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Comment by soperj | Hacker News Reader

I still don't get the "premium feel" line when everyone covers their phone in a case anyway. I don't care if my phone is made of plastic when it actually makes it less prone to breaking when dropped.

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I've been saying this to people for years. Tons of companies market how a phone feels, its looks/colors but then almost everybody just ends up slapping a case on it.

I literally couldn't care what a phone was made out of/how it feels since I just put a case on it before I even use it for a day in most situations.

Speaking of cases, the case near the bottom of the page is being sold for $35. That's a lot of money for some molded plastic.

Same here. I think it's ridiculous we make phones out of glass, then put more glass on them to protect that glass. Phone screens should be made of plastic, which doesn't break, and then let me put a piece of glass over it to prevent scratching. And then if that breaks, oh well, I don't care because i can replace it for $10.

Not really true for the Samsung Flip phones out there. I don't know many people who use a case on them.

I put one of those ridiculous military spec, carbon fiber reinforced type cases on mine, it would be in pieces otherwise. It bulks the phone up a lot but every time I drop it, I smile.

I don't know if I've just been excessively lucky, but I've never put a case on any smartphone I've owned since 2010, and I've only cracked the screen on two of them. These days (probably for the past 4 years) I do put the thin-film screen protectors on as well, and replace them if they get damaged.

I've always been of the feeling that I'm buying this lovely, well-designed piece of hardware, why would I want to cover it up in an ugly plastic case?

I don't put cases (or even screen protectors) on mine either (since 2015). I've dropped it many times, obviously, but I've only ever had the edges of the phone get the slightest nicks - which I prefer to having a case on it.

Exactly because you have cracked the screen on two of them. I (and many others with a case) am at 0 cracked screens.

We can throw anecdotes to each other all day. I've been using smartphones since 2010 as well. Never used a case. Never cracked a screen.

That was exactly my situation, too. Until just recently, when I cracked two almost back-to-back.

There are also some plastics that feel fine, IMO. It’s mostly a matter of whether the phone creaks or bends easily.

Even worse is when the premium feel is at the expense of usability as well as durability. Matte glass backs and rounded aluminium sides might as well be a bar of soap

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