3 ms·

I thought you were talking about durability not being really important to devices that you want to use every day...

ZeroGravitas 16y ago
No, I was pointing out that this wasn't something that was invented by Apple and revealed to the world last month and wasn't incompatible with plastic, a key component of basically all the portable devices I listed. The post I responded to called a phone "cheap plastic" as if this was somehow unusual, and a fatal flaw, yet my iPhone has a plastic back and seems to be doing fine in durability and popularity.
- patrickk 16y ago
  The original iPhone (the 2g) was the most durable, but Apple went and changed the design after that to materials that were much less durable. I work in this area (within Apple) so I'm in a good position to judge. I have the original iPhone 2g covered in dents and scratches (from the previous owner mainly, it's second hand) yet I know it's never gonna badly dent, and will never crack from regular drops and general wear and tear. Incidentally, the iPhone 4g has benn drop tested, and the results aren't good. So much for Apple's much vaunted durability: http://www.ismashphone.com/2010/06/shattered-like-a-glass-goblin-iphone-4gs-ultradurable-glass-doesnt-live-up-to-the-hype.html http://www.ismashphone.com/2010/06/shattered-like-a-glass-go...
- DannoHung 16y ago
  There's a difference between cheap plastic and durable plastic though. There are tons of different plastic grades. I usually think of the phrase "cheap plastic" referring to, y'know, cheap plastic.
  - ZeroGravitas 16y ago
    "Cheap" in this instance was clearly meant pejoratively, not descriptively. Replacing it with "inexpensive", "economical" or "low-cost" doesn't really fit. Replacing it with "tacky", "trashy", "bum", "chintzy", "crummy", "punk" or similar from your thesaurus clearly fits the meaning intended. And that's all premised on the fact that this plastic casing is even cheap, which we clearly don't actually know. How do we know they didn't try and get fancy with their material selection or manufacturing (like Apple often does) and then blow it (like Apple often does). Did the plastic in the G4 cube have cracks because it was "cheap"? Did the white MacBook suffer discoloration because the plastic was "cheap"? No, someone or something messed up and even with fancy engineers and fancy plastics it wasn't caught in time. Assuming the Droid even has such issues, I'd guess the same cause.

No, I was pointing out that this wasn't something that was invented by Apple and revealed to the world last month and wasn't incompatible with plastic, a key component of basically all the portable devices I listed. The post I responded to called a phone "cheap plastic" as if this was somehow unusual, and a fatal flaw, yet my iPhone has a plastic back and seems to be doing fine in durability and popularity.

patrickk 16y ago
The original iPhone (the 2g) was the most durable, but Apple went and changed the design after that to materials that were much less durable. I work in this area (within Apple) so I'm in a good position to judge. I have the original iPhone 2g covered in dents and scratches (from the previous owner mainly, it's second hand) yet I know it's never gonna badly dent, and will never crack from regular drops and general wear and tear. Incidentally, the iPhone 4g has benn drop tested, and the results aren't good. So much for Apple's much vaunted durability: http://www.ismashphone.com/2010/06/shattered-like-a-glass-goblin-iphone-4gs-ultradurable-glass-doesnt-live-up-to-the-hype.html http://www.ismashphone.com/2010/06/shattered-like-a-glass-go...
DannoHung 16y ago
There's a difference between cheap plastic and durable plastic though. There are tons of different plastic grades. I usually think of the phrase "cheap plastic" referring to, y'know, cheap plastic.
- ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  "Cheap" in this instance was clearly meant pejoratively, not descriptively. Replacing it with "inexpensive", "economical" or "low-cost" doesn't really fit. Replacing it with "tacky", "trashy", "bum", "chintzy", "crummy", "punk" or similar from your thesaurus clearly fits the meaning intended. And that's all premised on the fact that this plastic casing is even cheap, which we clearly don't actually know. How do we know they didn't try and get fancy with their material selection or manufacturing (like Apple often does) and then blow it (like Apple often does). Did the plastic in the G4 cube have cracks because it was "cheap"? Did the white MacBook suffer discoloration because the plastic was "cheap"? No, someone or something messed up and even with fancy engineers and fancy plastics it wasn't caught in time. Assuming the Droid even has such issues, I'd guess the same cause.