My old $200 Motorola G9 Power phone lasted almost 4 years with only very minor scratches. Obviously in that period I have dropped it a few times getting out of the car, where the phone sometimes work itself out of my pant pocket while I drive, and then it slips out when I get out of the car. But no problem on my previous phones, despite the Moto had cheap Panda glass front.
Then I bought my $800 glass back Xiaomi 13T Pro in January, and I loved the phone for the camera and good specs. But alas after only 4 months, and single drop of just 30 cm while sitting on the porch, the glass back immediately cracked! The back now looks like an ugly mess, and the high water resistance is very likely gone too.
For sure the last time I buy a phone with a glass back!!!
I wonder why glass back is so popular, and I curse the media for reviewing the Samsung Galaxy S2 as “feeling a bit cheap”, because the back was synthetic, and drop tests showed it was 10 times as durable as the iPhone with its glass back.
Samsung did it right in the beginning, glass backs are a curse.
PS: I don’t use condoms for my phones, if they need that for daily use, it’s an obvious design flaw!!!
The glass back is supposedly there to give a premium feel to the phone. But because it’s fragile, people have to use a cover, but with the cover, the premium feel of a glass back is gone anyways?
How is glass back not a design flaw?
EDIT FOR CLARIFICATION:
I am not clumsy, that’s why I believe the phone should be able to last without cover. This was the first time the phone slid out of my packet, and I’ve NEVER dropped it out of my hands. One 30 cm slip and it’s broken. Where for instance my Moto had maybe 4-6 in all over the years, and remained unscathed, apart from some tiny scratches.
The sliding out of pocket does occur maybe a couple of times per year, but it’s a low drop, and the phone should absolutely be able to handle that tiny drop, as it’s an item for everyday use.
I’ve also never had problems with scratches on my screen on any phone, which is the reason people use screen protectors I guess, which I don’t either, because they are ugly, for instance they create a tiny ring around the camera, and they feel awful IMO, my phone came with it, and it took exactly 10 seconds for me to decide to remove it, because I could feel the edge of the screen protector when using the phone.
But please stop with the dropping my phone regularly comments! Just because I dropped my Moto a few times (slid out of pocket) over almost 4 years! Always from low height, which it should be able to handle a few times.
What do you want me to tell you that you weren’t responsible? Sure okay. It’s the company’s fault you refuse to use a case on the thing you knew was going to break.
Is the glass on the back of the case more durable than normal glass? Yes absolutely. It survived several falls as you told us. Is it infinitely durable? No as you have also demonstrated
I.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS0SItAzEXg
And https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCenbmcF2Qc
Can you get lucky when you drop your phone? Yes. You can also get unlucky. There might be a tiny pebble that focuses all the force of the drop on a single point which causes it to shatter. There could have been stress already incumbent in the phone that gets released through thermal expansion or thermal contraction. There’s a lot of variables. That’s why we look at the probabilities and decide oh this is needless in for fashion, we don’t want it.
No the other falls were other phones, that all did fine, and they did not have glass backs. It’s the first time I drop this phone, it’s not something I do regularly as some seem to have misinterpreted what I write as.
I don’t know why people get the idea I run around and drop my phones all the time, and they all somehow endure except this one???
Because you did that whole bit about how you don’t use a case. That makes you cavalier. That makes you responsible
If you said I don’t use a case because I’m not clumsy and I won’t drop my phone. Fair enough more power to you. But what you effectively said was I don’t use a case, and now it is somebody else’s fault that I drop my phone and the completely fashionable glass shattered when it got dropped, it’s a design fault. And I agree it is a bad design, but it’s also not unexpected from your perspective. You knew you should have used a case. That’s why you told us you didn’t
No I honestly believe the phone should have been able to withstand a drop of 30 cm. This is the only time this phone has slipped out of my pocket, I have never actually dropped it from my hands.
A one time drop of 30 cm, and the phone is broken is 100% a design flaw.
Many people use the case to protect the screen, I have NEVER had problems with scratches on the screen on any phone, including this one.
Fair enough.
Next time you go cell phone shopping, ask them if you can drop the phone from the tabletop to the ground. If they say no, then it’s not designed for that
If all customers do that, it will break eventually.
Right. Which means it’s not designed to do that.
There are construction phones, hardened rugged phones, where they will throw it on the floor and drive a truck over it before they sell it to. No problem. That is designed to take that abuse
Which is way more than what I need. I just need a phone that doesn’t break from dropping 30 cm once.
A OtterBox case will let you drop your phone from 30cm all day long. No worries