This is the most beautiful color on any Android phone ever

I’ve always liked the color green. Growing up, my parents wanted me to wear red, pink, blue, and yellow, but I always wanted green clothes, and there was never enough choice. Or even a decent choice. So I gravitated towards other colors, but when someone asked me what my favorite one was, I always said green. This is why I feel best outdoors, I love hiking among the trees, and I’ll pick emerald over ruby any day.

But when it comes to phones, green has often been the bastard, forgotten, mistreated color. Even back in the 2010 Nokia days, we had gorgeous orange and blue colors for the N8, but a middling green. Many companies have continued to pick abysmal green shades for their phones. It’s been tough to find a proper emerald, dense, and saturated green color on a modern Android phone.

Google has been the biggest culprit of this. It started with the blue-grey Pixel 5 that was supposed to be Sorta Sage, the faded dual-tone Sorta Seafoam Pixel 6, and the similarly dull Sage Pixel 6a. After that, Google switched away from the greyish greens and went for a more minty/limey tone in general, but it kept the saturation level to a minimum. We got the desaturated Lemongrass Pixel 7, a greyish olive-toned Hazel Pixel 7 Pro, a light Mint Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, and another light Wintergreen Pixel 9. Perhaps the only time Google got adventurous enough to tune up the saturation level a bit was with the Aloe Pixel 8a. But that was it.

Other companies have tried too. From the nearly white Jade Green Galaxy S24 Ultra to the brown Khaki Green Xperia 1 VI, passing by the many teal-shaded OnePlus phones from the eighth series onward, there’s been a smorgasbord of green-but-not-really-green phones. The one that stands out the most in my mind is the Green Emerald Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge; that was the shade I liked the most, and I ended up looking for cases that emulated the same color. But what do you know, even case makers don’t really like green!

All of this to say that I may have finally found the perfect green shade on a modern smartphone, and it’s made by realme. The just-announced GT 7 Dream Edition literally took my breath away when I unboxed its (very imposing and wasteful) box. But the phone, the color. Oh, just absolute perfection.

Photos, including all the press materials and the images that I’ve taken in this post, don’t do this phone justice. It’s gorgeous in person. The most saturated and metallic green color I’ve ever seen on an Android phone, emerald under some lights, dark teal in other lighting conditions, and just perfect in every scenario.

To say that I like this more than the Bay Pixel 8a and Peony Pixel 9a — the two most colorful phones in my possession now — would be an understatement. It’s a million times more sophisticated and classy. My colleagues compared it a bit to the OnePlus 12 and 13 series, based on some photos, but those veer more towards teal than emerald, in my opinion, and are clearly darker. They lack the popping color of the GT 7 Dream Edition.

Obviously, you can tell from the photos here that this is a special edition phone, made in collaboration with the Aston Martin Formula 1 team. In fact, it’s the exact emblematic green shade that Aston Martin is known for. I don’t follow the races anymore (I was a fan right up until Räikkönen won the World Championship, celebrated that, and then lost interest in the sport), but I know what Aston Martin’s F1 car looks like. And this phone perfectly emulates that color…

… right down to the lime green power button and chamfered edges around the camera module and every lens opening. I’d say these small details give it a more playful vibe and remind me of Google’s playful power button era with the Pixel 3 and 4 series.

Though if I’m being honest, I think the racing stripes, or “wings” as realme calls them, with an ever-so-small bevel give this phone way more character. I was afraid they’d look gaudy when I saw the renders, but in reality, they don’t. Go back up the page, and you’ll notice that they aren’t visible in most lights. You have to catch them at the right angle to see the thin, shiny stripes on each side.

However, the really gaudy part is the retina-searing icon theme that realme has gone for. I understand wanting to carry the phone’s hardware branding throughout the software, but this feels a bit too much. Maybe Aston Martin F1 fans will love it, but to me, it was an instant turn-off. Luckily, you can easily switch back to a standard theme.

You can tell that I’m not a fan of too much branding on my phones, so the presence of both the realme logo and iconic silver wings Aston Martin emblem feels a bit much. I’d be willing to forgive it, though, because it’s done so tastefully with high-end metallic materials. It’s the addition of the white, characterless “Formula One team” engraving that irks me a bit. Could’ve done without it overall and I think the phone’s design would’ve spoken for the racing and speed experience without adding this extra line.

And look, I’m not saying the realme GT 7 Dream Edition is the best Android phone on the planet now. No, but it’s a fantastic, powerful Android 15 device with a blazing processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a gorgeous display, and an impressive 7,000mAh battery with 120W SUPERVOOC charging. I haven’t been able to kill the battery in one day so far, despite how much I’ve thrown at it. For the right demographic, this is an absolute dream of a phone. For someone like me, who doesn’t play too many games and just needs a clean and efficient interface, it’s not the right choice.

But that green color. Ah, that green color, I tell you. It’s beautiful. It’s stunning. It’s glamorous and irresistible. It’s stupendous. And I might not run out of adjectives and superlatives if I keep going.

Petition to all Android brands: Make smartphones in this color. Or at least a case. I’d take a case in this shade at this point.