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Comment by calgoo | Hacker News Reader

Am I the only one who actually like to have an edge on my devices so they dont break by looking at them? At least if there is a metal edge it can take some of the force and you have a chance of not breaking the screen. I dont understand why metal is bad and glass is somehow good? Also, I need to grab my ipad, move it around, spin it, grab it with the other hand etc. I see the edges / bezel's as very useful in these cases.

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You're not the only one. I also like a bit of a bezel or "chin" on my phones, because it makes holding the device with one hand for e.g. taking photos much more secure.

My 75 year old mom has real trouble trying to use her ipad mini, especially with taking pictures. Inevitably the left hand trying to hold the ipad has a thumb on the touch screen. Then when she tries to do anything else with right hand it is registered as a pinch.

She also had a career in graphic design and now teaches oil/acrylic painting. I know from her, the art world likes frames. A bezel is not a bad thing.

Not to take away from the larger concern, but in your mother's case, perhaps a case with a significant border would help.

I suppose if there is not a ready-made one that suits, making /hacking one, the old-fashioned way or through 3D printing, would be an option.

One reason I put a case on every one of my cell phones, is to give me something more substantial to hold on to. The thin bodies and edges start to become a detriment; all the more so in that I have no interest in squeezing mine into the pocket of skinny jeans.

Thank you for your suggestion. My mother has declined adding a case because she carries the ipad mini in her purse when she is out. She doesn't want the additional bulk. She knows she is "not holding it properly" and moves her thumb if it's not responding to her.

I've seen people using finger loops that are stuck onto the back, or straps. I managed to find a decent looking instance of the latter in a quick search (so, just the first I found):

https://www.amazon.com/TFY-Security-Holder-Finger-Tablet/dp/...

Cheers

I think iPhones have for a long time been designed with the assumption that every user will add a case.

That's funny... I specifically don't use a case with my iPhone because I feel they have been designed as they are to work without a case.

Iirc, many years ago Apple noticed the majority of customers liked cases (due to things like personalization as well as safety), and started designing iPhones with cases in mind. They're still meant to be pretty when naked, but I believe majority of people are using cases. This is why things like the camera bump have made an appearance but are really not an issue, since cases flatten those lines out.

I wish I could use it without a case but the thing is so damn slippery without one. Slides out of my pocket or around when sitting on the couch and it's on a slight incline.

I fee like if Apple truly didn’t believe they needed a case, they wouldn’t make and sell them.

So if everybody is going to use a case anyway, why isn't the functionality of the case just built into the phone? This applies not just to apple by the way. I've never understood this.

Personalization. People love to express themselves with different cases and having the device even a several mm thicker would make most of the customers look at in disgust, because then with the personalized cases it would by huge. And trust me, outside of tech community, no one wants thick phones.

I'd much rather an external 3rd party case. When my $20 case gets worn or damaged I can spend $20 on a new one.

If that was built into the phone it would be much more expensive to replace, and I'd end up just putting another, slightly bigger $20 case around it to prevent that from happening.

If Apple believed the iphone required a separate case, they would build the iphone like a raspberry pi so users can build their own lego case :). Or build the iphone with plastic because it's cheap and light instead of metal and glass.

iOS is generally supposed to ignore touches on the edge of the screen, but it doesn't always work. I guess this is one case where it isn't really functioning as expected.

Honestly I think that can be fixed quite easily with a phone case. I actually prefer a case on my XS because it's so damned slippery if you lay it on anything with a slight slope it's falling off, and it's easier to hold.

Eww you're touching your devices. Your only allowed to swipe.

Right?! I do not understand the crusade to remove all bezels.

It's a key part of the bigger plan to remove thickness, bezels, ports and functionality.

And battery life.

"Edge to edge glass" doesn't mean there's literally no physical edge banding around the screen. The iPhone X models with their "all-screen design" still have a stainless steel edge band. The iPad pro clearly still has a metal edge.

The device you seem to be imagining where the glass runs all the way to the edge with no edge banding doesn't exist, and would be an ugly and unpleasant device if it did, as the edges would reveal the electronic innards (and heaps of glue).

Don’t some high end Android or Samsung models have edge to edge phone displays?

Sure. They still have an edge band (or a back that comes around to act as an edge band). There are no phones with screens that simply stop in a raw cut edge.

Whether you like the edge or not, that's not the question your parent asked.

Very much agreed. Plus, it looks better. Compare e.g. my phone [1] with its symmetrical shape, with "chin" abominations like half of new phones being released.

[1]: https://www.gsmarena.com/lenovo_zuk_z2-pictures-8125.php

I agree. I can't say removing the bezel is something that wanted or asked for.

Why not just put a case on it?

Billions of dollars in research and industrial design, thousands of man-hours sourcing the perfect materials, hundreds of thousands of hours of engineering that give a device a most perfect feel.

Only to be placed in a $10 case with bunny ears so it won't crack if you accidentally drop it.

Exactly!

Slim sleack shiny phones which break when dropped. Easily dropped because of shiny slippery surface.

What to do? Put some cheap something around it.....

And I'm wondering why people ask me why I don't have a case around my phone.

I don't get the thin phone to have more space for the plastic protection that's why...

Frankly I think it makes perfect sense that a phone come without protection built in so that I can swap out the protection myself and, after a couple years, I'm not stuck with a banged up device.

This doesn't seem weird or contradictory to me at all. Nothing seems cheaper to me than my girlfriend's Android phone with rubber bumpers built in. Meanwhile my iPhones with cases look brand new when I'm ready to sell them.

I agree with you. I was just saying that if you want a rugged phone, then you can accomplish that with a case.

I'd prefer that the ruggedizing were built into the phone itself, they could probably space components out a bit better for heat dissipation and add maybe add a second port.

It is sort of hilarious that miniaturization has gotten so far that we purposefully de-miniaturize miniaturized goods.

$10 case? Brother if I drop $1,899 on a tablet it's going in a $130 Otterbox Defender and I'll consider it money well spent.

I hate the bezelless trend. And quite frankly I hate the trend of making devices thin. Now I just need to add depth so I can hold it and use it comfortably without worries about dropping the damn thing.

Can't you solve both problems by just using a case?

without a bezel there is nothing for the case to wrap around.

Yeah I have to spend extra money for a case and I do. Instead of proper bezels and extra battery life. Instead I get a device that sucks at Palm detection. But it's super thin.

Think of the extra battery that could be added in...

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