Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
You'll soon be able to drop your phone from selfie level worry-free with a little help from Corning. The glass company presented the fifth iteration of its super-resistant Gorilla Glass at an event at its offices in Palo Alto, California.
[...]
The previous version of the glass could survive a drop at about pocket level or below on a rough surface, but with 63 percent of drops occurring between waist and shoulder height, according to Corning, the goal was to increase the total fall distance that a Gorilla Glass-topped phone could withstand.
Gorilla Glass 5 promises to brush off drops of up to 1.6 meters (5 feet, 2 inches) based on Corning's tests, making it almost four times more resistant than regular, unstrengthened glass, the company says.
About 4.5 billion of the world's phones use Gorilla Glass on their displays, and you'll find the topper expanding beyond these pocket-size devices. This year, Ford announced that the 2016 GT model will have Gorilla Glass windshields. Some ATMs will even sport an antimicrobial version of Gorilla Glass on their displays.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @05:42PM
That's why I have an otter box. Without it I'm sure my phone would have been damaged a long time ago. In fact someone I know refused to get a good case for his phone, instead opting for a cheap 99 cents store case, and he ruined his last phone. Now he has a bulky otter box (bulky because he's too cheap to get a more expensive one but at least this one provides good protection).
When you have a $400 - $500 or more phone a $30 or less case is well worth it. Though my phone is obsolete and discontinued now (the S4) I don't plan on getting a new one if I don't have to because I don't need one.
So gorilla glass 4 or 5, with a good case what's the difference again? I'm not going to rely on the glass alone to protect my phone from drops (if it's not the glass something else will break) and anyone that does shouldn't be spending their money on expensive phones. Maybe scratches (though I add a screen protector for that, cheap to replace if they get scratched up).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @05:59PM
Hey. What about the lowest hanging fruit?
So the screen could take a rally car driving over it. But the other parts break if you drop it a foot, and the micro usb port breaks if you wiggle the connector the wrong way.
(Score: 1) by ewibble on Sunday July 24 2016, @07:20PM
Or perhaps your $500 phone should be built or come with a case to protect it form expected everyday use.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Sunday July 24 2016, @11:15PM
My strategy was to buy a cheap phone an leave the protective film on the glass. (I also keep it stowed in my bag most the time).
After about a year, I have to get a custom protective film installed as the original was cracking and peeling.
The film prevents scratches when dropped: which in turn prevent cracks from forming.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Sunday July 24 2016, @06:01PM
1. I vaguely remember when Gorilla Glass 3 came out... in 2013 It seems they are iterating the product every 1-2 years. How much improvement could there really be in each new generation, considering this is a chemistry/physics problem?
2. Will Corning Gorilla Glass even matter in a few years? Bendable displays should be capable of being dropped off a roof and surviving (other components could have trouble).
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @06:09PM
They probably just make it thicker, and I'm sure there are some molecular changes they can make.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Sunday July 24 2016, @06:21PM
Thicker isn't considered an improvement. For example [wikipedia.org]:
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @06:39PM
"Don't eat that, Elmer. That's horse shit." Sounds like typical marketing BS to me. They pretty much go on and on about something every couple of years. If you believe their marketing, you'd think the glass would be invincible and unbreakable by now.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday July 24 2016, @06:54PM
Bingo! It's not about making your screen stronger and doesn't need to. I've only had one broken screen in twenty years of cell phones, but several have drowned. I started carrying a baggie in my pocket for when I was caught in a downpour, but the one I have now is waterproof.
Thinner glass means a thinner phone.
What did you expect when you voted for a convicted felon, peace and rainbows?
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Sunday July 24 2016, @07:16PM
My screen cracked (without dropping it) recently. Since there's no way to prove that it wasn't a drop, I can't really do anything about it. I bought a replacement for $40 and spent a night cursing at it while I replaced the damn thing, breaking some of the bezel in the process. It's not pretty, but it's fully functional again.
Honestly unsure of what happened to the screen. Only thing I can thing of, short of an actual defect, was that it was in the same pocket as my keys (which happens sometimes) and I brushed up against something, stabbing the screen with my keys.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Gravis on Sunday July 24 2016, @07:48PM
the issue is not what to make but how to manufacture it. basically, i can tell you a sheet of carbon all connected by five bonds would be a great screen but then actually manufacturing perfect sheets of diamond is an issue.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Techwolf on Sunday July 24 2016, @08:09PM
All the phone makers just need to add 1 mm of gap between the case and the edge of the glass. Fill it with rubber if you don't want that gap to get dirty. That is all that is need to protect the glass from breaking. When dropped, the edge of the case hits the ground and deforms a bit from the shock, then either rebounds or perm deforms a bit smaller. But due to no gap to absorb this deform, the glass breaks due to not having any ecclesiastically at all.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 24 2016, @09:25PM
due to not having any ecclesiastically at all
Lack of going to church has never killed a soul...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @02:48AM
How about during the Inquisition? (middle ages, Catholics)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @03:59AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 25 2016, @05:10PM
What you say sounds reasonable, but it can't be true. Which do you think is most likely:
1) There is a vast conspiracy [xkcd.com] keeping this technology out of the hands of consumer goods, despite the fact that there is obvious research going into break-resistant phones and the obvious market share a company would earn for providing such a product.
2) There are a lot of really smart engineers and scientists who are paid a lot, but just haven't figured out this one simple trick which you discovered which would revolutionize the industry [xkcd.com].
Conspiracies do happen, and revolutionary ideas do occur. However, in my opinion, it's more likely that the problem "is a lot harder than that."