Debate: Best phone material - plastic vs. metal vs. glass?

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Mariyan Slavov
Mariyan Slavov
Phonearena team
Original poster
• 1y ago

Personally, I've always been a fan of metal (heavy or not) as a phone material. Glass is something you drink your whiskey in, and there's too much plastic in the world anyway. Most metals are 100% recyclable; the trouble is that they conduct heat extremely well, so hot in the Summer, cold in the Winter is how it is with metal phones.


My last metal phone was a Nokia 8 "flagship," and it was actually pretty good. The back was dented, but I was able to sell it to an Android developer when I moved to the glass sandwich table. I really miss metal phones, though...

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LiveFaith
LiveFaith
Arena Master
• 1y ago

Nice discussion. It's high time we jettison the antiquated and inadequate glass/alum sandwich. We need to push new mtls for mobile use, Apple be da#@ed. It's utterly ridiculous to be forced to buy a crappy rebber/plastic case to protect a $1,300 device made from "premium" materials.


HTC used to have super nice white compsite years ago before the herd mentality to copy Apple. Technology needs to move forward in durability too. These devices are MOBILE, not just portable. And NO, i don't mean another worthless version of fragile Gorilla glass that claims another 23% improvement in scratch an break resistance. Breaking from a 3 or 4 for drop is pure idiocy. Plenty of composite and plastics could be used if we'd drop the herd mentality and innovate.

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44alexsmith
44alexsmith
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago

Plastic. Tired of heavy ? phones.

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dnomadic
dnomadic
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago
↵MariyanSlavov said:

Personally, I've always been a fan of metal (heavy or not) as a phone material. Glass is something you drink your whiskey in, and there's too much plastic in the world anyway. Most metals are 100% recyclable; the trouble is that they conduct heat extremely well, so hot in the Summer, cold in the Winter is how it is with metal phones.


My last metal phone was a Nokia 8 "flagship," and it was actually pretty good. The back was dented, but I was able to sell it to an Android developer when I moved to the glass sandwich table. I really miss metal phones, though...

My preference is a glass front with a replaceable plastic back. I miss carrying phones with out cases.


also allows us to easily customize the backs of our phones, makes them lighter, less bulky, allows for wireless charging, limited disruption to cellular reception, cheaper to build…


only issue with plastic is waste?…so give me something like plastic…if I need a premium feel I’ll put it in a case

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Gintasb
Gintasb
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago

From practical point of view plastic is the best for materials... You don't have to worry about shattering anything at all and it is much sturdier than rest of them...

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Techfun94
Techfun94
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago

Metall is by far the best, premium feel in hand, good for cooling the phone, and very durable

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Mariyan Slavov
Mariyan Slavov
Phonearena team
Original poster
• 1y ago
↵44alexsmith said:

Plastic. Tired of heavy ? phones.

I don't feel that a plastic back would make such a weight difference, given the metal frame and glass on top of the screen. 10-15 grams, maybe?

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Tipsy.trex
Tipsy.trex
Arena Apprentice
• 1y agoedited

Plastic, under the assumption it's something super high quality like the Nokia N9 or the iPhone 5C and not cheap plastic like old Samsungs. Durable, feels good, zero radio interference, cheap, easier to work with.

Glass is nice and pretty and you can do some cool stuff with it so I consider it acceptable but I hate that it's standard. Glass is heavy, Glass is fragile, glass is expensive.

Metal on a phone is the dumbest thing. It's heavier than glass, generally more expensive and it blocks signal forcing greater engineering costs to design around it.

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stferrari
stferrari
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago
↵dnomadic said:

My preference is a glass front with a replaceable plastic back. I miss carrying phones with out cases.


also allows us to easily customize the backs of our phones, makes them lighter, less bulky, allows for wireless charging, limited disruption to cellular reception, cheaper to build…


only issue with plastic is waste?…so give me something like plastic…if I need a premium feel I’ll put it in a case

As long as wireless charging works, it is irrelevant to me as I ALWAYS put a good case on my phones. I have Xtra large hands and besides offering great drop protection, a good case (I almost always use Spigen), the case makes the phone fit better in my hand.

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Mariyan Slavov
Mariyan Slavov
Phonearena team
Original poster
• 1y ago
↵dnomadic said:

My preference is a glass front with a replaceable plastic back. I miss carrying phones with out cases.


also allows us to easily customize the backs of our phones, makes them lighter, less bulky, allows for wireless charging, limited disruption to cellular reception, cheaper to build…


only issue with plastic is waste?…so give me something like plastic…if I need a premium feel I’ll put it in a case

I totally agree! There are plastics that are sturdier than most metals and feel more premium than glass. I don't understand the obsession with glass at all... Actually, I would take a rubberized plastic before glass any day of the week

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