3 ms·

the pixel 3a is made with non-gorilla glass. didnt we learn like 10 years ago thats a bad idea on a phone? my keys scratched it up in a single day and the whole

the pixel 3a is made with non-gorilla glass. didnt we learn like 10 years ago thats a bad idea on a phone? my keys scratched it up in a single day and the whole thing shattered within a couple of weeks. garbage. edit: i know people are saying its dragontail which is supposedly as strong as gorilla. well empirically speaking, i can say that is false; the same key scratches my pixel 3a easily but doesnt leave a mark on my pixel 2. take that for what its worth. ymmv.

fredley 7y ago
It's half the price of phones with similar spec, and there are reasons for that. It also has a plastic shell. I have mine wrapped up in a case/screen protector.
wlesieutre 7y ago
By the same token, didn't we learn 10 years ago that cell phones and keys are better off in different pockets?
- fredley 7y ago
  If you keep your phone in a bag that may not be possible.
- penagwin 7y ago
  I worked in a phone/computer repair store, based on anecdotal research on glass screen protectors, this isn't necessary anymore. I'm sure this applies to many phones (haven't tested specific ones) but the glass screen protectors refused to scratch for me, I tried screw driver tips, razors, as hard as I could against a flat desk. If I applied enough concentrated force (or jabbed it) it would brake as expected, but anything short of that left a barely visible mark, if anything. I have seen them scratched, but it's not common. I say throw a screen protector on it if you can and don't worry about it.
  - wlesieutre 7y ago
    Having them in the same pocket I'd be worried about the force that could get applied by sitting down in a tight pair of pants with a modern-sized phone. The sort of situation that caused the "bendgate" problems. Maybe it's over cautious, but with phones costing $1000 I'd rather not mess around with it. And I don't love the glass screen protectors, had one on my phone briefly and it seemed like it screwed up the image quality. Subtle, like a faint RGB shimmer over the whole thing. So now I've just got a thin plastic case and I try to not drop it.
    - penagwin 7y ago
      What type of phone? You might want to try a different screen protector - every well applied glass screen protector I've seen on iPhones has been nearly indistinguishable from the glass screen (and I'm really particular about mine). We did have issues on the Galaxy phones with that edge though, we could never get the screen protector to stick properly.
      - wlesieutre 7y ago
        iPhone SE. I didn't get the cheapest garbage screen protector or anything either, it was a favorably reviewed one on the wirecutter. No bubbles under it. Maybe "slightly grainy" is the way to describe it? Been a couple of years so it's hard to say.
izzydata 7y ago
What I learned 10 years ago is that glass is fragile and to keep it in its own pocket. My Pixel 3a doesn't have a scratch on it.
fsh 7y ago
It's a hardened glass, just from a different manufacturer than Corning.
AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
I have no idea why the industry switched from aluminum backs to glass. I thought the whole point was to enable wireless charging, but some of the phones don't even support that. As long as they don't, I'd much prefer we went back to the aluminum unibodies of the HTC M7-10 phones. They were gorgeous, in addition to being durable.
- specialp 7y ago
  Actually plastic is ideal too. I mean almost everyone has either a broken phone, or a giant case on their phone because it is made entirely of glass. Back when Nokia made the Lumia phones and the N9, the solid polycarbonate was really nice looking and durable. But people judge a phone from when they pick it up in the store, and there aluminum/glass is definitely more slick looking. Only to be put in an otter box or something...
  - SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
    I didn't put my phones into cases until I got one with a glass back. Before it was all removable plastic backing, and shattering the glass was never a problem. My phones took tumbles down the stairs, and the worst that would happen is that back would fly one way, the battery another, and with all that kinetic energy dispersed the phone would be perfectly intact.
- anewguy9000 7y ago
  i have an htc m7 that is still functional! its even been thrown at a brick wall. i guess the industry realized thats bad for business.
  - AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
    I still have an M7 and an M9 in a drawer somewhere. If they were GSM-unlocked, I would probably have thrown LineageOS onto the M9 and continued to use it. Unfortunately, they were both "Verizon" editions (due to the CDMA modem variant), and stopped receiving updates. I debated switching to an HTC 10 at some point, but I had heard alot of anecdotal evidence about high failure rates for the phone after a couple years. Again, it's a real shame. The HTC 10's chamfered aluminum looked gorgeous. I would pay for an identical-looking back on top of a phone with a bezel-less front and modern internals.
opencl 7y ago
It's not regular soda lime glass, they just used a different manufacturer of borosilicate glass (Asahi Dragontrail vs Corning Gorilla Glass).
leetcrew 7y ago
unless your keys are made of an unusual material, it's pretty unlikely that they scratched the glass on your phone. it's much more likely that you had sand in your pocket.
- homonculus1 7y ago
  Nyaaaaaah!
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

fredley 7y ago

It's half the price of phones with similar spec, and there are reasons for that. It also has a plastic shell. I have mine wrapped up in a case/screen protector.

wlesieutre 7y ago

By the same token, didn't we learn 10 years ago that cell phones and keys are better off in different pockets?

fredley 7y ago
If you keep your phone in a bag that may not be possible.
penagwin 7y ago
I worked in a phone/computer repair store, based on anecdotal research on glass screen protectors, this isn't necessary anymore. I'm sure this applies to many phones (haven't tested specific ones) but the glass screen protectors refused to scratch for me, I tried screw driver tips, razors, as hard as I could against a flat desk. If I applied enough concentrated force (or jabbed it) it would brake as expected, but anything short of that left a barely visible mark, if anything. I have seen them scratched, but it's not common. I say throw a screen protector on it if you can and don't worry about it.
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  Having them in the same pocket I'd be worried about the force that could get applied by sitting down in a tight pair of pants with a modern-sized phone. The sort of situation that caused the "bendgate" problems. Maybe it's over cautious, but with phones costing $1000 I'd rather not mess around with it. And I don't love the glass screen protectors, had one on my phone briefly and it seemed like it screwed up the image quality. Subtle, like a faint RGB shimmer over the whole thing. So now I've just got a thin plastic case and I try to not drop it.
  - penagwin 7y ago
    What type of phone? You might want to try a different screen protector - every well applied glass screen protector I've seen on iPhones has been nearly indistinguishable from the glass screen (and I'm really particular about mine). We did have issues on the Galaxy phones with that edge though, we could never get the screen protector to stick properly.
    - wlesieutre 7y ago
      iPhone SE. I didn't get the cheapest garbage screen protector or anything either, it was a favorably reviewed one on the wirecutter. No bubbles under it. Maybe "slightly grainy" is the way to describe it? Been a couple of years so it's hard to say.

izzydata 7y ago

What I learned 10 years ago is that glass is fragile and to keep it in its own pocket. My Pixel 3a doesn't have a scratch on it.

fsh 7y ago

It's a hardened glass, just from a different manufacturer than Corning.

AdmiralAsshat 7y ago

I have no idea why the industry switched from aluminum backs to glass. I thought the whole point was to enable wireless charging, but some of the phones don't even support that. As long as they don't, I'd much prefer we went back to the aluminum unibodies of the HTC M7-10 phones. They were gorgeous, in addition to being durable.

specialp 7y ago
Actually plastic is ideal too. I mean almost everyone has either a broken phone, or a giant case on their phone because it is made entirely of glass. Back when Nokia made the Lumia phones and the N9, the solid polycarbonate was really nice looking and durable. But people judge a phone from when they pick it up in the store, and there aluminum/glass is definitely more slick looking. Only to be put in an otter box or something...
- SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  I didn't put my phones into cases until I got one with a glass back. Before it was all removable plastic backing, and shattering the glass was never a problem. My phones took tumbles down the stairs, and the worst that would happen is that back would fly one way, the battery another, and with all that kinetic energy dispersed the phone would be perfectly intact.
anewguy9000 7y ago
i have an htc m7 that is still functional! its even been thrown at a brick wall. i guess the industry realized thats bad for business.
- AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
  I still have an M7 and an M9 in a drawer somewhere. If they were GSM-unlocked, I would probably have thrown LineageOS onto the M9 and continued to use it. Unfortunately, they were both "Verizon" editions (due to the CDMA modem variant), and stopped receiving updates. I debated switching to an HTC 10 at some point, but I had heard alot of anecdotal evidence about high failure rates for the phone after a couple years. Again, it's a real shame. The HTC 10's chamfered aluminum looked gorgeous. I would pay for an identical-looking back on top of a phone with a bezel-less front and modern internals.

opencl 7y ago

It's not regular soda lime glass, they just used a different manufacturer of borosilicate glass (Asahi Dragontrail vs Corning Gorilla Glass).

leetcrew 7y ago

unless your keys are made of an unusual material, it's pretty unlikely that they scratched the glass on your phone. it's much more likely that you had sand in your pocket.

homonculus1 7y ago
Nyaaaaaah!

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]