Actually it won't, the metal in keys is softer than glass, try it on your old iPhone, you'll be surprised you can take a key to the screen and it wont scratch. You would either need an unreasonable amount of pressure, or a material harder than glass to scratch it. (Diamond, Quartz).
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Scratches Appear on Early iPhone 4 Review Unit
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Actually it won't, the metal in keys is softer than glass, try it on your old iPhone, you'll be surprised you can take a key to the screen and it wont scratch. You would either need an unreasonable amount of pressure, or a material harder than glass to scratch it. (Diamond, Quartz).
It's no wonder they scratched their i4, all those metro Engadget guys wear fancy designer jeans covered in metal bling.
This does need to be on the front page. I have no doubt in my mind that there are some people out there who ate up every single one of Job's words on the glass during the WWDC and came to the conclusion that nothing could damage it.
Ugh. I am sincerely curious about this as I have considered using my iPhone in a more exposed way, but while this is an interesting topic, this information from Engadget does not provide useful details: how did it become scratched?
Was he walking around with the iPhone rubbing against his keys? If I did that I wouldn't be surprised to see scratching turning up.
That said, I know plenty of people who have kept their iPhones exposed in their pockets, with what I assume are glass faces inferior to Gorilla Glass, and never had problems with on-screen scratching (the plastic backs were certainly scratchable, though). If Gorilla Glass is more resistant to scratching, it stands to reason that scratching would have to have been born of irresponsibility. Perhaps the assumption that it is near immune, and treatment of the phone through corresponding means?
*And is it really confirmed that it is Gorilla Glass?
I know iFixIt theorized...
Was he walking around with the iPhone rubbing against his keys? If I did that I wouldn't be surprised to see scratching turning up.
That said, I know plenty of people who have kept their iPhones exposed in their pockets, with what I assume are glass faces inferior to Gorilla Glass, and never had problems with on-screen scratching (the plastic backs were certainly scratchable, though). If Gorilla Glass is more resistant to scratching, it stands to reason that scratching would have to have been born of irresponsibility. Perhaps the assumption that it is near immune, and treatment of the phone through corresponding means?
*And is it really confirmed that it is Gorilla Glass?
I know iFixIt theorized...
I would like to see what caused the scratches.
My 3gs has no scratches on the screen, but I admit I never put anything in my pocket with my phone and don't really do much with it that would ever make it prone to scratching.
I can't imagine that they would make it less scratch resistant than the previous phones. Especially with the bulk of the phones surface area being glass.
My 3gs has no scratches on the screen, but I admit I never put anything in my pocket with my phone and don't really do much with it that would ever make it prone to scratching.
I can't imagine that they would make it less scratch resistant than the previous phones. Especially with the bulk of the phones surface area being glass.
I'm afraid you are using big words like "polymer" without actually understanding them.
Unless Apple is flat-out lying, the front and back are made out of aluminosilicate glass. Glass is not a polymer. Technically a glass is an inorganic solid material which would normally crystalize, but which has been cooled rapidly enough that crystallization does not occur and thus features a disordered atomic structure.
Aluminosilicate glass is... glass. No, it's not the same chemical composition as standard soda-lime glass, but it is every bit as much "true" glass. Most glasses are not particularly difficult to scratch, so I'm not sure why you are suggesting that "true" glass is more scratch resistant than this.
The fact that it is flexible does not demonstrate that it is not glass. Thin glass is quite flexible; we wouldn't be able to make fiber optic cables out of glass otherwise.
Please stop spreading disinformation.
I plan to put the InvisibleShield on my phones tomorrow as I have with all of my Apple mobile devices. I don't even like to risk getting it all scratched up. I'm sure someone will chime in with "why would you do that?" or "good luck with it peeling", but it's my phone, not yours. Protect (or don't protect) your devices in whatever way you see fit.
Can't believe it scratches that easily. My iPhone 3G is nearly two years old now but it doesn't have any scratch on the glass even though I always carry it around in my pocket, sometimes with keys or coins. At times, when I put it on a desk, I even put the backside up so that the screen touches the desk.
If the new iPhone 4 really scratches THAT easily, they just should have used the glass they put into the 3G.
If the new iPhone 4 really scratches THAT easily, they just should have used the glass they put into the 3G.
Yeah, hate it when that happens; makes it look like your device has scabs on it...
I always cover mine. Now I just have to wait for the Invisible Shield/Skins, stupid Zagg... messing up my order and waiting a week to tell me. #&*@&&%*# 
On the other hand, I've had mine for just over 2 hours. If a phone can be beautiful, this is.
Well done, Apple (even though I just found out you charged [sorry "held"] TWICE the amount I ordered to my DEBIT card and overdrew my account. Yea, I'll be getting in touch with you about that).
On the other hand, I've had mine for just over 2 hours. If a phone can be beautiful, this is.
Well done, Apple (even though I just found out you charged [sorry "held"] TWICE the amount I ordered to my DEBIT card and overdrew my account. Yea, I'll be getting in touch with you about that).
Apple is the only company I can think of whose products are held up to such "scratch standards". Cell phones are scratch magnets because they go everywhere with you, it's common sense that eventually they will gain some sort of imperfection. Expecting something to be scratch-proof is unrealistic. I'm sure if Apple made a full case for the iPhone, people would complain about scratches on the case itself.
Uh oh. And I was hoping to keep my iPhone 4 naked as I'm sick of the case and screen-protector gunk on my 3GS (not to mention hiding the design inside a lesser-designed case and the difficulty dragging things to the screen edge with the case bevel).
That said, these gadget bloggers are notoriously rough on their equipment and probably aren't representative of normal use.
Ah well, I'm going naked this time. It's the most beautiful iPhone yet. It definitely makes its (current) competitors look like cheap toys. I'll live with the inevitable scratches. I'm just hoping I don't have an unlucky drop that shatters both front and back pieces of glass.
That said, these gadget bloggers are notoriously rough on their equipment and probably aren't representative of normal use.
Ah well, I'm going naked this time. It's the most beautiful iPhone yet. It definitely makes its (current) competitors look like cheap toys. I'll live with the inevitable scratches. I'm just hoping I don't have an unlucky drop that shatters both front and back pieces of glass.
Maybe it's not an issue of the glass itself, but the olenophobic coating which from what I know, is simply a type of polymer I.E plastic, and plastic tends to scratch. My iPad's screen has a quite long scratch (on the screen) <which even more funnily does not behave like a NORMAL scratch under light and that furthermore makes me think it's the coating's 'Fault'>, after 2 days of use and it not leaving being used ON A BLANKET, using a case and wiping it down, apparently it may have been the cloth's fault, but then again let's not go crazy and think that toughened glass would be scratched by a clean cloth :/ No happy, coating gorilla glass with plastic seems pointless to me...
This is what I'm thinking it is. Just some heavy smudge marks that can wipe off or scratch off with a finger nail.
This is dumb..didn't anyone take basic chemistry in high school? mineral hardness scale. The phone obviously isn't made out of something harder than a diamond (WHICH ARE PRETTY COMMONPLACE!), so it CAN BE SCRATCHED. If you aren't an idiot, your screen won't get damaged.
Probably just put it in his pocket and his keys tore it up he he. Apples is pretty good on making things right. Hey, just take it back and get your money back then! There are cases made for the iPhone and anyone without one is just asking for inevitablity to happen... you WILL drop it.... it's just a matter of time.
I wonder how they managed to scratch it
I'm not too worried. I think engadget have not been treating their unit with much care: (from the engadget iphone 4 review)
"On that note, we've actually seen the iPhone 4 tossed with and without a bumper across a room (one hit a wall) with no issue, and we dropped ours pretty hard from about two feet up onto tile with nary a scratch."
I'm not too worried. I think engadget have not been treating their unit with much care: (from the engadget iphone 4 review)
"On that note, we've actually seen the iPhone 4 tossed with and without a bumper across a room (one hit a wall) with no issue, and we dropped ours pretty hard from about two feet up onto tile with nary a scratch."
So.. Has this guy been sharpening his cutlery set on his iPhone? Or...
Everything scratches. I try to be careful enough not to put my phone in the same pocket as my keys and money etc. Doesn't always go to plan though!
Everything scratches. I try to be careful enough not to put my phone in the same pocket as my keys and money etc. Doesn't always go to plan though!
They're not that cheap! £10 for a front Invisible Shield and £15 for a full body shield isn't exactly pennies. Especially when resale value after 18 months between a slightly scratched iPhone and a flawless iPhone is only about £30. It's not really worth it for the handicap of having a horrible feeling shield that keeps peeling off.
Yeah, that's why I chucked my invisible shield and went for a hard back case for my 3GS.