Database Users

How to avoid cracks?

I just ordered a Nexus 4 a few hours ago. I was stuck between it and a Note 2 but in the end I went for the Nexus 4 and I'm hoping that I made the right choice.
The main thing I'm worried about is it cracking; apparently, some people have had the back of the phone crack without it being dropped. What would be my best bet to prevent said cracking? I imagine a full case would be best though I'd rather not have to use one if possible. Would a back screen protector prevent cracking (not from drops of course, but from normal use) or would I need a bumper as well?

Be careful and avoid any rapid changes in temperature. I am not going to case my phone, maybe the bumper at the most to prevent slippage, even non-strengthened glass is pretty tough. But yeah; don't be scorching your device with benchmarks and then set it down on a cold marble surface, juggling it, or setting it down on uneven surfaces and you should be set.

Not dropping it or bump it into anything (in your hand, pocket) and you'll be fine. Oh, and don't put it on the armrest of the couch.
The bumper can give you a extra safety boost.

I wish I was in a position to test this but in my mind something like the invisishield stuck on the glass should make it more resilient but I have no evidence other than my own logical though
That being that if you do place your phone down on anything slightly uneven the glass is having a concentrated pressure through a point in the glass. Thus it cracks at that point.
By applying an additional layer over the glass, as long as the phone isn't thrust into a single point of impact, simply laying the phone on an uneven surface the pressure would be spread over the surface more evenly.
A bit like if you try slapping your leg. It hurts. Now place your other hand on your leg and slap your hand on your leg. You still feel it and your other hand is in contact with your leg so the force should still transfer through but its actually much less.
Now someone would have to test this and find out at what thickness a film would have to be to have similar properties of protection but it should be possible. Well in my head anyway
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

That's a good point. I also realized that keeping a transparent screen guard on the back glass makes it less slippery and less likely to slide off surfaces
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

In-pocket flexing was an issue from one crack I read about. Be careful not to sit on the little bugger, or put it in your effing skinny jean pockets and do gymnastics.

I've been thinking that putting some small rubber feet on the back glass would help prevent it come in contact with surfaces. I do have a bumper case incoming which should prevent that problem anyway but I don't know when it will even arrive lol.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Even though I love the phone without the case cause it looks great, but I wouldn't use it without a case for too long. I have bought front and rear protectors for xtremeguard and I bought me a clear TPU case for now. I do want the bumper case but that thing is impossible to get for now.

m8 droptest

Have a look at this drop test m8 rock's http://youtu.be/NYgg6RMB6g4

Great result from this drop test. M8 was a clear winner.
I notice that on the m8, the glass might be somewhat protected from falls by the raised plastic ridges at each corner (between the glass and the metal case). These are level at the sides of the phone but raised a little at each corner. Some have interpreted this as a clear 'design flaw'. I'm not so sure it's a flaw. Clearly there is method to the apparent 'madness' of slightly raised plastic at the corners. I guess it might serve as a sort of protective brace during falls.
10/10 for design HTC

whmcal said:
Great result from this drop test. M8 was a clear winner.
I notice that on the m8, the glass might be somewhat protected from falls by the raised plastic ridges at each corner (between the glass and the metal case). These are level at the sides of the phone but raised a little at each corner. Some have interpreted this as a clear 'design flaw'. I'm not so sure it's a flaw. Clearly there is method to the apparent 'madness' of slightly raised plastic at the corners. I guess it might serve as a sort of protective brace during falls.
10/10 for design HTC
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That actually makes sense (no pun intended) I never would have thought about that
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Unfortunately I knocked my 3-week old phone off of some lumber a foot off my driveway on Saturday. It landed face down and shattered the screen.
I used Asurion and had a new phone in my hads last night. My other phone was perfect, the replacement has the volume rocker wiggle. It's not so bad it rattles, but I miss my other phone.:crying:

M8 with the win

I've dropped the darn thing twice before TPU case came. DIstance about 3-4 feet. Dropped in it's top corner. Then smack screen first. Surface was ceramic tile in the kitchen. End result.... Drop one perfectly fine. Drop two (another day) nick of lighter color showing on the gunmetal grey on the top corner edge of back and top.
I'm happy.

Raech said:
I've dropped the darn thing twice before TPU case came. DIstance about 3-4 feet. Dropped in it's top corner. Then smack screen first. Surface was ceramic tile in the kitchen. End result.... Drop one perfectly fine. Drop two (another day) nick of lighter color showing on the gunmetal grey on the top corner edge of back and top.
I'm happy.
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Droped mine also from a coffee table but on a tiled flor. It had case and not even a scratch. How do you drop it that the case fell off ? haha

I haven't dropped mine yet but drop test looks promising

D0GuKaN said:
I haven't dropped mine yet but drop test looks promising
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ooohhh but you will ...in my opinion the phone is very firm althoug doesnt look like that

This one, is one for the record. I killed my precious One M8 regardless of the Spigen slim armor case on it. Although, neither screen nor body was even slightly damaged (proving the renowned effectivity off the Spigen case) it was the internals that cracked in a 3 feet fall to marbel floor. Here's what happened: turns out, Spigen case -as many others- has rubber buttons on top of volume and power phones buttons. Obviously, to facilitate pressing those covered by the TPU layer of the case. But that very same TPU button, is cause of the damage when the phone impacts the floor right on it, because it "over pushes" the phone's button, which cracks the internal power board. Other wise, I think it would hardly resent the impact, because it doesn't protrudes the top cover line. On top of it, the rubber button blocks the IrBlaster, hell, it'd be best if it wasn't there at all.
[emoji53]

Gorilla Glass 3 micro scratches and Circle View case.

After 2 weeks of owning phone I finally put screen protector on it.
After cleaning my screen with the soft cloth and preparing it for application, I noticed it has A LOT of micro scratches.
Some aren't lineal scratches, either. Most were point scratches. I'm quite careful with my phone. Don't drop it. Haven't been to a beach with it. Only carry paper money and my bank card/license in the pocket with it. Have had Circle View cover from ASUS on it since day 1.
I think some pocket dust and the like must've gotten trapped on the inside surface of the Circle View cover and got pressed against the glass while in my pocket.
The micro scratches can only be seen in bright light when looking for them at the right angle so not a bother and impossible to see with screen protector now applied but let this be a warning to y'all - make sure you put a protector on your phone even if you baby it and especially if you have a cover type case on it!

interesting. i have no case or screen protector and i have no screen scratches, even after a good 6ft drop in the gym to the rubber floor.

tweak17emon said:
interesting. i have no case or screen protector and i have no screen scratches, even after a good 6ft drop in the gym to the rubber floor.
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I was extremely careful with mine as well, but ended up with several micro scratches. Likely you have them, but they're not easy to see. Need to look at the right angle in the right light. That being said, its difficult to call them scratches. They're so thin, certainly nothing you'd see unless looking carefully for them, and impossible to see with the screen on.

Chinaphonearena said:
I was extremely careful with mine as well, but ended up with several micro scratches. Likely you have them, but they're not easy to see. Need to look at the right angle in the right light. That being said, its difficult to call them scratches. They're so thin, certainly nothing you'd see unless looking carefully for them, and impossible to see with the screen on.
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Yes. Same here. Nothing major and I can't see them now with a screen protector but it is disappointing that displays harder than quartz aren't available. Especially with the Circle View case being pushed so hard which at least provides as much protection in thickness as a tempered glass screen protector, since the tradeoff in shatter durability would be offset somewhat by the case.

same problem
i've the same problem, after read your post i've check mine and i've so micro scratch ! :/ what about there warranty 60 days ? because the day i received it i've seen 4 or 5 orange vertical pixel lines dead and now the micro scratch.
and many problems with sms / mms reception :S
i already wait the zenfone more than 1 month after the start of the shiping. i don't want to return them the phone and wait again !

You should RMA before time runs out. Dead pixels on a new phone is a huge flaw.

There seems to be many cases of micro scratches reported everywhere from zenfone users.
I am starting to suspect their gorilla 3 glass. I don't think they will lie about it but who knows if it is lower quality.
However the phone is extremely cheap so, there is not much blame you can place on cheaper parts.
I have a protector on since day one and the cutout areas have scratches on them.

It happened to me the same thing. That sucks !
(It happens too on Samsung S6 and S6 Edge... )

It's time for all the phone makers to drop the useless and costly glass and give us cheap plastic screen, so we can use the savings on the screen protector instead.

So last night, i dropped my 551ml faceflat on the bathroom floor.. my heart popped thinking about the screen until i picked it back up and saw that it did not scratch or break my bathroom tile is pretty freakin hard ... i have to say the drop had to be about 4-5 feet

Nice, no drops yet here
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using XDA Free mobile app

Ordered the S7 Edge, I'm scared I'll drop it and break it....

Currently I'm using an S5 without any cases or covers, and it's still drop-proof, dropped it multiple times on hard floor/concrete and there is no damage on the screen what so ever. And before that I had an HTC One X, which is probably more similar to the Edge in that the screen isn't protected if it drops face down, I did eventually crack it with that kind of a drop. However the edge is gonna be even more problematic because even the back is glass, and no plastic protruding edge to protect it.
Sure I could put it in a bulky case but then it kind of defeats the purpose of having one of the most premium feeling phones ever doesn't it? It'll also negate any ergonomic benefits of the curved back edge as well as the ease of edge swipe on the front edge. Might as well just get something like a.... I don't know, nobody makes high end plastic phones anymore now days, even cheap phones like One Plus is front+back curved glass. Also this thing is already a bigger phone than what I'm used to, adding a beefy case is just gonna make it that much bigger, which I do not like.
Well I guess plenty of people did survive the iPhone 4 glass sandwich era just fine, I'll just have to wish myself luck. I wonder how much would one of those adhesive skins help in a drop situation. Sure they are very thin but if think about the physics of it, gorilla glass is actually quite flexible so it doesn't break from the acceleration of the impact itself, so thinness doesn't really matter. What actually breaks these surface hardens glass is usually a microscopic failure on the surface developing into a big crack. And those microscopic failures can happen when they make contact with sharp hard stuff like individual sand particles, they effectively puncture the surface and develop a weakness. So if you have a skin on the glass, what'll hopefully happen instead is that the skin will be thick enough for the particle to not make direct contact with the glass, and prevent breaking. Even though such thin skins cannot significantly reduce the impact acceleration.

I understand your points, but please, don't ever try to use this phone naked. You NEED a case, the grip is so bad that dropping it is almost a guarantee and the back glass seems to be much more fragile than the front glass from what I have seen in videos. About the cases, you may want to look into the Samsung official plastic backs or (when available) the leather backs. The official plastic back cases from Samsung are the only ones (in my opinion) that really do not ruin the phone's design, the design remains almost intact. However, while the grip is much improved over the naked phone, it is nowhere near other bulky and rubberized cases. A rubberized plastic wrap would be a solution, but the big problem still remains - the metal sides of the phone which are very narrow.
PS: As I understand from the latest spy pics, the iPhone 7 will have a glass back again...probably needed for radio/charging/payment/other secret developments.

There are plenty of case available that won't make the phone look s**t. I'm using a Spigen Crystal Clear, a very good combination of protection and looks. It's impossible to completely keep the phone's look and feel, but it's probably as close as possible whilst being confident of being able to accidentally drop it from pocket height without damage.
Glass protectors on these curved screens are to be avoided, that's my personal opinion anyway. My brother bought numerous types of these for his S6 Edge (expensive and cheap) and not one went on properly without raising on the curves within twenty minutes, causing touch problems on the edges. Go for a good quality film type like a Zagg HD Dry.

I copied you entirely mate I'm not ashamed to say. Got my Spigen Crystal Clear yesterday and, your right, it does look good, but not as good as the nekkid phone itself. But I guess that's the price of good protection.
Just waiting for my Zagg HD Dry front and back covers to arrive today.

I'm personally using Otter Box Commuter for me and my wife's phone. I was able to try it on in store before purchasing. I was sort of desperate for a case on delivery day and it was the most protective case I found. I'm happy with it overall. It's sleep and slim and although the whole front in uncovered it does have raised top and bottom edges so if the phone falls flat the screen doesn't actually touch the floor.
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Use it naked.
Control your fingers.

nobnut said:
Use it naked.
Control your fingers.
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Too risky lol
Sent from my Blackberry Bold

I would love to use the phone naked as it just looks so good, but I am scared to risk it. I have never dropped and cracked a phone, and I had an Iphone 4S without a case for 2 years which were well known for getting smashed, I have a clear case on the edge at the moment to offer it some protection.

Carrying and using smart phones without any case is just asking for trouble. I have the S7 Edge and when it arrived on March 2nd it stayed at home in the box until my Spigen Ultra Hybrid case arrived (which was a few days later). I was still using my S5 because I didn't want to take any chances.
After my case arrived I put it on but I still keep the original plastic film on the screen because I was waiting for my Skinomi screen protector to arrive. My Skinomi arrived yesterday and I installed it last night.
So if you don't want a bulky case get the Spigen Ultra Hybrid (I went with the crystal clear color). I ordered my case and screen protector from Amazon. The case is very nice looking and doesn't add any bulk to the phone.

Sk17z0 said:
but I still keep the original plastic film on
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Oh my.

I'm using this case. It's amazing. Thin, easy to grip and not too expensive.
http://www.bodyguardz.com/unequal-shock-case-samsung-galaxy-s7-edge.html

I use the phone naked and dropped it from about 3,5 feet, first it hit the steel base of a table and than it bounced on a wooden floor, not a scratch :angel:

Juuls said:
I use the phone naked and dropped it from about 3,5 feet, first it hit the steel base of a table and than it bounced on a wooden floor, not a scratch :angel:
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Q.E.D.

Help me choose case

I am looking at a few designs but not sure which ones offer the best protection. Some of my lists are:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01HHAPIZC/ref=twister_B01MG8YWJ8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/152202213435?var=451393076924
Was even looking at flip cases
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B01EHP3STS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.ca/KaiTeLin-Asus-Zenfone-ZE552KL-Case/dp/B01KU3NZ58
Altough the problem with flip cases I might have is that once open, they protrude beyond the width of the phone, since the hinge is lined with the back side. So it makes it awkward to hold.
So do you guys have any opinions or experiences with any of these? Are you recommending any other? I'm inclined to get the Nillkin. Looks very similar to the Ringke case, but at almost a 1/3 of the price. My main objective with the cases would be very good corner protection, since if dropped, phones tend to land on the corners and a rised enough lip that it will prevent scratches on the screen when placed face down or scratches on the camera, since it does protrude outwards, when placed on it's back. Only problem with non flip cases is that the screen tends to get scratched as you keep the phone in the pocket.
As a reference, I had the Ionic Guardian case for my Nexus 4 and it protected the device really well. Loved the extra material at corners.
https://www.amazon.ca/Ionic-GUARDIAN-Armor-Nexus-Black/dp/B00A06Z41E

http://www.lazada.co.id/calandiva-s...transaction_id=102652ab51bc113472d447cebc3f52
This case offers really good protection with extra inner fins inside act as shock absorber, even protruding camera is nicely covered. The thing is it tends to get yellowish after some time. If you somehow manage to get the grey one nearby your location, it'll be a decent choice.

I first went with Nillkin sparkle flip cover https://www.nillkin-case.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=4911 . It is functional, the Asus Cover app works fine, it offers decent protection for back and sides but it doesn't cover the upper and lower sides leaving them vulnerable. The material on the back is hard plastic. It is very hard to remove the phone from the case and it even scratched the paint on the upper left corner while doing so. The reasons I abandoned it is because it's not very comfortable to use, you can't hang a call while flip is closed, it's too sparkly in some lighting conditions. The black one is actually a shade of gray and It gets all kinds of marks on it without actually being scratched. The flip is too rigid and it tends to close automatically or refuse to close depending on what you did last. The materials look cheap and it can't even be described as "leather imitation". The leather version looks better though. I still keep it for the sake of diversity but now I'm using http://nillkin.org/smartphones-acce...ssories/nillkin-asus-zenfone-3-ze520kl-nature . It's far more practical and also offers decent protection without making the phone look a lot bulkier. I also installed a Nillkin tempered glass screen protector and I guess that's all the protection I need without sacrificing the aesthetics too much.