Pixel 5 teardown shows how a metal phone supports wireless charging:
Want to know how Google's Pixel 5 supports wireless charging despite a predominantly metal body? Google explained the essence of how it works, but a video teardown at PBKReviews (via 9to5Google) has eliminated the mystery altogether. There's a large cutout in the middle of the otherwise aluminum shell that lets the wireless charging coil work its wonders — the bio-resin plastic you see on the outside merely gives the illusion of an uninterrupted surface.
[...] The teardown reflects Google's play-it-safe approach to the Pixel 5. While it's willing to use a clever trick to add a staple feature like wireless charging, this isn't a radical reinvention. The company is focused on delivering the fundamentals at a competitive price, and that apparently involves a conservative design.
(Score: 2, Troll) by SomeGuy on Tuesday November 03 2020, @08:27PM (4 children)
Sorry, don't want one, don't need one, don't care about smell phones. I know, I know, "Luddite" for not being a consumertard and not buying things I don't need.
Don't forget to download the free app/malware! OR ELSE!
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday November 03 2020, @08:54PM (3 children)
My first reaction to the article is "why is a phone metal?"
Plastic seems like such a superior material for this application. Maybe it isn't recyclable, but if you think your phone is being really recycled the joke is on you.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by slinches on Tuesday November 03 2020, @10:37PM (2 children)
It has to be metal sandwiched between thin sheets of glass so it can be hyper-thin and insanely fragile. That way they can sell bulky protective cases and charge exorbitant prices for repairs. Hard to charge $150 for a replacement frame that's made with less than a penny's worth of injection molded plastic.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Tuesday November 03 2020, @10:51PM (1 child)
They're not selling bulky protective cases. There are other companies selling those cases, but the phone makers aren't getting a cut of that. The case makers sell them because a portion of the phone buyers want more protection than the bare phone offers. They're not standard because a different portion of phone buyers think cases are "uncool" and that cool people will happily risk scratching and breakage to show conspicuous consumption, because only poor people would be sad that their $1000 phone died or got a broken screen when it fell off a table.
I do wonder sometimes what a phone would look like if a large, mainstream maker like Samsung or LG made a phone that didn't need a case, but still offered the same protection as, say, one of their current phones inside an Otterbox Defender. They could surely make a more efficient overall package. Until then, I'm pretty happy with my Defender cases.
(Score: 2) by mrchew1982 on Wednesday November 04 2020, @04:19AM
The active series from Samsung have protective corners built in, and industrial phones like the CAT come with a case out of the box.
Metal is becoming more prevalent in phones for the same reason that it's prevalent in cars, it's cheap and can soak up a lot of damage by deforming rather than cracking or shattering like plastic.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Frosty Piss on Wednesday November 04 2020, @01:06AM
Couldn’t you all even make an attempt to use the original source? The flashy hip happenin’ Engadget “story” is virtually a cut-and-paste copy of its source, PBKReviews. Neither actually show much (as in nothing) and force one to watch some advertisement laden YouTube nonsense.