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Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over iPhone 4 Glass Breakage
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I was going to post exactly this. The iPhone4 glass is very good when it comes to scratches. My iPhone & iPhone3g had a lot of little scratches in the glass (I don't use a case and carry them in my front pocket). My iPhone4 has been GREAT, not a single scratch, looks beautiful.
Eventually I shattered my iPhone3g glass by dropping it on tile, my fault, I replaced it, no problem. The problem is not really dropping the phone but how it hits. If it hits on the edge, there is a good change it will shatter. Why? Because the edges of the glass, where it is cut, contain microscopic cracks; but apply pressure to them, and they can quickly break. Where as if the phone drops more flat or doesn't hit on the edge, it is much less likely to break, or suffer any damage.
The glass on high speed trains and helicopters need to be scratch and ding resistant. In those applications the edges of the windows are encased in metal to prevent debris from hitting and edge causing cracks. Inside the metal cavity is rubber to prevent vibrational cracking. The edges of the glass on the iPhone4 is more exposed, and thus more likely to get hit, causing cracks.
As many pointed out; it is very scratch resistant because it is strong. But this also makes it brittle; but it is one or the other, you really cannot have both.
No where does Apple claim that it doesn't shatter, or that it shatters less then the previous generation iPhone. They say it is stronger, and in some ways, it is. Just that this person is ASSUMING that it means won't shatter; doesn't mean he is right. Put me on the Jury and he doesn't stand a chance. Put any materials person on the Jury and he won't win.
Difference is Corning doesn't leave beta-testing to the pilots
Nor do they go up when it's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
83 positive votes for this article?
She dropped a piece of glass from more than three feet, and it's the manufacturer's fault that it broke?
Man, what are people thinking?
She dropped a piece of glass from more than three feet, and it's the manufacturer's fault that it broke?
Man, what are people thinking?
That's the problem: people are NOT thinking ... and than they want someone else to pay the bill if something breaks because of their not thinking
No engineering class needed - common sense should tell everyone that 'stiffer and harder than plastic' and scratch resistent does not mean unbreakable - heaven's sake, its glass - and everybody who bought the iPhone knew it and should have know that glass breaks if you drop it.
Not just any piece of glass but aluminosilicate glass - the same type of glass used in the windshields of helicopters and high-speed trains. Chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic
As long as there are morons there will be reasons for lawsuits. Now we have to wonder who the moron is, and the plaintiff seems to be a pretty likely suspect. Apple may be awash in cash but does it really make sense to sue every time you break a nail?
Apple may be awash in cash but does it really make sense to sue every time you break a nail?
stiff and hard are good things - but it still can break - you can even make the windshield of a helicopter break.
Neither the designer nor the customer was thinking
Phones get dropped - that's been a fact of life since we moved away from the wall-mounted crank phones. The old AT&T plastic phones were nearly indestructible - my mother would sometimes crack open walnuts by hitting it with the handpiece of the AT&T phone.
The first case of "not thinking" was Apple in once again putting form over function and making the phone Shiny rather than useful and durable.
The second case of "not thinking" is when the customer buys the glass phone. It's glass - you drop it and it will break.
My old Samsung EVDO smartphone has been dropped a number of times - and other than a few scuffs on its composite casing it's fine. A couple of months ago I knocked it out of its holster while going down the concrete stairs in our parking garage. It bounced on a couple of the concrete steps, and beat me down to the next landing. It was fine - although it got a few more scuffs.
Phones get dropped - that's been a fact of life since we moved away from the wall-mounted crank phones. The old AT&T plastic phones were nearly indestructible - my mother would sometimes crack open walnuts by hitting it with the handpiece of the AT&T phone.
The first case of "not thinking" was Apple in once again putting form over function and making the phone Shiny rather than useful and durable.
The second case of "not thinking" is when the customer buys the glass phone. It's glass - you drop it and it will break.
My old Samsung EVDO smartphone has been dropped a number of times - and other than a few scuffs on its composite casing it's fine. A couple of months ago I knocked it out of its holster while going down the concrete stairs in our parking garage. It bounced on a couple of the concrete steps, and beat me down to the next landing. It was fine - although it got a few more scuffs.
Heck, I have a Tag Heuer watch with a mineral crystal that is supposed to be 'the most durable crystal on any watch'. Supposedly Rolex uses mineral crystals because they are 'durable' and 'scratch-proof'.
It slipped off a stack of mail as I was leaving home and fell onto the ceramic floor on our foyer and shattered. A 'durable and scratch-proof crystal' shattered. I took it in for repair and they said that it's the most durable crystal in any watch but if it falls the wrong way on to the wrong surface it'll shatter or craze/crack... Dookie happens... I was so bummed. The watch was less than 3 months old. Heuer would not even consider covering it under any warranty.
If they drop an iPhone and it cracks then perhaps it's time to ream your spawn about how to use their expensive toys...
It slipped off a stack of mail as I was leaving home and fell onto the ceramic floor on our foyer and shattered. A 'durable and scratch-proof crystal' shattered. I took it in for repair and they said that it's the most durable crystal in any watch but if it falls the wrong way on to the wrong surface it'll shatter or craze/crack... Dookie happens... I was so bummed. The watch was less than 3 months old. Heuer would not even consider covering it under any warranty.
If they drop an iPhone and it cracks then perhaps it's time to ream your spawn about how to use their expensive toys...
People were having the earlier iPhones crack and shatter when they were dropped.
They aren't made to be dropped. They aren't MIL-SPEC...
I love how these fools don't understand the scientific relationship between stiffness/hardness and shatter resistance. Usually, the harder and stiffer something is, the greater its susceptibility to shattering when struck the "wrong" way and with enough force. Carbon fiber is a prime example. Have these morons not watched hockey games or an F1 race? Yeah, carbon shatters like a little wimp when enough resistive force is going against it.
I can imagine the idiotic statements now..."Um, judge, the glass on the iP4 can actually shatter."
One area where consumers DO have legitimate "beef" with Apple over the advertising of the iP4 glass is its overrated scratch resistance. Gorilla Glass is enormously overrated. All smartphones with Gorilla Glass, that I've owned/played with (Droid, Droid 2, Dell Streak, all Galaxy S phones), are pretty easy to scratch.
Rolex and all high-end watchmakers use synthetic sapphire, not mineral crystal. Mineral crystal is not as hard or as scratch resistant as synthetic sapphire, and nothing, aside from real diamond is.
Still, synthetic sapphire is susceptible to cracks and shattering. I've owned an IWC with a clearly scratched sapphire crystal (see 2nd scan at "6" o'clock position). The seller had informed me that it was scratched. However, in my many years of watch collecting, I've never personally scratched or damaged synthetic sapphire...probably because I take reasonable care of expensive goods.
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This is not a question of whether someone would reasonably expect the claims to be true or not when buying. It's a question of deceptive advertising, which exists because companies long claimed products could do things they could not. In my mind, this is definitely a strong case. They specifically state the glass has been treated to be harder and stronger than plastic, and plastic things usually don't break when you drop them. Unfortunately, like all other class-actions, this will end with a settlement (meaningless to everyone except the lawyers) instead of a company admitting wrong-doing publicly.
So, all iP4 buyers are "not thinking" according to you. Thanks for insulting thousands of members here. We all appreciate the passing jab from an anonymous guy on the interwebs.
You have a strange and perverse idea that "function" and the ability for a high-end smartphone to take a drop are one and the same. A smartphone isn't designed with the "function" of being dropped. I suppose that a mug or any dish made out of glass or ceramic instead of plastic or steel is just "form over function."
Guess what? I've NEVER dropped a phone. Just because you are clumsy, it doesn't mean that everyone else is.
So you are another one of those folks who can't logically compute the simple idea that stiffness/hardness DOES NOT EQUAL shatter resistance/unbreakability?
I'm glad that you aren't a judge.
iphone 4
I run with my ip4, cycle with it, drop it, accidentally submerged it in water. I've done these things many times. I've dropped it from 4 to 5 feet on a concrete floor. Because of the YOUTUBE video, I thought it would shatter.
Still works.
If it breaks, I'll buy a new one. The thing is not expensive for what it does, an amazing microcomputer. I'm not going to live in fear. I'm going to use the thing, every day, all the time. It's a huge breakthrough.
For the first computer I had in 1986, I bought a special table that did not allow vibration to make sure the hard drive would not crash. We've come a long way.....
I run with my ip4, cycle with it, drop it, accidentally submerged it in water. I've done these things many times. I've dropped it from 4 to 5 feet on a concrete floor. Because of the YOUTUBE video, I thought it would shatter.
Still works.
If it breaks, I'll buy a new one. The thing is not expensive for what it does, an amazing microcomputer. I'm not going to live in fear. I'm going to use the thing, every day, all the time. It's a huge breakthrough.
For the first computer I had in 1986, I bought a special table that did not allow vibration to make sure the hard drive would not crash. We've come a long way.....
This is the bottom line, and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, and any esoteric anecdote or experience that any Joe Schmoe consumer brings up is irrelevant:
Can the claimant prove that Apple's glass is NOT 20 times stiffer/30 times harder than plastic, as the marketing states? If the plaintiff cannot, then this case should be laughed out of court because Apple made no other official statement.
Can the claimant prove that Apple's glass is NOT 20 times stiffer/30 times harder than plastic, as the marketing states? If the plaintiff cannot, then this case should be laughed out of court because Apple made no other official statement.
I need to join the lawsuit.
I was at the gun range and I accedently put 50 rounds from an MP5 into my phone. It scratched the case bad.
I was at the gun range and I accedently put 50 rounds from an MP5 into my phone. It scratched the case bad.