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Apple Watch Sport's Ion-X Glass Display Cover Subjected to Scratch Test in New Video
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So then walking on the sand on the beach should grind my bare feet right to the bone, right?
Same as running sandpaper over my skin?
I wonder if and when parts become available for the watches if it would be possible to disassemble one and install a sapphire screen on a Sport model. I wouldn't be trying this while in warranty, but later on, why not?
Walking on sand is a direct downward compression of sand in a FLUID state, not bonded to a substrate which is dragged across a fixed surface. A bit different
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My little pony land:
This video shows exactly what you'd expect, which is that steel with a hardness of 5 will not scratch gorilla glass with a hardness of nearly 7, but sand, being the chief constituent of glass will in fact scratch glass as they have an equal hardness.
Ion glass will make it stronger with regards to shattering but will not increase the surface hardness as only ions are exchanged between sodium and potassium.
So the ion glass has precisely the qualities that you'd want in a sport watch compared to sapphire, stronger, lighter and less brittle than sapphire. If you have a heavy get off on your mountain bike you'll likely scratch the surface on some quartz containing rock but you're less likely to shatter it.
Sandpaper with carborundum will also scratch sapphire, seeing as they are both the same hardness.
Ion glass will make it stronger with regards to shattering but will not increase the surface hardness as only ions are exchanged between sodium and potassium.
So the ion glass has precisely the qualities that you'd want in a sport watch compared to sapphire, stronger, lighter and less brittle than sapphire. If you have a heavy get off on your mountain bike you'll likely scratch the surface on some quartz containing rock but you're less likely to shatter it.
Sandpaper with carborundum will also scratch sapphire, seeing as they are both the same hardness.
That's because, like most testers, his scratching technique was that of a little girl... skiddy skiddy sideways motion. This is the internet, where people don't use their BRAINS, they just copy/paste everything, INCLUDING poor technique.
So we're supposed to believe him when he says this is the same glass used in the Apple Watch? Why should I believe that? Let's not forget it was Sonny Dickson who posted bogus photos of the iPhone 6 that we later found out were just Martin Hajek renders.
Twenty years ago I owned a thin, chic watch with a sapphire crystal. I too thought it was scratchproof until one day the watch face met a door handle as I was entering a building. It left a large ugly scratch across the face, so apparently the finish coating on the door hardware was tougher than sapphire. These "ion-X glass" (what?) faces will get beat up in no time -- great for the cottage industries that will spring up to replace them.
More likely your watch was not sapphire,
I agree the Apple Watch Sport will hold up fine. I am looking forward to my two 42 MM Apple Sport Watches arriving soon. I think it's all about how you take care of your investments. Pro's and Cons to everything.
Beach with fine sand is not so bad by itself, you do need some force exerted on the sand for it to actually do its deed. If you got specs of sand stuck on your watch (say sand carried by a salty wet wind) and run it against something hard that you'd run into issues.
