Glass and Aluminum Vs Plastic SmartPhones

Have you ever seen a broken iPhone or BlackBerry smartphone? Usually it will be the glass front that is broken.

They're so breakable they can fall from a mere 2 feet and shatter easily.

And then it costs you between $60 to $120 to replace the front glass piece - a piece of glass that costs the manufacturer less than $1 to make, but they make huge profits off of selling new glass pieces to people with broken iPhones and BlackBerries.

In contrast plastic smartphones like Samsung and similar companies don't break as easily. They're more durable and don't shatter like glass does.

Plastic does scratch more easily than glass, but it doesn't shatter and break.

And it is the same deal with aluminum cases for iPhones and BlackBerries. They get dented more easily and once broken are useless. In contrast the high grade plastic used in many smartphones is more durable because it absorbs shocks more easily.

Speaking for myself I have had 5 different cellphones in the last 11 years. All of them were made of plastic, and while they did get scratches I never broke a single one of my cellphones. Never had to replace any parts. I never had any complaints about their build quality.

My first cellphone back in 2003 was a LG. It was used, but I got it in South Korea which is a country obsessed with cellphones and new tech devices. If a new device comes on to the market it is often available in South Korea any where from 6 months to a year before it is available in North America.

I was immediately addicted to my 1st cellphones ability to send text messages. Texting quickly became one of my favourite things to do on my cellphone.

My 2nd cellphone I picked up when I returned to Canada in 2004. I opted for a LG again because I liked the one I had used in Korea.

When I returned to South Korea in Summer 2005 I took out my old LG phone from my first visit there and voila, it still worked. And I was getting free phone calls off it because somebody else was now using the same signal I was - so they were paying the phone bill and I was getting free calls. Waha! (South Korea reuses the same signal codes on cellphones. I don't know how it works precisely, I just know they reuse them.)

When I came back to Canada I started using my 2nd cellphone again. Lasted me a long time. I still have it in a box somewhere. Still works technically.

My 3rd cellphone was another LG, purchased in 2006. Came with a camera and video camera, which was a nice change. Meant I could have more fun with my phone. The display was black and white, but the photos it took were still in colour.

My 4th cellphone was a Sanyo, purchased in 2008. A change for once. Used it for 4 years and was very happy with it. Like #3 it had a camera and video camera, but more importantly it has a colour display. It had many more options too, like internet and other gadgets on there (many of which I didn't even use).

My 5th cellphone (and first SmartPhone) is my current phone, which is a Samsung Galaxy SII. Been using it since 2012 and it has no dents, no scratches, I have dropped it numerous times, and I never have any hardware or software* problems with it.

* I do sometimes have software problems with 3rd party apps that I download, in which case I just delete the offending app and then it is back to normal.

Phones 1 to 4 sometimes got scratches on them. My 5th phone is still in pristine perfect condition despite being dropped numerous times.

In contrast I have lost track the number of times I have seen people using broken screens on their iPhones or BlackBerries. Or trying to use a dented aluminum phone that can't get a proper signal any more.

Clearly, based on the evidence, plastic phones are far more durable.

And what is more in the future there are a number of companies planning to release flexible plastic phones - making them even more indestructible.

Some of the companies that are working on such flexible phones are LG and Samsung. No surprise there. They are leading the way in making phones more indestructible.

And I shake my head at any parents dumb enough to give their child or teenager a glass / aluminum phone. That thing will probably break in the first month!

I can guarantee that if someone surveyed teenagers in a highschool as to what manufacturer they got their cellphone from and whether it is broken or not, all the broken ones will have glass / aluminum cases. And the broken ones will all be iPhones (because teens don't buy BlackBerries).

Now that doesn't mean you cannot break a plastic phone. You can throw it against a wall, slam dunk it against a hard floor, run over it with your car - and absolutely, it will break. But simply dropping it during normal day to day use, no, it won't break.

You would have to be an idiot to buy a glass phone.

Plastic 1

Glass / Aluminum 0