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Iphone 4 durability

Phycoduck

Phycoduck

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 18, 2008
189
0
This is probably said before, but i'm not happy with the durability with my Iphone 4.

I bought this on 24th June for 600 big onces, and kept it in a apple bumper case. Then added a 'all over' Incredible shield two weeks later because the metal rim tarnished from specks of duct getting in the bumper.

'Created from our own alloy, then forged to be five times stronger than standard steel'... but dust can scratch it?????

Lost the rear shield on saturday night, but now see a small sliver mark on the back.

'Chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, the glass is ultradurable and more scratch resistant than ever'... Not for me.

I'm not sure if it's the glass which scratches or the oleophobic coating. A few friends had scratched theirs on the first day with keys or coins in the same pocket as iphone.

Don't get me wrong, i still love the iphone. But apple had gone to all this trouble on making the Iphone very strong out of space age materials, and then i have to spend more money hiding it from the world because i don't want to damage it.

Has anyone else notices this?

Duck.
 
Have you tried to drop it yet? That so-called 'gorilla glass' shatters like it's made of the cheapest kind of glass.

I'm afraid, that is how Apple is reinventing the phone again. Again. Quality control at Apple is having a tough time. Luckily for you, using a bumper is acceptable or dropping calls is not a big deal.

Anyway, enough from the negativity, why don't you return the phone to Apple and ask their opinion about their claims? I'd love to see somebody writing to Apple about these issues. We haven't got any of those "get over it/this is a non issue/you are holding it wrong/not gonna happen/stay tuned" emails for weeks.
 
I don't really think it matters too much,

Cars, Phones, iPods, Watches, Jewellry...

They all will show wear and tear from normal use... Unless your phone is made from diamond it will scratch...

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it... In 2 years you'll probably have a new one anyway! :rolleyes:
 
You'll probably replace it in a year so even if it breaks there's a new one around the corner.
 
durability is never associated with Apple products. They are made with cheap material and parts. designed to be replaced in a year or two, and with deliberately crippled functionalities, otherwise how can Apple sell a new generation to existing customers every year?

Dumb Nokia, thats why they are in trouble!
 
Not to nitpick, but how "strong" a metal is and how scratch-resistant it is are two different things. Scratch resistance, tensile strength, yield strength, ultimate strength... these are all different things. For scratch resistance diamond would be ideal, for yield strength you'd want kevlar, for ultimate strength carbon or silicon.

Often steel is mixed with other materials to create an alloy with a property mix that is adequate for the application while keeping costs low.

All metals are compromises.
 
Purchased an otterbox defender and have put my phone through some pretty harsh conditions yet when I take it out of the case it still looks new. Would highly suggest looking into the otterbox line of cases.
 
lvyelion said:
durability is never associated with Apple products. They are made with cheap material and parts. designed to be replaced in a year or two, and with deliberately crippled functionalities, otherwise how can Apple sell a new generation to existing customers every year?
Click to expand...

Brilliant honesty! Thank you.
 
D1G1T4L said:
Purchased an otterbox defender and have put my phone through some pretty harsh conditions yet when I take it out of the case it still looks new. Would highly suggest looking into the otterbox line of cases.
Click to expand...

+ 1

I find Otterbox ugly ... Yet an excellent product that must be ugly to get the job done... :)

I have several.
 
My phone has never shared a pocket. I took off the bumper because I hated it and the back of my phone is scratched to smitherines.

I'm assuming it's the oleophobic coating that's scratching and not the glass.

Very fragile. Oh well.
 
kernkraft said:
Have you tried to drop it yet? That so-called 'gorilla glass' shatters like it's made of the cheapest kind of glass.

I'm afraid, that is how Apple is reinventing the phone again. Again. Quality control at Apple is having a tough time. Luckily for you, using a bumper is acceptable or dropping calls is not a big deal.

Anyway, enough from the negativity, why don't you return the phone to Apple and ask their opinion about their claims? I'd love to see somebody writing to Apple about these issues. We haven't got any of those "get over it/this is a non issue/you are holding it wrong/not gonna happen/stay tuned" emails for weeks.
Click to expand...

Yup, 5 or 6 times with no case and it's still flawless. How can Apple prevent you from being a klutz? I mean, if I break my TV with a wiimote who's fault is it really? (Hint - It's not Nintendo's)
 
The iPhone 4's durability does worry me, but so far I haven't dropped it. I do think the original iPhone was a more robust design, but I've seen plenty of screens crack on those. And the 3G and 3GS also had easy to crack screens. The issue with the 4 is the back is made of glass too now. At least the back is incredibly easy to replace on the 4 compared to other models
 
i heard a lot of horror stories about the fragility of the ip4. for me, there are many occasions where my phone falls from my lap while driving (goes into the hole next to the armrest, you know what i mean).

it seems like a requirement to have a case for the ip4, after all, the exterior is made of GLASS!

im currently a Droid X owner and let me tell you, the DX has much more durability than the ip4.

ip4 seems like a high maintenance girl compared to that of the durable DX. The DX has rubberized exterior, so its not easy to stain or scratch. I have actually dropped the DX accidentally (from not so high though) and there has not been one scratch thus far.

based on the fragility of the ip4, it seems as though the engineers took into account that most users would put a case over it, which is fail imo.
 
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Get an OtterBox case, and don't worry so much.
 
kernkraft said:
Have you tried to drop it yet? That so-called 'gorilla glass' shatters like it's made of the cheapest kind of glass.

I'm afraid, that is how Apple is reinventing the phone again. Again. Quality control at Apple is having a tough time. Luckily for you, using a bumper is acceptable or dropping calls is not a big deal.

Anyway, enough from the negativity, why don't you return the phone to Apple and ask their opinion about their claims? I'd love to see somebody writing to Apple about these issues. We haven't got any of those "get over it/this is a non issue/you are holding it wrong/not gonna happen/stay tuned" emails for weeks.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's because it's actually not a gorilla glass? As I understand, Gorilla Glass is made by Corning and iPhone uses something else (home grown glass - chimpanzee glass?)
 
lilo777 said:
Maybe it's because it's actually not a gorilla glass? As I understand, Gorilla Glass is made by Corning and iPhone uses something else (home grown glass - chimpanzee glass?)
Click to expand...

And you know that Apple doesn't use Gorilla Glass, how exactly? Corning recently stated that they are not allowed to reveal the identity of some of their customers. But hey, don't let that slow down the steady stream of FUD we've come to expect from you. :rolleyes:
 
GamecockMac said:
And you know that Apple doesn't use Gorilla Glass, how exactly? Corning recently stated that they are not allowed to reveal the identity of some of their customers. But hey, don't let that slow down the steady stream of FUD we've come to expect from you. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

In other words, there is absolutely no proof that Apple uses Gorilla Glass. That's exactly what I said. People should not say it's Gorilla Glass when there is absolutely no indications that it is.

And if you want how I know, read this article: "According to 21st Century Business Herald, a Chinese newspaper, the problems all stem from a Chinese factory by the name of Lens Technology, which is apparently responsible for transforming fine raw glass into the majority of the iPhone glass panels that are currently out there (no mention of Corning here either).

A rather boring and bland name for a glass manufacturer – Lens Technology isn’t exactly a household name to the average gadget consumer. It is the manufacturing company that many top brands such as Huawei, Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and many more have been going to since it’s launch in July 1993. The company’s set up sever plants all over China and most recently in Liuyang, Hunan that currently houses about 14,000 workers. Although it’s still merely a faction of Foxconn’s 400,000 employees in Shenzen, Lens’ recent intake of about 7,000 “post-90s” workers led to many disciplinary issues. Although this still wasn’t the reason for the white iPhone 4 delay."

SO, who is spreading FUD exactly?
 
Leaving drop protection aside for a moment, one look and feel will tell you that for a cell phone, the ip4 is hardly cheaply made. It's actually a surprisingly well made phone, to suggest it's cheaply made for a phone makes you look silly to me, sorry.
 
Megalobyte said:
Leaving drop protection aside for a moment, one look and feel will tell you that for a cell phone, the ip4 is hardly cheaply made. It's actually a surprisingly well made phone, to suggest it's cheaply made for a phone makes you look silly to me, sorry.
Click to expand...

It looks good but breaks way too easy. Perhaps if Apple was willing to pay a little more for Gorilla Glass the phone would not be as brittle.
 
lilo777 said:
In other words, there is absolutely no proof that Apple uses Gorilla Glass. That's exactly what I said. People should not say it's Gorilla Glass when there is absolutely no indications that it is.

And if you want how I know, read this article: "According to 21st Century Business Herald, a Chinese newspaper, the problems all stem from a Chinese factory by the name of Lens Technology, which is apparently responsible for transforming fine raw glass into the majority of the iPhone glass panels that are currently out there (no mention of Corning here either)."

SO, who is spreading FUD exactly?
Click to expand...

Oh, well if 21st Century Business Herald said it, then it must be true. Everyone knows that publication is an infallible and well-respected source of tech news. I mean, they've been around since 2001, and actually moved from publishing weekly to 5 times a week in 2008, and have a daily circulation of 762,000 in a nation of 1.3 billion people. :rolleyes:

In other words, there is absolutely no proof that Apple doesn't use Gorilla Glass.

On Corning's own website (http://www.corning.com/gorillaglass/devices.aspx) the following companies are listed as using this product in handheld and PC applications:

LG
Meizu
Motorola
NEC
Samsung
Sonim
SK Telesys
Motion Computing

Followed by this disclaimer: "Corning’s Gorilla glass has been designed into more than 100 models by 19 major brands. Due to confidentiality agreements, there are certain customers we are not allowed to talk about externally."

So there are ELEVEN other brands using their glass. And of the possibilities, who has a well-known penchant for being secretive about their components?
 
A friend of mine is a total clutz. I saw him drop his Iphone4 5 times onto a concrete floor in the span of a few hours, without a case/bumper.

I saw my girlfriend drop her iphone4 without a case/bumper onto a concrete floor once. Her phone got a small scuff on the plastic trim around the glass, which is totally hidden by her case / bumper now (which she now uses, since the drop)

Also, I've personally seen zero cracked screens. I've seen pictures on the internet of cracked screens, and I'll accept that it's possible if you have really bad luck and circumstances lead to it breaking in your fall, and there's a good chance if you throw it as hard as you can at the floor that it will break.

I won't say it's impossible to break the screen by accidentally dropping it, nor will I say that I'd intentionally drop mine, but I do think it's certainly *reasonably* durable.
 
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