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Cellphones Hardware

Samsung's 'Ultra Thin Glass' On Galaxy Z Flip Is Basically Just Plastic (arstechnica.com) 47

Posted by BeauHD from the liar-liar-pants-on-fire dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: YouTuber JerryRigEverything regularly does destructive durability tests on phones, partly by attacking a device with a set of Mohs picks. These pointy metal tools that are calibrated to the Mohs scale of mineral hardness allow a user to determine the hardness of a surface by doing a scratch test. You start with the softest pick and work your way up the set until you find something that can scratch the surface you're testing. A modern smartphone with Corning's Gorilla Glass scratches at level 6 on the Mohs hardness scale. The Galaxy Z Flip features a first-of-its-kind flexible glass cover that Samsung calls "Ultra-Thin Glass." Until now, foldables have had to suffer through life with plastic display covers, which scratch easily, don't provide much protection, and just like a resistive touchscreen, feel bad to swipe around on, thanks to the squishy pliability of the display. With this new invention of flexible glass, the Z Flip promised a return to a hard, smooth, scratch-resistant display surface.

So how did the Z Flip fare against JerryRigEverything's Mohs picks? It scratches at level 2, the same level as the plastic-covered Galaxy Fold and Moto Razr. You can actually leave marks on the surface with a fingernail! This is not what Samsung was promising. Samsung sent The Verge a response to the video, reiterating that the display is actually "glass." "Galaxy Z Flip features an Infinity Flex Display with Samsung's Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) to deliver a sleek, premium look and offer an immersive viewing experience," Samsung told the site. "Samsung's first-of-its-kind UTG technology is different from other Galaxy flagship devices. While the display does bend, it should be handled with care. Also, Galaxy Z Flip has a protective layer on top of the UTG similar to Galaxy Fold." In Samsung's official Z Flip videos, the company shows a plastic "protective layer" going on top of the glass display. But as Ars Technica notes, this layer is not removable and JerryRigEverything's video shows that the underlying "glass" layer doesn't provide protection from punctures, either.

With that said, "One Twitter user cracked their Galaxy Z Flip on the first fold, possibly due to cold weather," reports Ars. "So we know it can shatter, at least."
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Samsung's 'Ultra Thin Glass' On Galaxy Z Flip Is Basically Just Plastic More

Samsung's 'Ultra Thin Glass' On Galaxy Z Flip Is Basically Just Plastic

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  • Settle down (Score:5, Funny)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Monday February 17, 2020 @07:15PM (#59737844) Journal

    Relax, their Ultra Thin Glass is made of Ultra Thin Plastic. "We just call it 'glass' to sell more units", said a Samsung spokesperson.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by shmlco ( 594907 )

      Actually, I'm starting to think that JerryRigEverything or someone else should do an physical comparison of the screens on the Z Flip and on the Fold. Both feel the same and scratch the same.

      I'd almost be willing to bet that the screens are identical and that Samsung's marketing department said, "Hey, look. There's glass on the inside, right? So we'll call it glass and in the process distance ourself from all of the bad press surrounding the Fold's "plastic" screen."

      Everyone nods their heads, and a phone wi

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        The screen on the Z looks a lot better than the screen on the Fold, despite not being any more robust. The Fold looks cheap and like plastic, the Z looks more like glass. Plastic isn't as clear as glass and reflects light differently (more diffuse).

  • At a stretch, Samsung's claim that the layer is "glass" could hold up. Kinda.

    Glass is a solid material that lacks long-range atomic order.

  • It isnâ(TM)t Apple overcharging for stuff...it is Samsung, delivering fairly priced, top quality merchandise...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shmlco ( 594907 )

      Top quality merchandise with a screen that scratches with a fingernail and breaks the first time you try to use it?

      Is that the fairly priced, top quality merchandise to which you're referring?

  • We need Apple to come out with a foldable or expandable or rollable display so everyone else will know how to make one that's not terrible.

    • Knowing Apple they'd probably do some dumb crap like put the charging port in the hinge so you can't charge it while it's open.

      • Knowing Apple they'd probably do some dumb crap like put the charging port in the hinge so you can't charge it while it's open.

        Jeez! Give it a rest, willya?!?

        One stupid (I agree, very stupid) port-location on one minor Product (Magic Mouse 2) five years ago, and you act like it's the end of the world...

    • We need Apple to come out with a foldable or expandable or rollable display so everyone else will know how to make one that's not terrible.

      They're working on it...

      https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]

  • since the hinge will probably get all messed up, quickly.

    Oh well, I guess I'll save the thirteen hundred bucks and just buy a nice Pixel 4 (or three) instead.

    The other benefit? It doesn't have Samsungs crappy UI.

  • The big problem with most phones is they already have way too much glass on them and aren't durable enough. The software is not producing a smart phone, it's producing an entertainment phone and it's questionable that it's any more productive than the old half indestructible flip phones in the phone realm of things. It was probably easier to take and dial calls with a flip phone. Easier to hold, better beep alert for missed calls, far better battery life. They still have a lot going for them because smartph

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

      The software is not producing a smart phone, it's producing an entertainment phone and it's questionable that it's any more productive than the old half indestructible flip phones in the phone realm of things. It was probably easier to take and dial calls with a flip phone.

      It's not remotely questionable. Flip phones had SMS and MMS and email and the smart phone form factor cleaned their clocks.

      The only question is how you want to redefine "productive" to encompass only your use case and not that of the vas

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shmlco ( 594907 )

        "Flip phones had SMS and MMS and email ..."

        They did. If you could find those features at all, and if you didn't mind typing every other letter two or three times. ;)

    • It was probably easier to take and dial calls with a flip phone.

      Sure - and you had to manually dial, because using the address book feature was so slow that it was faster to type the numbers. Now, I don't know anyone's phone number - and that's fine. It's just so easy to operate a touch screen dialer with an address book.

      • And only teens used text messaging because having to key in a 26-letter alphabet plus punctuation with a 10-button keyboard was tedious and stupid. And if you phone could do email, nobody used it because the screen was tiny and shitty and you could only see two sentences at a time, if that.

        I would argue that todays phones are orders of magnitude more efficient at communication, because we can do short text messaging and receive communications silently and without bothering everyone in a 10 foot radius with

  • BeauHD, you need to follow what msmash is posting: https://mobile.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]

  • Here's a rational person about the subject from MobileTechReview:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Junta ( 36770 )

      While I appreciate an attempt at a 'balanced' perspective, I think she goes too far to stand up for Samsung.

      She kept stating that it would be difficult to explain to people and she didn't envy Samsung's marketing task, but it really isn't difficult.

      'We have a special screen with better color and clarity than other phones of its class'
      'A glass layer adds clarity and color and a plastic layer adds (whatever the hell it adds, probably some mitigation of shattering with pressure?)'.

      They know very well that to t

  • Why do we need phones that fold or roll up or whatever? It sits in my pocket or on a table charging 99% of the time. If I'm holding/using it, why do I need to change the shape or fold it or whatever?

    • I don't need it personally, but it should allow a substantially larger screen that still folds and fits in a pocket.

    • Foldability is not the way to go though, IMHO. I don't want to unfold it every time.

      I think they should merely look larger and further away than they are. But I don't know how to do that, without requiring glasses.

    • It's a solution in search of a problem. Samsung invented flexible displays and they still have no idea how to make them commercially useful. They first tried curved TVs and curved monitors. Those didn't really catch on. Now they're trying to convince people that they want devices that fold - just because that sounds futuristic and not because anyone has a real need or great desire for it.

  • I find the texture of paper, especially thick paper, so much nicer. Not slipper,y and with an actual feel of how much pressure I'm applying.

    But I like replaceable batteries too.
    And real keyboards.
    And headphone jacks.
    And computers that I have access to as the owner.
    And actually owning the things I paid for.
    And having gears and brakes on my bicycle.
    And having blood in and space around my testicles.
    And thinking for myself. Eww.
    And I think 2+2=4.

    Maybe I'm just a crazy nutter.

  • You're folding it wrong.
  • So it will shatter, but not protect? Glass - all of the downside, none of the benefits! You're doing it wrong Samsung!!!

  • Why? (Score:2)

    by razorh ( 853659 )
    What is the point?

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