top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 136 points 2 years ago (7 children)

It's time to stop thinking a phone should be premium

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [+] 31 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 children)
  • [–] 23 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

    A tool can also be premium, and there is definitely a difference between an average phone and a premium phone.
    The problem is all the nonsense about the premium FEEL, it's not a feature when it degrades durability, or requires a cover that removes that premium feel anyway. Glass covers are also more slippery, making it more likely to drop out of a pocket or hand bag or even your hands.
    Glass is detrimental in every way for usability, just the extra weight of it, makes drops more likely to cause damage. All the reviewers that push "The Premium Feel" without consideration to the downsides, like being slippery, adding weight, being more fragile and making the phone slightly more bulky, should be banned from making reviews.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
  • load more comments (2 replies)
  • [–] 92 points 2 years ago* (8 children)

    Premium phones make little sense, based on what I've seen everyone puts them in cases anyway. "Premium materials" are slippery and "premium thinness" results in insufficient battery capacity so accessories like phone rings get put on them, and people carry around external battery packs.

    Why not just make a grippy, practical phone that I can use as a tool, with removable batteries, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and expandable memory?

  • source
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago*

    Because that phone would last and you would only need a new one every 4-5 or however many years instead of 1-2 so capitalist companies won't see that as having any value.

    I think companies know what people want and how to make a great phone like that, just none of them will or want to be the first.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 59 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    It's time to stop thinking phones are anything but commodity hardware with variable degrees of shittiness. There are no such things as premium phones, just premium prices.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [+] 47 points 2 years ago (1 child)
    load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 37 points 2 years ago

    I never thought they couldn't. Glass phones were an absolutely ridiculous idea.

  • source
  • [–] 37 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    It's funny that we buy these metal and glass phones and then protect them with rubber and plastic cases.

    New phones are made to show wear so that they lose resale value.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 34 points 2 years ago (11 children)

    "Glass is glass, and glass breaks" I want a metal back phone. I don't care about wireless charging.

    • 8GB ram
    • 250 GB memory
    • ">6000 mah" battery. Thickness doesn't matter.
    • Fast charging
    • 120hz display

    Can anyone suggest me an Android that has all these?

  • source
  • hideshow 11 child comments
  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 children)

    I may have found a phone for you. It's called the unihertz tank 2

    • 12gb ram
    • 256GB memory (expandable)
    • 15500 mah battery
    • 60W charging
    • 120hz display

    https://www.unihertz.com/products/tank-2

    Comes with a few other really interesting features you don't see on any other phone (like a goddamn laser projector?), though i think the processor is a little underpowered.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • load more comments (6 replies)
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [+] 22 points 2 years ago (5 children)
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [+] 22 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)
    [–] 16 points 2 years ago

    Nice to finally see a review stating what I've been thinking ever since the Samsung Galaxy 2 was scorned 13 years ago by reviewers for having a plastic back, and not having the premium feel of the much more fragile iPhone.
    Ever since it's like a conspiracy of reviewers hailing the premium feel of metal unibodies or glass backs, despite the clearly lower quality of those materials, while dissing superior plastic bodies that weigh less, has way better shock absorption, is less bulky, and is less slippery and therefore less prone to drop out of pockets or bags.
    The main reason it feels more "premium" is the extra weight, which is clearly detrimental to usability.

    It's like cheap stuff like cheap loudspeakers, where they have iron bars in them to ad weight, to make the speaker "feel" better. Where a speaker with a stronger (magnet) may actually be better.

    But with phones it is 100% people fooling themselves, if they think heavier is better, and fragile glass is somehow better than sturdy quality synthetics.

  • source
  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I've been saying this for years. Use nice textured recycled plastic. The amount of cool textured and nice feeling materials out there is insane.

    Gimme a plastic screen too. If someone is concerned about scratches they can add a glass protector. Those people already do anyway. There are even plastics that could be used that would resist scratches incredibly well.

    Then my whole phone is flexible and nearly unbreakable.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    I certainly would prefer a plastic backing than a glass one. Why the fuck does every phone have to be encased entirely in glass? It breaks and it's slippery as fuck, making it more prone to slip out of your hand and break. It's so ubiquitous and universally fucking stupid that I am convinced it's purposely designed so you will drop and break it so you have to pay to fix or replace it.

    Every heavy duty aftermarket phone case is mostly plastic and rubberized silicone. Because that shit is 1000 times more durable and shock resistant than glass. Glass's great only for being scratch resistant. There's no reason that every phone couldn't have an otter box-like outer shell built in.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 13 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Phone material stopped mattering the moment camera bumps became a thing. Now, nearly everyone slaps a case to balance out the bump.

    That said, I miss my completely mirrored-back Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 10 points 2 years ago

    Loved my Nokia Lumia phone back in the day. Plastic body and glass screen. Solid af.

  • source
  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago*

    High end plastics are by far the superior material from any usability perspective. I hate glass phones, and the first glass phone I bought of course broke in only 4 months! Where I'd never had a phone break on me before. And any of my older plastic phones would probably barely have noticed the tiny drop that broke my glass back phone.
    Now I have an added plastic cover, which is ugly, and makes the phone unnecessarily bigger than if it had a quality plastic body instead of the moronic glass.

    I will never buy anything but phones with a plastic back in the future. Problem is that often the only alternative is vegan leather, which is also not as durable and will show wear way before a high end plastic back.

  • source
  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago*

    You know what's funny? I dream of a form factor like the Nintendo Switch: fully plastic, even the screen, so I could put a high quality glass screen protector like the one I have on the console. The thing is a tank, surviving many falls without a single damage, and I had to swap the protector once in all these years I have it.

  • source
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    Fuck plastic & the oil industry where it comes from.

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    I understand what you mean, but I disagree, there are places where it isn't necessary, needless use of plastic is a problem. But for the back of a phone, it can avoid buying an even bulkier plastic cover, it can extend the lifetime of the phone, in both cases it reduces waste.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (1 reply)

    nah phones aint premium until the price is lower f*cking phone costs so you dont have to spend half a months salary just to not have it become junk in 3 years and not be a buggy mess at launch premium is not paying an arm and a leg and not having your every move tracked and sold to the highest bidder

  • source
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I will die on the hill that metal unibody phones felt the most premium. Especially Huawei had a few that had a super smooth surface that almost felt like glass.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    It's time to stop deciding what other people should like.

  • source
  • [+] 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)
  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    When I was younger and more naΓ―ve, I used to think a case was useless. I kept my phones in my pocket most of the time, and didn't feel particularly clumsy or reckless. Then I got a phone that happened to have a glass back, and it broke not because I fumbled it, but because it slid out of my pocket onto time floor while I was sitting down. Glass backs on phones are bullshit.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    Ha the exact same thing happened to me. Most expensive phone I ever bought, and it broke first time it was "dropped" slipping out of my pants while I was sitting down. it was such a tiny drop, only half of dropping from a dining table, and probably a third if I was standing with it in my hand.

    The effect of the drop being exponential to the height, the about 35-40cm is really a minuscule drop for an everyday tool. Yet it was enough to break the backside glass, which doesn't even have a purpose, beyond moronic reviewers claiming it FEELS premium.

    Well IMO it's way inferior to high end plastics, that have way better durability, weigh less, is less bulky, and is less slippery. There is simply no comparison, it's infuriating that Samsung made the Galaxy originally with plastic back, but changed it because ALL reviewers claimed it didn't feel premium. Completely disregarding it won ALL durability tests against iPhone by far, it wasn't even a competition.

    Fuck idiotic reviewers that scold a feature that is actually hugely beneficial!!! Fuck the Apple way is always better mindset, even when it clearly isn't.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (11 children)

    I can't think of anything plastic that I'd consider premium, let alone a phone.

    EDIT: Wait, Legos.

  • source
  • hideshow 11 child comments
  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (7 children)

    That's the thinking the article is arguing against.

    But I do have an example.
    High end polycarbonate prescription lenses for glasses.
    The high index, thinnest, lightest lenses, are plastic. Not glass.

    Edit: Thinking more, I wonder how much more expensive it would be to use the same polycarbonate material on phones.
    It would certainly be stronger and less prone to breaking. With good coatings, it would be just as scratch resistant.
    It would offer the same premium look and similar feel as glass. Just lighter.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • load more comments (7 replies)
  • load more comments
    view more: next β€Ί