Change the Standard
I see tech YouTubers, reviewers, and journalists these days speaking on build quality and durability of phones and it got me thinking. Why are they giving leniency to glass phones; phones with both front and glass backs? One of the biggest issues with the modern smartphone is its durability. These little fuckers are just way too delicate, and unless us consumers start to speak up, Corning will keep trying to tell us they “created the worlds most durable glass yet” year after year. They might as well say they created this years wettest water yet, because that’s the sort of equivalency we’re dealing with. We’re on the SIXTH iteration of Gorilla Glass, yet still, one fall the wrong way, and you’re hundreds of dollars poorer. I’ve seen phones that have come out this year, fall from waist height, under its own weight and no other external forces, hit the ground, and completely shatter. For a product that is in our hands 99.9% of our day, you’d think we’d want them a bit more tough.
Why Glass
So why glass? Why are we so hung up on fused, transparent sand? Now I’m no engineer, and I’m fairly certain the the problem is much more difficult and nuanced than I’m making it out to be. But why are we relying on such a delicate structure to be the main interface we interact with in our daily lives? And now a days, we’ve went from just resorting to glass on only the screen area, to completely enveloping our phones in it. I’m very curious as to why we haven’t found an alternative. In fact, I think Corning’s Gorilla Glass is the only provider of glass interfaces. This article here explains how a new company with their “Diamond Glass” might make an appearance in the future, but not any time soon.
The Durability Lie
Lastly, I just want to point out that I don’t really have a goal with this article. I’m really just fed up with babying my products. I want to use my phone, in aggressive situations, and never have to worry about it. Know that, no matter what scenario I may find myself in, worrying about the health of my phone is the least of my issues. And I think the only way we get there is to force the market to find an alternative. The free open market always finds a way. We need to stop lying to ourselves in thinking that glass is durable in anyway. Any phone that has both its front and back covered in glass, well it gets a ZERO in the durability score. It’s not relative, and unless Corning figures out how to make glass that doesn’t break, ever, on any impact, then its not durable. Push these companies to step the fuck up. Apple just became a trillion dollar company, let’s get them to figure this out. We gotta do something. And next time you break your phone, I guarantee you’ll remember this article.