Nexus 4′s Glass Back, the Worst Idea Since the Last Phone With a Glass Back
droid-life.com
droid-life.com
If anyone hasn't seen the promotional video for Corning's new Gorilla glass, they should:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT8xI4PEU8c
There is no reason why a glass back needs to be this fragile. Shattering from thermal shock is absurd, and the glass must be under some kind of stress from how it's secured to the phone. You can rightly disagree with the use of glass in an iPhone, because of course it's better if a phone can survive a drop, but at least it's not going to break just from being there.
In any case, IIRC, speculation is that only the screen side of the iPhone uses Gorilla glass, but I'm not sure if that's changed with recent generations. But even without Gorilla glass, you can still use "standard" toughened glass that, correctly mounted, should never shatter just from the sort of thermal shock described in the article.
Maybe I just got lucky, but in my limited experience, the case is not needed to protect the glass.
But the OP is talking about breakage due to thermal shock, not to physical shock.
As for Corning, in fairness to them they were instrumental in the development of this type of glass and own a fair few patents, so it's not just marketing. They developed it originally in the 60s, though I imagine a lot has changed since then.
From what I understand, Gorilla Glass is only scratch-proof, not tough.
I took a set of keys, a fork and a pocket knife to the front and back glass panels of the Nexus 4 and couldn't get a scratch to show up anywhere. I also slipped and dropped the phone while pulling it out of my pocket this week, and it showed no signs of my fumble.
Until I see a video, I'm not really convinced, tbh. If he has a granite counter-top, and didn't set it down as gently as the author claims, it's completely probable that it cracked. People are incredibly clumsy with phones. Glass doesn't exactly have a high thermal conductivity (nor does granite/linoleum/plastic), I find it difficult to believe the glass would expand/contract enough from body heat/kitchen counter-tops.
Which seems like a pretty good argument for not wrapping them in glass.
Too often in technology we build things that are fragile, and then blame the user when she breaks them. Tools should be designed to work with the user as they are, rather than as we would wish them to be.
This is just a theory, but I've discussed it with People Who Know Things (TM) and they all have agreed that it's more than likely a small sliver of plastic or glass (or maybe just a tiny dirt particle) has become lodged in the space between the glass and the phone during fabrication. 9/10 phones don't have these defects, but when you're manufacturing millions of phones 90% still leaves a lot of bad phones.
Here is a more likely scenario (that my friend the materials engineer gave me):
Gorilla Glass is made by "stuffing" ions into the empty spaces so that the glass is under very high compressive stress. It's really known as "High ion exchange glass" This in turn, gives it very high compressive strength. However, it does have a significant downside that never gets mentioned: Shock absorption and scratches can cause later cracks and shattering. This is just a fact of life. When you place the outer layer under compressive strain, and then begin to compromise part of the outer layer, or begin to stress it, you can eventually cause release of those compressive forces. Once partially compromised, it may seem to be good, but can fail instantly.
Completely agreed. That's exactly why I said "shattering from thermal shock is absurd, and the glass must be under some kind of stress from how it's secured to the phone" in the parent comment.
To further your explanation a little, the reason the outermost layer is put into compressive stress is that, when it's scratched, the stress will cause the crack to "close up" and so the glass doesn't shatter. Unfortunately, the interior of the glass is under tensile stress as a result, and so if the scratch happens to be deep enough to reach that tensile-stressed layer then the glass will shatter. Putting the glass in a case which alters this carefully managed stress state, i.e. by trying to attach it to a rim that's acting to pull it slightly apart, is what can cause this kind of failure.
But this is all speculation on my part, and even if true the reality might be more subtle.
Edit: I just found a good article from AnandTech that explains some of this. Take note of the first figure in particular.
Better USB cables emboss the logo so that one can tell which end is the top even in the dark.
But the absolute best is Logitech's solution: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Logitech-Micro-USB-Cable-/2...
Logitech's solution ensures that you always effortlessly plug your cable in correctly on the first try. No need for reversible connectors like lightning, just use a well designed cable.
EDIT:
it appears most people aren't seeing the innovation. Check out the last picture in the linked set. There's a very large bump on the micro USB end of the cable that ensures that it's pretty much impossible to pick up the cable with the top end down.
But the absolute best is Logitech's solution: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Logitech-Micro-USB-Cable-/2...
Regardless of what you do with it, there's no way a USB cable can be called "well designed." A square connector is still a square connector, and no amount of embossing will change that. Attempts to make USB connectors reversible* are well-intentioned, but will always be more fragile and expensive than a connector that's either designed to be reversible from the start or breaks the symmetry such that you can't even attempt to put it in the wrong way.
With normal USB, true, it can be annoying to find the right orientation, but they still seem to be zillions of times more sturdy than the cables before them. Remember PS2 with those tiny pins inside?
Sadly, every micro USB cable needs a "normal" (Male A) USB connector at the other end.
At least on my Thinkpad, the interior plastic is bright yellow rather than black. This makes it a bit easier. Still, switching machine to machine as often as I do becomes frustrating.
Although glass cracking from a temperature shift is pretty odd, I would have thought it'd have gone through testing to isolate faults like that.
Man, I feel like a jack ass.
Both front and back glass are still pristine.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4842776
Nothing brings out the experts like something being wrong on the internet.
We have to face facts. Modern american cell phones are basically the same economic era as pre-imports american cars. Much as domestic cars were value engineered to rust out in two years, at least until the Japanese conquered the market, we're going to have to tolerate expensive phones that are designed to fall apart until the (Chinese?) import phones that survive twenty years and everyone else has to catch up to them. A glass back is to cell phones as tail fins are to cars.
I was one of the people mocking the glass on the iPhone 4, and also sorely disappointed when I saw it on the Nexus 4. Hasn't stopped me from ordering one though... and a silicone full case to put it in.
New rule of thumb in mobile... 4th gen, try a glass back, 5th gen... bail on that idea?
That being said, seems like the author of this story was just incredibly unlucky. The unfortunate thing is, if your phone had a defect in the glass, you could never convince the manufacturer to replace it under warranty, since they'd just assume you dropped it.
Those Nokia devices look pretty good to me, even they had to call them "polycarbonate" to avoid the dreaded "plastic" word.