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Advice to caseless iPhone X buyers

J

jabingla2810

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 15, 2008
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The iPhone X uses polished stainless steel rather than anodised aluminium, and having owned a Stainless Steel Apple Watch, you are going to have to get used to seeing micro scratches, lots of micro scratches.

Polished stainless steel shows these really easily.

However, I have frequently used a ‘cape cod cloth’ to polish the casing of my watch to look brand new.

This will only be possible on the White iPhone X. The stainless steel on the Space Grey iPhone X has a coating on it giving it its colour. If the coating technique they have used isn’t very scratch resistant (I don’t think it will be the same as the Space Black Apple Watch), expect to see the silver colour underneath coming through fairly quickly.

Probably not worth putting too much thought into but it’s worth knowing.
 
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How careful do you have to be with the cape cod cloth? Would a slip of the hand leave you with horrible scratched glass?
 
Diorama said:
How careful do you have to be with the cape cod cloth? Would a slip of the hand leave you with horrible scratched glass?
Click to expand...

Good question.

On the Apple Watch it isn’t such a worry because of the sapphire screen. It’s REALLY scratch resistant.

I’m gonna guess that you’re going to have to be careful on the iPhone X.
 
Diorama said:
How careful do you have to be with the cape cod cloth? Would a slip of the hand leave you with horrible scratched glass?
Click to expand...

I use cape cod cleaning cloths on my mechanical E-Cig tube mods, and they are brilliant in polishing metals. It wont leave any scratches from a slip of the hand. It does contain a chemical cleaning agent in it, the cloths are soaked in the cleaning agent inside the packaging, which smells pretty strong. I personally wouldn't use it on an iphone to buff it up just incase the cleaning agent seeps through joints in between the glass/metal or it makes contact with the phone screen and messes up the oleophobic coating as the cleaning agent may be a bit "aggressive".
 
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Zigourney said:
I use cape cod cleaning cloths on my mechanical E-Cig tube mods, and they are brilliant in polishing metals. It wont leave any scratches from a slip of the hand. It does contain a chemical cleaning agent in it, the cloths are soaked in the cleaning agent inside the packaging, which smells pretty strong. I personally wouldn't use it on an iphone to buff it up just incase the cleaning agent seeps through joints in between the glass/metal or it makes contact with the phone screen and messes up the oleophobic coating as the cleaning agent may be a bit "aggressive".
Click to expand...

Good points here. I use my Cape Cod cloth on my Apple Watch stainless model. I try to very carful around the thick stainless casing, but it's difficult to not let it come into contact with the display. I imagine it will be even more difficult with the thin metal chassis surrounding the iPhone. Another member in the Apple Watch forum Stated the Cloth will remove the oloephobic coating from the Watch dislay, which I'm Inclined to believe the same will apply to the iPhone X dislay. These cloths at great, but I would not risk having this cloth coming into contact with the display and not knowing the potential outcomes.
 
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jabingla2810 said:
The iPhone X uses polished stainless steel rather than anodised aluminium, and having owned a Stainless Steel Apple Watch, you are going to have to get used to seeing micro scratches, lots of micro scratches.

Polished stainless steel shows these really easily.

However, I have frequently used a ‘cape cod cloth’ to polish the casing of my watch to look brand new.

This will only be possible on the White iPhone X. The stainless steel on the Space Grey iPhone X has a coating on it giving it its colour. If the coating technique they have used isn’t very scratch resistant (I don’t think it will be the same as the Space Black Apple Watch), expect to see the silver colour underneath coming through fairly quickly.

Probably not worth putting too much thought into but it’s worth knowing.
Click to expand...
Isn''t this much like the stainless steel band on the 4s?
 
I suppose the iPhone 4 band was brushed or had some other effect on it, unlike the classic iPods with that polished mirror look that the X will have.
 
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Nothing to worry about : just put duct tape on the border of the display before using the Cape Cod cloth.

Some very light duct tape of course. Not the strongest 3M duct tape that will rape your display when removing it :eek:
 
It’s the best finish yet, instead of the scratches being permanent you can polish them off from time to time. My original SS Apple Watch still looks brand new after a polish with those same cape cod cloths.
 
Great point.
The space grey MacBooks also sees micro scratches much easier than the normal silver one.
Definitely worth noticing, think you’re right.
 
Treyhunna said:
Eh it won't be that big of a deal case less people know the risks
Click to expand...

Not saying it’s a big deal.

But one colour will be able to be polished to look brand new, and the other one won’t be.

Might be worth considering.
[doublepost=1508101552][/doublepost]
Ntombi said:
After carrying the jet black naked for a year, it still looks awesome. Sure there are micro scratches, but you have to look for them, so I don’t care.

I assume the X will be the same.
Click to expand...

Probably.

Again though, you don’t have the option to polish those scratches away. White iPhone X users will have that option.
 
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jabingla2810 said:
Not saying it’s a big deal.

But one colour will be able to be polished to look brand new, and the other one won’t be.

Might be worth considering.
[doublepost=1508101552][/doublepost]

Probably.

Again though, you don’t have the option to polish those scratches away. White iPhone X users will have that option.
Click to expand...
I wanted the silver because I'm tired of black but whose to say the black one will chip and scratch. The space grey SS watches hold up well
 
I'm not using a case with the iPhone X, I want to feel the material this time around.
I will be using a sleeve though for carry.
 
Treyhunna said:
I wanted the silver because I'm tired of black but whose to say the black one will chip and scratch. The space grey SS watches hold up well
Click to expand...
The Apple Watch is Space Black and uses a DLC (Diomand-like Carbon) coating.

The iPhone X uses a PVD coating. We’ll see if it’s scratch resistant when it releases. But again my point is that you won’t be able to polish it if it does scratch.
 
jabingla2810 said:
Not saying it’s a big deal.

But one colour will be able to be polished to look brand new, and the other one won’t be.

Might be worth considering.
[doublepost=1508101552][/doublepost]

Probably.

Again though, you don’t have the option to polish those scratches away. White iPhone X users will have that option.
Click to expand...
Nooooo. Don't convince more people to go for the white OP.
 
jabingla2810 said:
The Apple Watch is Space Black and uses a DLC (Diomand-like Carbon) coating.

The iPhone X uses a PVD coating. We’ll see if it’s scratch resistant when it releases. But again my point is that you won’t be able to polish it if it does scratch.
Click to expand...

True. Diamond like carbon coating is one of the hardest materials used for protection and is more of a "Protective Paint" . Physical Vapor deposition is The method used to apply a thin coating, which is not nearly as durable as DLC, but increases wear and hardness. A lot of firearms use PVD for added corrosion resistance.
 
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jabingla2810 said:
The Apple Watch is Space Black and uses a DLC (Diomand-like Carbon) coating.

The iPhone X uses a PVD coating. We’ll see if it’s scratch resistant when it releases. But again my point is that you won’t be able to polish it if it does scratch.
Click to expand...

Polish, does not polish. After reading the first post I thought I was a step closer deciding to get the white one. After reading yours I’m back to square one. Thanks man
 
Ntombi said:
After carrying the jet black naked for a year, it still looks awesome. Sure there are micro scratches, but you have to look for them, so I don’t care.

I assume the X will be the same.
Click to expand...

^ This

I'm not fussed about micro scratches. I spend my time staring at the screen not the body of my phone. And I never use cases don't like the extra bulk.

The only thing that would bother me is a scratch on the screen thats something I can't deal with. I like my screens to be pristine and good thing I always manage it. I see other peoples iphones with scratches or cracks and I don't know how they live day to day with it.
 
I was fixed on getting the X in space grey, as mine will go in a black case anyway, but now I'm wondering the black coating will definitely pick up some scratches over time and it will show more easily than the pure stainless steel, honestly I'm 50/50 now :confused: I do like the more shiny stainless steel but also like the stealth all black look...
 
I dont think any of the iphone x will be so easy to scratch like the black slate iphone 5 or jet black iphone 7
 
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