It's not like the choice is "thick and doesn't need a case or thin and needs a case". Even if the phone was thicker, people would be using cases if they bought it, right?
My old phones with cheap poly-carbonate backs(cracks easily) and thin GG3(cracks,scratches are apparent) were fragile in comparison. The material science has improved with modern phones, but manufacturers choose to make fragile phones.
You don't need thick overmoulding and port covers to make a phome durable without a case. The materials are strong enough on the high end phones. The problem is that when you make the glass thinner and exposed at the corners, it will crack with much less impact. The overall thinness means less flexural rigidity (rigidity is proportional to thickness cubed), you can snap a modern phone with your hands. Cheap new phones get it even worse. They use flimsier materials to cram a better SoC in, and still are rarely waterproof.
The whole Nextel and Nokia and Blackberry era, not a one. They looked a bit worn from a few years each in my pocket with my keys, but they all worked fine, and they'd all survive a drop to the floor.
Today the only phone I'd trust to survive a naked drop would be a Unihertz Titan, but until there's an AOSP ROM for it, I'm not trusting it with my data. So, cases on everything.
You mean: Back when phones had screens made of plastic instead of glass. And yes, sure, that does make them more likely to survive a drop, but also means the screen becomes a scratch magnet. That of course is the right compromise when the screen is tiny and the pixels are enormous, but not so much when it’s the other way around.
My lumia 800 went through hell (including being dropped from a third floor balcony onto asphalt) but still looked good.
I'd probably buy my first ever iPhone if Apple came out with a ruggedized version of the current iPhone SE.
https://electronics.sony.com/mobile/smartphone/professional-...
I wish Android would decouple the device drivers from the kernel space kinda like a desktop OS so your manufacturer could just supply their drivers and you could upgrade the OS at will... a man can dream.
Microsoft has dedicated many developer years to supporting said API, and all the kernel panics caused by said drivers.
You never lived in that time where people had their Nokia phones in those leather zip cases which completely covered the device clipped to their waist? Or the fact that many Nokia phones had removable front and back cases that you could replace yourself?
I definitely remember my screen being scratched.
I’m hoping I can get at least another year out of this thing. Battery is excellent. iOS doesn’t seem slow at all.
A year should be no problem. I just replaced my iPhone 6s and Apple Watch 0 in February. If I hadn’t decided I wanted the NFC functionality I would have simply replaced the battery.
I don’t bother with a case because it’s often simply my pocket, which is a case I guess.
Damn, I feel silly, I have bought 9 phones over the past 3 years and still haven't spent that kind of money...
The problem is Apple builds the phone in a fragile manner, prone to breaking and scratching. It's true of other phones too.
Yes, they do. Look up Paint Protection Film. Ceramic coating is also very commonly used to protect the car's paint, plastics, and glass.
Doesn't matter though. It's not in phone manufacturers' best interests to make durable phones. They need to make trendy phones, as that's what the majority have voted for (with their wallets). And Apple users have it the worst, as the lock-in leaves them with no alternative phone manufacturers).
Even with protective cases many flagship phones won't be very useable after 2 years anyway, as the battery life decreases, the OS and apps do more and more things, and flash storage starts to fail/slow.
My iPhone disagrees with this. I've used it pretty heavily for over two years now and it's still going strong. I see no reason why I can't get at least 3 out of it. I figure I make it to fall of 2022 and it'll be nearly 4 years old before I replace it.
They don't design the phone to be used without a case. People use cases because of that, not because of the price tag.
I’m pretty careful with my phone too, has its own pocket doesn’t mix with anything. I’m actually quite displeased; especially as scratch resistance was a touted feature.
EDIT: never mind. It was drop resistance. Not scratch resistance.
(Yes, it’s still possible to drop my phone face down on a rock or something, but most of the times I’ve broken a phone screen, it’s been a crack in the glass emanating from a corner. Which makes sense, given the physics of the things.)
People started using cases for most part after the iPhone came out. Older phones were almost never used with a case, except perhaps for use case requiring a ruggedized enclosure.