With Gorilla Glass being on most everything these days, do we need screen protectors? I've been in the habit of buying matte, anti-glare protectors for all my phones for a long time. I've been thinking about if this is at all necessary though, as I've been looking at the Blackberry KEYone, and it doesn't have Gorilla Glass!! It advertises a '4.5" scratch resistant display." What's up with that? Do you guys think there's a reason to use screen protectors in this modern world? How often do you muck up a phone these days?
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Of course there is a reason to have screen protectors. Heck not just looking at phones have you heard what happened with the Nintendo Switch? It scratched in the docking station. I also have seen various people's phones and tablets and hell yeah I sure can say they should have been using screen protectors.
Possibly, my LG G5 came with a screen protector installed even though it has Gorilla Glass but after the protector pealed off I have a few very tiny scratches on the screen, hardly noticeable but still scratches none the less.
I wonder if this is because of a choice to use low-quality glass though. Do Gorilla Glass displays still need them these days?
I mostly ask because screen protectors used to be a talking point among the first things you do when getting a new phone. Maybe people have just moved to cycles where they buy a new phone every 6 months or whatever so they don't care. I usually keep a phone for like 2 or 3 years, so I want it to stay nice.
My OnePlus 3 came with one that was installed like shit so I tore it off and put a matte one of my choice on.
Do you think they're still necessary if using some king of flip case? I tend to use such a case these days.
It depends, if the case can prevent the screen coming into contact with sharp objects that are likely to scratch the screen then you may not need one.
Even tho glass is hard it isn't scratchproof, sure you can live without a screen protector and get minor scratches or you use a cheap one and replace it whenever.
Boils down to personal preference and If you want to keep a higher resale value.
Myself, I don't use a prot but do use a flip cover, and don't touch the screen with gloves since I work in a super dusty environment, as in rock and concrete dust.
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All true. I just remember back when the first large-screen smartphones were coming out and the glass quality was awful. Putting your phone in your pocket and removing it would scratch the thing. I guess the contrast between then and now has me wondering how long until it's really not necessary any more.
If they're of quartz (or diamond lol) then it should be quite worry-free, but I don't think any phone has a genuine quartz screen.
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Diamond screen. I can imagine it's only a matter of time.
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I'll say this:
I had my phone for 2 years... May 2015 i got it. The protector fell off day 1. I took the phone out the store, I put it in my pocket - the protector rolled on the ground.
If today I wipe my phone's screen with a microfiber or wet napkin or something - it's just as good as a brand new screen.
My answer is no...
Then again, i had one of those for the most of those 2 years...
I work as a Barman, so my goal was is protecting my phone from all the alcohol, coffee, milk, etc stuff I work with non stop...
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Might be doable, synthetic diamonds is an old invention and common in the tool industry... not really a farfetched thought If you for example make 'diamond dust' and compress it to a pure and solid plate as long as the sales outpay manufacture.
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Oh synthetic diamonds? But then people might realize that a natural diamond is nothing special and that the value is entirely created by marketing! The jewelry and diamond trading companies would riot.
I'm for it!
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What kind of screen protector are you thinking of? I have tempered glass on my phone, not because I want to protect against scratches, even though it does that too, but to protect the screen from a fall or other force applied which will crush it.
I'd like to see some proof that a screen protector can help against an impact. I'm skeptical, especially in a concentrated impact directly to the screen type of scenario.
I consider the benefit of a screen protectors to be entirely as scratch protection, and anti-glare if you get a matter one.
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I don't use screen protectors. It makes no sense to invest into preservation of tomorrows tech trash.
If you care about your stuff to much you don't own it. It owns you.
It is a tool. Just use it.
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Well, It has saved my screen once. It fell out of my hands and onto some slabs of concrete. The screen protector had cracks, but I could see the screen itself was not harmed at all when I ripped the protector off. The idea of a tempered screen protector is not that it is so hard that it won't break, but that it is layered so a crack will not popagate downwards to the screen itself. You can get different kinds (5, 7 and 9 layers AFAIK), my choice is T9, which has 9 layers of glass. The problem is actually that the protector and the screen is basically one and the same piece, as there is nothing between them, not glue or air or anything (this is so that the conductivity can function for the touch panel), which means a crack in the outer layer can propagate through to the next layer, which is the screen. Therefore the tempered glass is layered so there are more obstacles for a crack to propagate downwards. It is actually the same principle they use for bullet proof glass.
I will rather replace a $15 screen protector rather than a $150+ screen and touch panel. Good for me and good for the environment.
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I once dropped my Nexus 5 so that it hit a metal pipe while rotating in the air, making for a good whack for roughly a meters drop. The glass protector broke at the edge that took the hit, and the phone remained good as new.
With todays phone prices and ever better made glass protectors (thinner, anti reflective) you bet my phones gets an extra sheet over the display.
Now I tend to use cases as well, but thats more for grip as ergonomics are not a priority anymore in the phone industry. The Nexus 5 was decent like that, but it was swiped one day.
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Screen protectors help protect the screen from cracking, gorilla glass is hard and therefore resistant to scratching but it still breaks pretty easily if you drop it. But also even though gorilla glass is hard (I'm not sure how hard but it's probably similar to sapphire or tungsten carbide) there are plenty of common materials which are harder. If you scrape your phone against a brick wall or a concrete floor or something it's probably going to scratch, or if you get any particles in your pocket they're going to wear on the screen.
If you ask me they should make the screens out of plastic and if they scratch just polish it out. I don't know if that would still work with the way the digitizer for the touch screen works, but all these super hard screens that are resistant to scratching break and crack so easily.
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