Branding a new device whether it’s the carrier logo or the manufacturer one can be a tricky thing. Every phone has at least one and in some cases many more. Even the most popular devices cover the both ends of the spectrum. It could be the subtle approach taken by LG and Google with the Nexus 4 with just the LG logo and “Nexus” on the back or the over the top one that Verizon took with the Samsung Galaxy Note II. The Note II branding was the worst we’ve seen in many people’s opinion because Verizon has their logo on the home button as well as covering the back with another logo plus the device name AND 4G LTE. Pretty gaudy if you ask me.
For some people, namely iPhone people, device branding can be treated as a status symbol but in reality what we all are is a walking advertisement. Now for those of you that hate branding altogether it appears that Sony may be taking a different approach to the whole thing that may make you happy. A removable logo.
Going all the way back to 2010 with the Xperia X10, Sony was cool enough to pre apply a screen protector to all their handsets. This no doubt makes for a less stressful unboxing for a lot of people considering we all have our methods of applying a bubble-less screen protector, running the gamut of simply sliding a credit card up and down the device to locking yourself in the bathroom with the shower blasting hot water. Anyways it appears that the company may be taking a different approach with their upcoming Xperia Z by having the Sony logo on the screen protector rather than on the device itself.
The people at German website ComputerBild.de got their hands on the Xperia Z and while taking off the screen protector discovered this new way of branding. This gives new hope to branding haters everywhere. Nexus 4 owners are currently enjoying a perfectly clean front piece of glass and maybe prospective Sony customers can have that same luxury. I’m typing this on a CR-48 and I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a completely logo free device.
Now before we get ahead of ourselves this could very well be a pre-production model and the ones that get into consumers hands may very well have the Sony logo on the device. However if this is the real deal and we are actually able to remove the logo it’ll be awesome for people who find the face of their device too cluttered.
What are your thoughts? Would you leave the logo on if you had the choice to remove it? Do you agree with the subtle approach or do you prefer to be a billboard as you walk down the street on your phone?