So much for Gorilla Glass. The end of my S3

[Bluce Ree]

I had my phone sitting on my coffee table next to some magazines. When I reached for one, I accidentally pushed the phone off the coffee table and it landed face down flat on the marble floor, barely making a noise.

As you can see, the gel case has an edge that protrudes about 1/8" off the surface of the phone. It landed flat but the glass shattered anyway.

I went out and picked up a new-in-the-box T-Mobile branded S4 off Craigslist for $375. There are often steals like this from people who take their free upgrades just to resell them for a quick buck.

I'm sad my i9300 is gone but because it was the most custom ROM rich model of all the Galaxy phones. On the upside, I'm now enjoying LTE speeds. Other than the LTE and slightly larger screen, there isn't much difference between this and my old S3. I also hate Touchwiz but my custom ROM choices for the T-Mobile variant (SGH-m91) are limited, so, I'm staying with the stock Android for now.

 

[shavedape]

That sucks.


Happened while reaching for a magazine you say? Interesting.

 

[Bluce Ree]

That sucks.


Happened while reaching for a magazine you say? Interesting.

Yeah, Dr. Freud. My wife asked me to reach for a magazine on the coffee table.

 

[shavedape]

Not judging. We all have needs.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Not judging. We all have needs.

Goddammit!

 

[shavedape]

 

[Gatefan1976]

Must be all the hormones in all that chicken breast you are eating.

 

[Joelist]

Glad you're liking your S4. Gorilla glass is really good at making things scratch resistant. shatter resistant is a different ballgame and indeed the Gorilla Glass process renders glass into a state where if there is damaging impact the result is far more likely to be a catastrophic shatter.

 

[Joelist]

This is actually why I made the thread about sapphire displays, as sapphire shows some promise of also being more impact resistant.

 

[Overmind One]

This is actually why I made the thread about sapphire displays, as sapphire shows some promise of also being more impact resistant.

Yes, but more resistant to Gorilla Glass 2 which is what Apple was using when everyone else has been using Gorilla Glass 3 (including Bluce's S3 and my S$ and his new S4 and the Note). Gorilla Glass 3 (the latest) is incredibly tough. My past three Galaxy phones have had it and they never suffered a crack or a scratch. I think Bluce's experience was meant to be! His new Galaxy S4 will make him forget the old one pretty quickly. I love mine.

 

[Joelist]

More resistant than any current form of enhanced glass (which is what Gorilla Glass is). Sapphire is already scratch proof (unless you walk around rubbing your display against diamonds) in any normal setting. The question is impact resistance. GG actually has a tendency to shatter under impacts because the same process that hardens it to resist scratching renders it more vulnerable to shock damage.

I could care less about Apple in this context - they cause a lot of their own shatter problems by industrial design that does not properly insulate the display from impacts. My hope here is that if Sapphire proves out other OEMs will adopt it and use it in better smartphones.

 

[Overmind One]

More resistant than any current form of enhanced glass (which is what Gorilla Glass is). Sapphire is already scratch proof (unless you walk around rubbing your display against diamonds) in any normal setting. The question is impact resistance. GG actually has a tendency to shatter under impacts because the same process that hardens it to resist scratching renders it more vulnerable to shock damage.

I could care less about Apple in this context - they cause a lot of their own shatter problems by industrial design that does not properly insulate the display from impacts. My hope here is that if Sapphire proves out other OEMs will adopt it and use it in better smartphones.

Im concerned it will ad yet another cost layer to premium smartphones. The glass covering the display is only half the problem, as you said. But the Galaxy line in Samsung has large devices such as the Note and their tablet lines, and the incidence of shattering is actually very low. I mentioned Apple, because they are the ones who will likely use it first, and they have a much higher level of shattering across their product lines than other manufacturers.

Ever stop to realize that premium smartphones like the Galaxy 4, the iPhone, the HTC smartphones, Nokia Lumia, etc...cost between $600, $750? This is the same price, actually more, than the average consumer laptop. Why drive the prices higher by giving us Sapphire...unless we ask for it specifically.

 

[Joelist]

GT Technologies has their price per unit on sapphire displays down to $10. At that price I would think OEMs would just eat it knowing they would easily get it back in increased sales.