ColorWare PC offers custom color iPhones, and me want one very muchly!
WOW. I know we are all supposed to be impressed and satisfied with Apple’s clean, minimalist design choices, but boy do I think the folks at ColorWare PC have hit a potential gold mine in offering custom colored iPhones.
There are 26 custom colors to choose from, and you can colorize pretty much anything except the screen and volume/lock buttons. They even include the option to colorize the dock and earbuds!
Yes, the potential to abuse the laws of good taste exists, but if I want a red, white and blue iPhone, why shouldn’t I be able to? (Actually, I want the orange and black one I designed at the top right). Despite the many color options, I can see a popular choice being to make an “all-white” iPhone. It actually looks pretty cool. And of course, you can’t go wrong with a Hello-Kitty-esque pink design for the ladies and 6-year old iPhone users (see above).
The only problem is the service is going to cost you. Prices start at $149 for having just the back covered, and go up from there depending on whether you want the chrome trim, front button, Apple logo, earbuds, and dock painted as well. A fully covered iPhone can get as high as $219. Turnaround time is estimated to be about 10 days, but if you are worried at the idea of being without your iPhone for a week or two (or don’t have an iPhone yet at all) ColorWare also offers the option to buy a brand new iPhone from them which they will paint and ship directly to you.
Oh man, I don’t think I can justify the expense, but I could play with color combinations on their site all day!
Sort of like on the Bugatti Veyron configurator site (which I also can’t afford).
Wow, now you can make your iPhone look like it was made by a third party PC mod company. Is it the colors that make this ugly or the cheap looking plastic material? No thanks.
PS, I know this modification is painted and not plastic, but isn’t it odd that it appears to be plastic? To each his own.
Hmm… Well, I think those are sort of photoshopped mockups for the purpose of selecting colors.
I’d like to see a photo of one actually done.
I have never seen any of their stuff in person, but I have seen a lot of reviews and shots online (just Google them) and the people always seem very impressed with the high quality. I would love to see one of these!
Won’t the warranty be void if you do this?
Had a Macbook Pro done by Colorware. The finish and appearance is superb and has been quite durable. There were some problems with the laptop afterwards but I think it was due to swollen battery, which turned out to be a common defect for which Apple issued a recall. Colorware did repair the unit at no charge since it happened on their watch. All in all I’d say their product and service is very good.
p.s. You can get everything painted dark brown and pretend you have a Zune! Ha Ha!
I had my MacBook Pro done by Colorware. The workmanship was “okay” but the customer service was by far the worst experience I have ever had.
The system was initially returned to me within a reasonable amount of time given the work involved (4-6 weeks) but the motherboard was damaged. I had obvious video display problems but it was only obvious when using the system, you couldn’t tell if you just glanced at it. You would see random horizontal lines of garbage in both OSX and Vista. It was not OS, and after some online research – several users saw a problem in their logic board and Apple fixed it. So great, there’s a solution and I’m within my RMA window – I’ll just send it back.
I sent the laptop back 2-day FedEx (I paid, no RMA package from them BTW). I didn’t hear from them for 2 weeks and then contacted them. It took them 3 weeks to say that they had difficulties looking up my motherboard replacement. I asked them to update me weekly. Another 2 weeks go by and I threaten them with legal action if something isn’t done or something isn’t explained to me, it’s now been 3 months since I’ve used my laptop.
They shipped 4 days after my threat but with no email, no phone call, and zero communication. I just basically got a FedEx box and found my laptop in it. Too bad I had to call them back again, they forgot to send me all my RAM. At least this time they responded and sent me another package. But they sent me 512MB instead of 1GB even though their own packaging slip inside the box reads 1GB RAM. Almost a week after I received my laptop after 3 months of being in Colorware’s hands, and I’m still waiting on the rest of my RAM.
ARG!
I can’t complain too much about the paint job (sans one chipped corner on the battery that they finger nail polished over) but God I hope no one has to deal with their customer service folks. And if you do, record every conversation. If you call them, email to yourself and Colorware with an outline of your conversation and any action items from that conversation (if you can get a hold of them).
I wanted to send the owner a letter of frustration and recommendation for changes in their support process (given that not all companies are alike and I’ve had encounters with other companies that made me feel even better about them after a mishap). Unfortunately, they’re withholding all information besides their public facing email address.
If you have the money to buy the service, then you can probably afford to be without a laptop for awhile. If not and you just love your MacBook Pro (like I do), then the process is long and painful.
In the end, I can’t say it was worth it. I will never recommend them to anyone.
I completely agree with the above entry. The service at ColorwarePC is the biggest joke of all time.
I have had 12 iPhones in total customized by them. Apart from once, the delays were lengthy.
They are pretty much alone in the market for “known custom colouring” services of gadgets etc and the owner basically treats everyone who deals with the company with little value.
I loved the phone when I got it, but it IS a very basic paint job which sits on top of lightly sanded down plastic and metal. As such chips to high heaven. The sim card tray being the first thing to lose it’s paint as it is such a thin surface to apply the stuff to. The phone ABSOLUTELY needs a protective case which completely defeats the purpose of a $200+ paint job.
I would probably order from them again if they charged a fair price as the colours I have ordered did look good. However, their pricing is really a joke. We have a few problems with chips all over the front bezel and they would not offer a colouring service for this part without doing the whole phone. They really are in it for cash without any concern for customer service at all.
They believe that their high price makes them some sort of elitist option. It’s basically riding the backs of the actual companies that make decent electronic products and charging 30-50% of the unit cost to spray it another colour. The fact they are the only company that are known for this service has the boss’ ego inflated beyond belief and he keeps the prices foolishly high. It also voids ANY manufacturers warranty. I would NEVER hold out ANY hope of them actually honoring their offered warranty going by my own experiences and of friends I know that have dealt with them personally.
Until another company comes along however… you can either use them or save a large amount of cash and buy something worthwhile.
i am looking to see if i can purchase a 3d 16gb purple iphone.tammyacook