dreamt up by jewellery designer Hugh Power, these are the most expensive eyeglasses in the world: they cost $75k. Ouch. We presume the wrap-around style is designed to make sure you don’t lose them...
