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Black iPhone 5 Anodized Aluminum Susceptible to Scratching?
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Well it works pretty well for jet aircraft and mountain bikes. You'd think it would ok for a phone.
Trade-in
OK, so it scratches. I'm sure a large percentage of iPhone users have normal wear and tear on their phones. I, for one, am a user who typically does not like to use cases. I am, however, trading in my iPhone 4 of two years of use through Gazelle and getting $163 back for it with regular use.
Of the options they give (3), they are "Broken", "Good", and "Flawless". The price difference for my return would be about $5 from "Good" to "Flawless". I guess my point is, that if it scratches then so what, it's normal wear and tear. If you want to keep it pristine for years to come and upgrade to another phone down the road- whether you keep the iPhone 5 or trade it in, the money-back price does not change much. Don't get me wrong, there are other reasons to obviously use a case, but in my example, keeping it in pristine condition does not effect your return if you end up trading it in.
As another commenter said- iPhone in the right pocket, keys and everything else in the left.
OK, so it scratches. I'm sure a large percentage of iPhone users have normal wear and tear on their phones. I, for one, am a user who typically does not like to use cases. I am, however, trading in my iPhone 4 of two years of use through Gazelle and getting $163 back for it with regular use.
Of the options they give (3), they are "Broken", "Good", and "Flawless". The price difference for my return would be about $5 from "Good" to "Flawless". I guess my point is, that if it scratches then so what, it's normal wear and tear. If you want to keep it pristine for years to come and upgrade to another phone down the road- whether you keep the iPhone 5 or trade it in, the money-back price does not change much. Don't get me wrong, there are other reasons to obviously use a case, but in my example, keeping it in pristine condition does not effect your return if you end up trading it in.
As another commenter said- iPhone in the right pocket, keys and everything else in the left.
I'm sorry... but this being on front page news is ridiculous. Someone keys an object to scratch it, and that's news? Guess what, if I take a key to the front of my Thunderbolt Display it will scratch it. If I take a key to my Macbook Air it will scratch it. If I take a key to the side of my truck it will scratch it. The guy that did it is a member of MacRumors. If I ran the site, I think I'd ban him for illegal activity.... otherwise what you are doing is promoting it and giving attention to something that is vandalism and illegal.
The color is added during/after the anodize process. The iPods are done the same way as the iPhone. The website doesn't say they are completely the same color through their entire thickness (that would be difficult to do). They are just referencing the fact that the colored portion of the material, the anodized layer, has a thickness that is part of the body, not paint on top of the bare aluminum.
I don't expect it to hold up to scratching and what not over time. Having bare spots out of the box is another issue altogether, indicative of contamination being present on the metal when it was anodized or dyed, preventing the color from holding in that area.
If you've got scratches and bare spots out of the box, take it back, for sure. If you scratch it later using it, deal with it, it's aluminum and the color is only a few thousandths of an inch thick, so if you shave off a corner or gouge it, you'll expose bare aluminum.
I do
I used to be a dealer. I also own a few of them. They really don't scratch easy unless they are dropped and rolled hard on concrete. But most of them have this sort of rubberized metal material which is what apple probably should have gone with unless they couldn't do it to something like that.
a few of my facebook friends got theirs this morning and they had scratches right out of the box 
Useful features? I mean, for me, AppleTV mirroring, iCloud integration, iMessage, Siri, and the the apps integrating seamlessly with their counterparts on my Mac is invaluable.
That was the point I was trying to make. It is possible to have high quality anodizing and on a product far less costly than the iPhone. Many here have no knowledge of that. Again, time will tell if it is a major problem or not.
It's pretty sad that you have to pull in other devices to make up for the short comings of this phone.
I've also noticed the following ...
1. Taking a hammer to the touchscreen affects it negatively
2. Inserting the new iPhone 5 in a 600 degree oven is not good
3. Dropping the phone from 35,000 feet is detrimental
4. Placing the phone in the center of a campfire is conducive to noticeable excess heat
5. Swimming with the iPhone 5 in your swim trunks increases moisture inside the phone
1. Taking a hammer to the touchscreen affects it negatively
2. Inserting the new iPhone 5 in a 600 degree oven is not good
3. Dropping the phone from 35,000 feet is detrimental
4. Placing the phone in the center of a campfire is conducive to noticeable excess heat
5. Swimming with the iPhone 5 in your swim trunks increases moisture inside the phone
They could have hard-anodized it and all problems would be solved. But Apple was apparently to greedy for that. When i buy a phone i expect it to be the same or better then the older model, and since the 4/4S didn't scratch this easily i am dissapointed.
