I agree with the message that most of it doesn’t matter since I’ll slap a thick case on my phone, but the sheer amount of broken unprotected screens you’ll see in the wild makes you think.
Makes Me think when are phone manufacturers going to focus less on a few more pixels on the camera and make a phone rugged enough that for routine daily use it doesn’t need a damn case? I’ve never liked cases but now so many phones have Cameras that stick out such that the only way to get them to even sit flat is to level them off with a case. Just make the battery a little bigger and thicken the backing of the actual phone! Also raise the titanium bezel just 1mm and the glass is much less likely to ever make direct impact.
But if the phones don’t break every 2 years then slightly fewer people will buy the latest phone! Won’t somebody please think of the shareholders?
Frankly, if people are shelling out for higher end phones that break that easily, that’s at least partly on them.
Like, I’ve been buying mid-tier Androids for about 10 years now, and I can’t recall the last time I’ve had one shatter, and I’m clumsy as all hell. I’ve accidentally punted this thing across the office once, not a scratch. And as I’m so routinely told by the iPhone and more elitist Android spaces, this thing is supposedly a cheap plastic piece of shit.
It’s so weird they settle for something more expensive but also more breakable. Makes sense if you’re buying glass wear or something, I guess, but a device you keep in your pocket or hand all day? Shouldn’t it be nigh indestructible at that price point?
They tried that already with the samsung s7 active. It was a pretty rugged phone by itself but people still insisted on putting a case on it. They then complained about the phone being too big and it didn’t sell well.
I mean, phones are already designed to be obsolete pretty quickly to keep you buying more often. Longevity isn’t really a high priority in modern phone design.
Yeah but you could still screw with the software, limit updates, use cheap chips, and shame customers to make sure we all continue to throw our phones in the landfill every couple of years, but I would buy the phone that at least I won’t worry about breaking tomorrow. Phone case culture just seems so silly to me.
i’ve had my current phone for 3 years and it’s been getting maddeningly slow lately. 2 weeks ago i took the case off and it legitimately feels sleeker and newer and somehow faster? or at least i’m better able to put up with the slowness cause it feels new? it’s very odd and i’m frightened at the psychology
The only way to explain it’s faster could be because the case was making the phone overheat. The chipset is made to protect itself by lowering the clockspeed (calculations per second) to avoid damage by heat resulting in being slower at performing tasks.
So maybe the case was isolating the phone so much it overheated constantly and after removing the case it could breath again and keep its original speed.
If you had a chunky case then maybe a sleeker design could offer enough cooling and still some protection. Best of both worlds :)
Grandpa Nokia: “Pah, when I was young, we didn’t need any coat!”
If only modern phones would made out of proper shock resistant plastic, instead of bendy metal and brittle glass, we wouldn’t need extra case.
Plastic is usually scratchy. Glass is much better about resisting scratches. I believe you’re, right, modem phone glass is pretty flexible. It’s also (usually) coated with something that prevents finger oils from building up easily.
Still, the choice of glass is clearly cosmetic (less prone to scratch, nicer look, premium feel), buy technically plastic presents more advantages, it is lighter, absorbes shocks, fairly durable, much cheaper. To make for the most reliable device it would be better, but we know that’s not a priority for any of the manufacturers, and propably also for many customers.
Honestly, modern phones are pretty durable and screen replacements are pretty cheap.
My complaint is that the glass backs are slippery as fuck. My iPhone was constantly sliding off of tables and shit until I bit the bullet and got a case for it.
I can’t put my arms down!
One of friends back in the day would lecture me on having a phone case. “why don’t you just not drop it?” I was like, dude, accidents happen. “I’ve never dropped my phone he’d say.” I swear, like a month after that happened, his friend stepped on his phone and a month after that he dropped his phone when taking it out of his pocket outside a burger joint.
I didn’t have a go about it. He’s not one of those that takes those types of jabs well.
Yeah. I know people who say stuff like that. I know someone who wanted a convertible car (they were 18). Someone mentioned the greater danger of they flip, and this person said “well I’m not going to flip a car”. We all gave them a hard time about whether they thought everyone who flipped a car did it on purpose. The next year, this same person flipped their car several times (and walked away OK somehow).
Some people can’t comprehend that bad stuff would happen to them.
It is unlikely that an average person flips their car. You have to weigh the pros and cons of it. We take risks all the time, but if we think it’s more beneficial we take them. Just driving a car is pretty dangerous alone. Personally, I don’t think a convertible is worth the risk or the cost, but I won’t say no one should get one.