High end plastics are by far the superior material from any usability perspective. I hate glass phones, and the first glass phone I bought of course broke in only 4 months! Where I’d never had a phone break on me before. And any of my older plastic phones would probably barely have noticed the tiny drop that broke my glass back phone.
Now I have an added plastic cover, which is ugly, and makes the phone unnecessarily bigger than if it had a quality plastic body instead of the moronic glass.
I will never buy anything but phones with a plastic back in the future. Problem is that often the only alternative is vegan leather, which is also not as durable and will show wear way before a high end plastic back.
I will die on the hill that metal unibody phones felt the most premium. Especially Huawei had a few that had a super smooth surface that almost felt like glass.
Metal unibody degrades usability by shielding magnetic/RF signals. That degrades GPS NFC Bleutooth, wireless charging and probably also compass functionality.
So as I see it, metal bodies are probably not a reasonable option.
They also get dents, they transfer energy from a drop directly to the insides, they transfer heat from the CPU to your hand… Nah thanks. I’ll take plastic.
I understand what you mean, but I disagree, there are places where it isn’t necessary, needless use of plastic is a problem. But for the back of a phone, it can avoid buying an even bulkier plastic cover, it can extend the lifetime of the phone, in both cases it reduces waste.
nah phones aint premium until the price is lower f*cking phone costs so you dont have to spend half a months salary just to not have it become junk in 3 years and not be a buggy mess at launch premium is not paying an arm and a leg and not having your every move tracked and sold to the highest bidder
I just want replaceable batteries on my phones again. The last two Samsung phones I owned ended up with swollen batteries, requiring sending them back to Samsung for repairs. I really miss the days of just being able to pop the back off and buying a replacement battery.
If it’s ones use and out plastic, I’ll stick with glass and metal. I know someone is about to say they still cause CO2 and they do, but these materials can at least be easily recycled. This means when the rest of the chain becomes green (for lack of a better phrase) then so will this part.
If however it’s using fully reusable and fully recyclable (not just incinerator “recycling”) then sure, absolutely no issue. Fully behind it. I’m willing to bet, however, all of the money in my pocket that that’s not the case here though sadly.
So, over the course of the lifetime of your phone, you’ll have bought and disposed of a couple of 1000x the amount of plastic. This is a really weird take, man.
The lifetime of a plastic phone will likely be longer too, because metal and glass are a shit combination. Plastic phones make repairs easier too.
How is it weird? It’s not just you and me, it’s billions of people world wide.
Also, don’t try to claim you know me or how much plastic I use. I work very hard to not use any unless absolutely necessary, this is one such time.
Honestly, Lemmy has the weirdest takes at times. Aiming for better is not a bad thing to want, I thought given the balance of people here that being less wasteful would be a plus.
I don’t know you, you’re right. But there’s just so many things you can’t buy without plastic wrappers. The one phone (which usually lasts way longer with plastic covers, plus it’s easier to repair. You kinda ignored that argument) is not putting a dent in plastic consumption. Plastic phones is literally aiming for better. “Premium feel” phones are anti-consumer and will generate plastic garbage either way, because you have to slap a cover on it.
As for recycled plastics, I mean, yes? That’s kind of the goal. Fully recyclable devices is my desire, regardless of material. Right now, plastic isn’t for the vast, vast majority.
I have never once thought that. The fact I have always wrapped my smartphones in an S view style leather case means I could give less than one shit about what the back of my phone has been made of. I watched knuckleheads freeballing their phones, dropping them, cracking the screens, and noped the fuck out of that noise before I even owned my first smart phone. Been doing the leather envelope style case ever since. Knock on wood, never cracked a screen, not tryin to win any beauty contests, just keep my thousand dollar pocket mini computer up and runnin.
When I was younger and more naïve, I used to think a case was useless. I kept my phones in my pocket most of the time, and didn’t feel particularly clumsy or reckless. Then I got a phone that happened to have a glass back, and it broke not because I fumbled it, but because it slid out of my pocket onto time floor while I was sitting down. Glass backs on phones are bullshit.
Ha the exact same thing happened to me. Most expensive phone I ever bought, and it broke first time it was “dropped” slipping out of my pants while I was sitting down. it was such a tiny drop, only half of dropping from a dining table, and probably a third if I was standing with it in my hand.
The effect of the drop being exponential to the height, the about 35-40cm is really a minuscule drop for an everyday tool. Yet it was enough to break the backside glass, which doesn’t even have a purpose, beyond moronic reviewers claiming it FEELS premium.
Well IMO it’s way inferior to high end plastics, that have way better durability, weigh less, is less bulky, and is less slippery. There is simply no comparison, it’s infuriating that Samsung made the Galaxy originally with plastic back, but changed it because ALL reviewers claimed it didn’t feel premium. Completely disregarding it won ALL durability tests against iPhone by far, it wasn’t even a competition.
Fuck idiotic reviewers that scold a feature that is actually hugely beneficial!!! Fuck the Apple way is always better mindset, even when it clearly isn’t.
So your idea of premium is fragile and expensive?
Plastic has superior usability in every way, weight, bulk, durability, shock absorption, less slippery than glass, meaning it doesn’t drop out of pockets handbags or even hands as easily.
So what part about a high end plastic is that isn’t premium in this situation?
Which is a problem of perception and marketing, given that in many cases a plastic that has been specifically engineered to perform a function will, unsurprisingly, be better than an alternative.
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