Samsung has second crack at Armani phone

The Samsung Armani Night Effect
The Samsung Armani Night Effect

Samsung has had another go at the fashion-branded phone with the launch of the Armani Night Effect, and has dropped the touchscreen in favour of a more standard design.

The thing most people forget when looking at branded phones is this: they're not supposed to be GOOD.

Anyone remember the Motorola RAZR Dolce & Gabbana? It was the same phone. In gold, with a logo on the casing and on start-up. And this model sold very well!

So, when we look at the Samsung Armani Night Effect, we should see past its minimalist styling, 3.2MP camera and 120MB of internal memory.

Pas de jesting

Jest we not at the basic keypad layout, or the decision to drop the touchscreen. It's even got HSDPA connectivity, for ultra-fast Facebook updates, probably.

Because people who use this phone want the name, and they want it to LOOK good. Hence the blue LED flashes around the edge with dedicated music keys.

Gawp at the 2.2 AMOLED display that makes the screen look nothing less than drop-dead gorgeous.

And suddenly you realise that this handset has been designed well for its demographic. Yes, that demographic might be those who care only for the surface impression and probably would run screaming from the room if they ever met us geeky TechRadar journos. But who are we to judge?

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.