from the don't-carry-sandpaper-in-your-pocket dept.
"The purported iPhone 6 sapphire display panel came off worse in an encounter with a sheet of sandpaper in a new video test, ending hopes the new screen tech would be completely scratch-proof.
After taking a knife and keys to the display with no negative impact, YouTuber Marques Brownlee decided to get serious with some rather coarse sandpaper, in his latest post. Compared with the Gorilla Glass iPhone 5S display, the iPhone 6 emerged from the battle in better shape, showing the new material is indeed tougher, but by no means invulnerable."
The full article from techradar.com is here.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Appalbarry on Monday July 21 2014, @10:18PM
And, in related news, it is still possible to break an iPhone with single blow of a five pound sledge hammer.
Out here in the Real World we judge smart phone durability by less dramatic things: Occasional drops from pocket to floor, minor dunkings in water - the sort of things that are usual and which I expect any reasonable bit of portable technology will handle without too much problem.
FWIW my old Nexus S survived both water and droppages any number times and just kept going, even after the screen was cracked in several places. I considered that a pretty good track record. Strangely enough I can't recall the screen ever collecting any noticeable scratches though.
(Score: 4, Informative) by LoRdTAW on Monday July 21 2014, @10:36PM
Garbage article. The author did not mention the type of sandpaper he used. There are different abrasive types and they vary in hardness, most of them are extremely hard and are as hard or harder than sapphire and come close to diamond. Aluminum oxide is as hard as sapphire on the Mohs scale which means they can scratch each other. Another thing that bugs me is the authors speculation about the glass not being pure sapphire. How did he arrive at this conclusion, because he could scratch it? Did he research the abrasive he used in his tests and compare hardness numbers? This is pure speculation and not at all scientific. There is no article here, just a traffic generator trying to get hits by stirring up the Apple crowd. Then he links a stupid video of someone shooting s screen with an arrow and it shatters. As if they expected different. Hit a diamond with a hammer and it too will shatter. Just because something is hard does not mean it is strong. You trade brittleness for hardness. Shame on you Chris Smith (If that is your real name).
And lets be honest here, if you want to scratch something you will find a way to do it. Diamond can scratch diamond, you learn this in grade school science class. I doubt people carry around sheets of sandpaper or other highly abrasive materials in their pockets. For everyday objects like metals such as keys and coins or even many small rocks or pebbles, sapphire is perfect for for the job.
(Score: 1) by taiki on Monday July 21 2014, @11:20PM
If you read the article, you'd see the linked video.
Video explains he used garnet and emory.
There is a story here, unfortunately the story distills the information in the linked video. It's low effort content, but there's content.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday July 21 2014, @11:40PM
Right, but even the TEXT does say it was garnet.
And the point still stands that this means Sapphire in NOT what the screen is made of. So its either a trade name or some other much less hard composition that has some tiny bit of sapphire in it (toward what end?).
Not everyone has sand paper in their pocket. Still you will scratch it eventually. Probably women's more than men's. Digging a phone out of a purse wearing a diamond ring has scratched more than one screen.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Tuesday July 22 2014, @12:27AM
Plenty of people do have some sand or grit in their pockets and this is a common way for screens to get scratched, even with Gorilla glass. Odds are though that it actually is sapphire glass and the testers were just holding it wrong.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday July 22 2014, @02:13AM
In my case its not the holding I have to worry about its the dropping.
Thankfully my office is carpeted.
I've never destroyed a smartphone yet, or broken a screen. (I've only owned 4), and all of them are still working, minor scratches and all. They sit on my desk, I use them for various things like running CsipSimple for talking to my over seas friends.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Funny) by tibman on Tuesday July 22 2014, @03:15AM
I use mine while "adventuring" and have scratched it badly a few times. All it takes is one tiny mineral/crystal spec on the end of your finger. You'll do the unlock code and realize you've permanently etched the code onto the screen : (
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by danomac on Monday July 21 2014, @10:47PM
So let's use sandpaper! While we're at it, let's use a belt sander!</sarcasm> How is this even close to average day-to-day use?
(Score: 1) by tizan on Monday July 21 2014, @11:34PM
Some of us have rough finger tips....that feel like sandpaper...we work with our hands.
We are not all rich kids sitting on our bums having hands smooth as babies bums !
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday July 22 2014, @12:31AM
We don't want no people who "work with our hands" to pretend they deserve to carry the same iToys as us!
(Score: 1) by arslan on Tuesday July 22 2014, @01:16AM
Rich kids have diamond encrusted fingers... so yea that is even harder than whatevers on the sand paper
(Score: 2, Informative) by Adamsjas on Tuesday July 22 2014, @12:07AM
I run belt sanders and orbitals in my shop, get grit on my gloves, bench, etc. I really do have to be careful when setting down a phone. Messed up my prior iphone screen laying it face down on the bench. It was like 5 weeks old at the time.
Wasn't even funny when my wife said I was holding it wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 22 2014, @04:47AM
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Tork on Monday July 21 2014, @11:30PM
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