In a case you want rubber to absorb the impact. Ideally, the rubber would be thick enough so that all the deformations caused by impact do not transfer to the actual phone, if that makes sense. Essentially, you want the rubber case to take all the impact, no the plastic on the phone.
A rubber case will bend inwards at the point of impact. That is how it absorbs the impact. And you want that as long as that bend stays in the case. But you never want the plastic to bend. See below.
You're joking, right? The plastic in that picture I showed you is so ridiculously thin and bends so easily. As for aluminum foil and soda cans, care to prove that the iPhone uses the same quality aluminum that is also at the same thickness? Or are you just going to say that with nothing to back it up?
You really can't read. Go back and read my last post. I never said it wouldn't bend. I only mentioned that it would require more pressure to get the aluminum in the iPhone 5 to bend as much as the plastic in a GS4. And thanks for showing this picture because it actually proves my point in a way.
The angle that this aluminum bends is far less than the GS4 plastic in the picture I linked to earlier. And which one do you think took more pressure to bend? Obviously the aluminum because the thin plastic on the GS4 is weak and easily flexible. So really, the plastic required less force and was able to bend at a higher angle, and the aluminum required more force and did not bend as much.
And here is where something that is easily flexible can harm a phone.
[url=http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/263/edgemn.jpg]Image[/URL]
Imagine this phone is falling to the floor and lands on this top right corner. The two lines indicate how much the frame bends inward at the point of impact. So before going on, which line would put more stress on the glass? The one that bends inward more, or the one that bends inward less? I would love to hear your answer on this specific question when you undoubtedly respond with more half-thought arguments.
Now, as has been discussed, the plastic in the GS4 bends ridiculously easy. If you don't believe me, take the plastic back off a GS3 and just feel how weak and flexible it is. Multiple reports indicate they are using the same "quality" of plastic.
So judging from that, we can tell that plastic will require much less force in order to deform. And aluminum would require more force in order to deform at the same magnitude of something that is plastic.
So the black line indicates how much an aluminum frame would deform on impact, and the red line indicates how much a plastic frame would deform on impact with the same amount of force, and a phone of the same weight and size.
It is simple, which deformation, the one indicated by the black line or the one indicated by the red line, will cause more stress on the front glass?
See above.
