Why are all Samsung made from cheap plastic?

I have the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 metallic grey and it's probably made of plastic but you couldn't tell. Moral of the story, if your going to use plastic fool them into thinking it ain't.

Because they're a shameless, uninspired tech company only concerned with reaping the greatest profits. At least, that's my impression of them. They don't seem to care about making quality devices or having good support. Their screens are cheap, the materials they use are cheap, it's all about $$$.

HTC is a far better brand, IMO.

Cheap and light which goes over well with some people. If you do it right it works, but they dont IMO. Playing with the new Tabs, they felt very cheap.

I dont care for metal. I almost always have a case and the plastic isnt't bad. I'd like them to produce better looking products though. The design of the iPhone is great. The Nexus 4 is comparably amazing but with plastic. Put more thought into designing something that looks nice regarless of material.

cnguyen0320 said:

I dont care for metal. I almost always have a case and the plastic isnt't bad. I'd like them to produce better looking products though. The design of the iPhone is great. The Nexus 4 is comparably amazing but with plastic. Put more thought into designing something that looks nice regarless of material.

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The Nexus 4 is glass.

surjavarman said:

Why are all samsung products made from cheap plastic? I mean I like their specs and prices and android is a capable OS. But why can't they just make a diamond cut titanium/magnesium/aluminum unibody fused seamlessly with glass.

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I just wanted to mention that Apple dropped the use of titanium back in the era of their powerbook G4 machines due to wireless signal interference. Was there any reason for these specific materials?

DingleButt said:

Cheap and light which goes over well with some people. If you do it right it works, but they dont IMO. Playing with the new Tabs, they felt very cheap.

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I don't own anything by Samsung, just to get that out of the way. Plastic comes in different grades, much like aluminum. Metals do sometimes cause problems with signal interference. You can use plastic to make cheap things, but variants are also used in aircraft parts. Cheap grades of aluminum are used in soda cans. If anything I'd say that Apple's costs in using aluminum are skewed in favor of cost to process the materials than material costs themselves.

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cnguyen0320 said:

I dont care for metal. I almost always have a case and the plastic isnt't bad. I'd like them to produce better looking products though. The design of the iPhone is great. The Nexus 4 is comparably amazing but with plastic. Put more thought into designing something that looks nice regarless of material.

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You know this is a good point. Yes having premium materials like glass and aluminum is great, I love the look of my iPhone 4...but most people buy these things, and then stick them in plastic cases! lol! So sure, you have the wonderful device made of glass and aluminum and you put it in a $2 plastic case...

So my Nexus 7 has a lot of plastic, but it is inside a leather case, at which point the plastic is not even noticed except for the light weight.

I say give me more of what I want, power, screen, features and save money in areas like a plastic backing, at a good price, I can deal with that.

zbarvian said:

The Nexus 4 is glass.

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Whoops. Glass looks nice. Anyway, plastic > metal if a case is used. I think many of us will use a case since protecting the phone for reselling or long term use is more important than the looks (some may disagree). The Nexus 7 looks great in plastic and that comes to show you that design means more than material. Plus with the design techniques we have now, we can make plastic look like metal (i think). So if you dont feel like your tech is less valuable without the metal, plastic is fine.

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marc11 said:

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You know this is a good point. Yes having premium materials like glass and aluminum is great, I love the look of my iPhone 4...but most people buy these things, and then stick them in plastic cases! lol! So sure, you have the wonderful device made of glass and aluminum and you put it in a $2 plastic case...

So my Nexus 7 has a lot of plastic, but it is inside a leather case, at which point the plastic is not even noticed except for the light weight.

I say give me more of what I want, power, screen, features and save money in areas like a plastic backing, at a good price, I can deal with that.

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You are a winner. I'm in the same boat. Give me functionality over "premium feel." My case for my ipad feels more premium than my ipad without it (and it cost $30).

cnguyen0320 said:

Plus with the design techniques we have now, we can make plastic look like metal (i think). So if you dont feel like your tech is less valuable without the metal, plastic is fine.

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I think that's what they did with the Nexus 10, at least according to this interview (go to 10:32)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66-4uMQqerA&list=PLDAC9CBFE4DE8EC1B&index=22&feature=plpp_video

I don't understand why people are so hung up on the material on the outside. I've used phones made of different plastics and metals and glass. Regardless of what material they are made of, I no longer notice it after a week or two of using it.

For those who do not like phones made of cheap plastic, would it be better if they were made of expensive plastic?

surjavarman said:

Why are all samsung products made from cheap plastic? I mean I like their specs and prices and android is a capable OS. But why can't they just make a diamond cut titanium/magnesium/aluminum unibody fused seamlessly with glass.

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Firstly, don't confuse build quality with build materials. The material may be cheap, but the build quality of Samsung phones is still excellent.

Secondly, if I have to choose between a plastic bodied device with a removable back to access the battery/SD/SIM cards, vs. an aluminum unibody device with no access to the battery/SD/SIM cards, I will choose the plastic bodied device in a heartbeat, every time.

Thirdly, plastic provides greater tensile strength than aluminum unibody. I'll be the first to admit that the iPhone looks prettier, but that won't help prevent your screen from shattering when your phone gets knocked off a desk or slips from your hand.

tl;dr: iPhone's metal unibody looks better, but plastic makes much more practical sense

SGMD1 said:

Firstly, don't confuse build quality with build materials. The material may be cheap, but the build quality of Samsung phones is still excellent.

Secondly, if I have to choose between a plastic bodied device with a removable back to access the battery/SD/SIM cards, vs. an aluminum unibody device with no access to the battery/SD/SIM cards, I will choose the plastic bodied device in a heartbeat, every time.

Thirdly, plastic provides greater tensile strength than aluminum unibody. I'll be the first to admit that the iPhone looks prettier, but that won't help prevent your screen from shattering when your phone gets knocked off a desk or slips from your hand.

tl;dr: iPhone's metal unibody looks better, but plastic makes much more practical sense

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Exactly! However android authority did drop test with iphone 5 vs gs3 and iphone 5 did great. No screen cracks after 4 drops with max height of 6 ft i think. iPhone does great with their build quality but it is super expensive. At the end of the day though, function over looks

SGMD1 said:

Firstly, don't confuse build quality with build materials. The material may be cheap, but the build quality of Samsung phones is still excellent.

Secondly, if I have to choose between a plastic bodied device with a removable back to access the battery/SD/SIM cards, vs. an aluminum unibody device with no access to the battery/SD/SIM cards, I will choose the plastic bodied device in a heartbeat, every time.

Thirdly, plastic provides greater tensile strength than aluminum unibody. I'll be the first to admit that the iPhone looks prettier, but that won't help prevent your screen from shattering when your phone gets knocked off a desk or slips from your hand.

tl;dr: iPhone's metal unibody looks better, but plastic makes much more practical sense

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The iPhone 5 fares better than the S3 in drop tests, and is far lighter than the S3. What practical sense are you referring to?

zbarvian said:

The iPhone 5 fares better than the S3 in drop tests, and is far lighter than the S3. What practical sense are you referring to?

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But the iPhone 5 blends faster

surjavarman said:

Why are all samsung products made from cheap plastic? I mean I like their specs and prices and android is a capable OS. But why can't they just make a diamond cut titanium/magnesium/aluminum unibody fused seamlessly with glass. Precise and durable.

I wouldn't even consider the ipad mini, ipad4 or iphone5 if they could just offer me a quality piece of hardware. They obviously got the tech and internals that is superior to tech from Apple.

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NFC wont work with those materials on the back of it. Polycarbonate isnt bad plastic. I have my GS3 in a Otterbox so who cares what it is made out of. Besides, who wants a all glass device that makes it weigh more and fragile?

Sound familiar?

Vegastouch said:

Besides, who wants a all glass device that makes it weigh more and fragile?

Sound familiar?

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Anyone that wants a Nexus 4...

Vegastouch said:

NFC wont work with those materials on the back of it. Polycarbonate isnt bad plastic. I have my GS3 in a Otterbox so who cares what it is made out of. Besides, who wants a all glass device that makes it weigh more and fragile?

Sound familiar?

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Nexus 4!

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3bs said:

But the iPhone 5 blends faster

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I stand corrected

zbarvian said:

Because they're a shameless, uninspired tech company only concerned with reaping the greatest profits. At least, that's my impression of them. They don't seem to care about making quality devices or having good support. Their screens are cheap, the materials they use are cheap, it's all about $$$.

HTC is a far better brand, IMO.

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They do make quality devices.

zbarvian said:

Because they're a shameless, uninspired tech company only concerned with reaping the greatest profits. At least, that's my impression of them. They don't seem to care about making quality devices or having good support. Their screens are cheap, the materials they use are cheap, it's all about $$$.

HTC is a far better brand, IMO.

Click to expand...

Oh and Apple with the iPad mini is not a shameless, uninspired, profit driven device for a cash hungry company? At least Samsung devices are priced to meet the level of components; that iPad mini is a joke of a device, with two or more year old technology at a profit margin that is insane. You can claim the iPad mini is quality, but it is far from inspiring or cutting edge and you are paying for that "quality". Using an old processor is not cheap? Using the reported 512 mb of ram when everyone else is offering 1 or 2 Gb is not cheap? Not including GPS or NFC while others do is not cheap? And then charging 30% or more over the others is not money hungry?

What is even better, is all these iPad mini fans who justify their purchases by stating the "quality" of the glass and aluminum shells and then stick them in cheap plastic cases, you know, to protect them...

And now Samsung screens are cheap? Yet those are the ones everyone screams for in their Macs and iPads??? Funny how Apple fans can turn on a dime.

The bottom line is they use QUALITY plastics to make their devices to keep costs and weight down and to enable certain types of technology. You aren't paying the premium price, the price reflects the quality parts used inside and you save with the plastics used on the outside. A year later when you upgrade, will you really care if it had a plastic backing as you slide it out of your plastic case?

thekev said:

I just wanted to mention that Apple dropped the use of titanium back in the era of their powerbook G4 machines due to wireless signal interference. Was there any reason for these specific materials?



I don't own anything by Samsung, just to get that out of the way. Plastic comes in different grades, much like aluminum. Metals do sometimes cause problems with signal interference. You can use plastic to make cheap things, but variants are also used in aircraft parts. Cheap grades of aluminum are used in soda cans. If anything I'd say that Apple's costs in using aluminum are skewed in favor of cost to process the materials than material costs themselves.

Click to expand...

No, thinner grades of aluminum are used in soda cans. Very thin grades. Aluminum is a cheap product period. There are no good grades and bad grades. Alloy is more pure but it isnt some great product.
You can polish it and make it shinier but it is still a cheap and light material.

zbarvian said:

Because they're a shameless, uninspired tech company only concerned with reaping the greatest profits. At least, that's my impression of them. They don't seem to care about making quality devices or having good support. Their screens are cheap, the materials they use are cheap, it's all about $$$.

HTC is a far better brand, IMO.

Click to expand...

Exactly.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Vegastouch said:

No, thinner grades of aluminum are used in soda cans. Very thin grades. Aluminum is a cheap product period. There are no good grades and bad grades. Alloy is more pure but it isnt some great product.
You can polish it and make it shinier but it is still a cheap and light material.

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Bleh I thought there was a little more variation than that, given its use as an alloy in aircrafts and other things. My point before was more one that using aluminum doesn't necessarily make the device better than something made of plastic. Thank you for the correction.

Technarchy said:

Anyone that wants a Nexus 4...

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The Nexus 4 weighs the same as the iPhone 4s and it is MUCH bigger. Yes it has glass on the back so ive read but im sure it isnt the same crap that Apple used. How else could it be the same weight as the iP4S being much bigger with a much bigger battery?

If it is fragile, i wont get one.

zbarvian said:

Because they're a shameless, uninspired tech company only concerned with reaping the greatest profits. At least, that's my impression of them. They don't seem to care about making quality devices or having good support. Their screens are cheap, the materials they use are cheap, it's all about $$$.

HTC is a far better brand, IMO.

Click to expand...

Or maybe because when you pack in faster internals and a larger battery making the covers out of heavy duty plastic makes the devices lighter ..