My old $200 Motorola G9 Power phone lasted almost 4 years with only very minor scratches. Obviously in that period I have dropped it a few times getting out of the car, where the phone sometimes work itself out of my pant pocket while I drive, and then it slips out when I get out of the car. But no problem on my previous phones, despite the Moto had cheap Panda glass front.
Then I bought my $800 glass back Xiaomi 13T Pro in January, and I loved the phone for the camera and good specs. But alas after only 4 months, and single drop of just 30 cm while sitting on the porch, the glass back immediately cracked! The back now looks like an ugly mess, and the high water resistance is very likely gone too.
For sure the last time I buy a phone with a glass back!!!
I wonder why glass back is so popular, and I curse the media for reviewing the Samsung Galaxy S2 as “feeling a bit cheap”, because the back was synthetic, and drop tests showed it was 10 times as durable as the iPhone with its glass back.
Samsung did it right in the beginning, glass backs are a curse.
PS: I don’t use condoms for my phones, if they need that for daily use, it’s an obvious design flaw!!!
The glass back is supposedly there to give a premium feel to the phone. But because it’s fragile, people have to use a cover, but with the cover, the premium feel of a glass back is gone anyways?
How is glass back not a design flaw?
EDIT FOR CLARIFICATION:
I am not clumsy, that’s why I believe the phone should be able to last without cover. This was the first time the phone slid out of my packet, and I’ve NEVER dropped it out of my hands. One 30 cm slip and it’s broken. Where for instance my Moto had maybe 4-6 in all over the years, and remained unscathed, apart from some tiny scratches.
The sliding out of pocket does occur maybe a couple of times per year, but it’s a low drop, and the phone should absolutely be able to handle that tiny drop, as it’s an item for everyday use.
I’ve also never had problems with scratches on my screen on any phone, which is the reason people use screen protectors I guess, which I don’t either, because they are ugly, for instance they create a tiny ring around the camera, and they feel awful IMO, my phone came with it, and it took exactly 10 seconds for me to decide to remove it, because I could feel the edge of the screen protector when using the phone.
But please stop with the dropping my phone regularly comments! Just because I dropped my Moto a few times (slid out of pocket) over almost 4 years! Always from low height, which it should be able to handle a few times.
You don’t use a condom because you know you’ll get a girl pregnant, you do it on the slim possibility. There’s always going to be outliers, and refusing to prepare for the possibility because it’s remote is playing with fire. It’s asking for a worst case scenario when the preventative measures are so very easy out of pure arrogant principle.
The only difference here is, you’re born with the tools you have, so you use what you need to make them do what you want. He bought this one specifically with the flaw when others without the flaw are available (though with different specs or price).
I see this post as a rant by someone who didn’t do some research, refused to use what was available to protect the purchase, and is blaming the manufacturer for them buying it.
Doesn’t change the fact that glass back is a design flaw. Yes obviously I should have used a case with this stupid phone, but I didn’t have to with any of my previous phones, 14 years with smartphones with full glass fronts. most of which I’ve had for about 3 years. But they all had plastic/polymer/leather backs. None of them ever broke, because I’m generally careful. If I drop them, it’s from my pants pocket while sitting down, so it’s a low drop, just like it was in this case. Except the phone broke its back because it was made of glass. I have small scratches on my old Motorola for being dropped at the exact same angle, a phone that cost a fourth of my current phone!!!