Gadgets get groovy

Cameras
Not only do digital cameras capture all the colour of a holiday, they can be quite colourful themselves! Take your pick from a Cannon IXUS (available in red and gold aside from the usual silver and black), Sony Cybershot in pink or lime and the Nikon Coolpix in hues like purple, magenta and blue. Pink and purple have found favour with the ladies and brands like Pentax, Cannon, Sony, Nikon and Samsung offer cameras in these colours.

LaptopsAvailable in neon pink, green, blue and red, the 14-inch Vaio EA (think Kareena Kapoor) and the 17.3-inch EC series from Sony is an attention seeker, calling out to college students and trendy 20-somethings.

If nature is what inspires you, look towards the Dell Inspiron in spring green or the Wipro Ego in autumn red and ocean blue. And if your taste runs towards the artistic, check out the Dell Studio and the Dell Inspiron Mini series, available in a choice of trendy colours and distinctive, customisable patterns. “My Dell studio is candy orange,” says Aditi Banerjee, a BPO professional who is very pleased with her purchase.

On a tighter budget, you can pep up your mean machine with laptop skins available in myriad prints and patterns — tiles, graffiti art, vector art, camouflage, paisleys, typography, floral and vintage. You can also get geeky flashing skins that read ‘404 Not Found’, ‘I’m blogging this’ or ‘I read your email’. Laptop skins from Dell cost between Rs 800 and Rs 1,000.

Music players
Co-ordinated cuffs with your LBD are so last season, but your iPod in funky shades of pink, electric blue, neon green, yellow, orange and purple continues to make a statement. The special edition Shuffle comes in stainless steel. So clip it on to your belt or just let it peep out of your bag.

You could also wear your style with the Sony Walkman W series MP3 player. This wearable device with a flexible neckband is a head-turner in five fab shades — black, white, violet, lime and bright pink. And now with the waterproof Sony Walkman NWZ-W250 available in black, white and pink, you can look cool even as you splash about in the rain.

 
Cellphones
There was a time when the BlackBerry came only in a dark hue. But the winds of change have shaken that bastion, with BlackBerry Pearl and BlackBerry Curve now coming in red, blue, pink, purple and titanium. “Black is so ordinary, so I got a purple BlackBerry and a purple iPod,” says 27-year-old Namrita Gill.

While the iPhone has stuck to its classic black and white, colourful covers more than make up for the monochromatic offering.

Nokia E63 and E71 — both smart phones — have also broken the black barrier with shades like ultramarine blue and ruby red. The wide-screen Nokia 5230 creates a splash in red, teal, lime and hot pink.

You can also stay connected with the Samsung Corby, which comes in youthful changeable jackets like Jamaican yellow, festival orange, minimal white and cupid pink to match your mood. The Motorazr V3m makes a statement in red, with close competition from the Sony Ericsson C903 in glamour red.

And if only colour doesn’t cut it for you, go for blinding effect with Micromax Q55 Bling, a dual SIM QWERTY mobile with Swarovski-studded keys. Just remember to carry your sunglasses — it ‘twinkles’!

t2