4 months durability for an $800 phone!

https://lemmy.world/post/15431732

4 months durability for an $800 phone! - Lemmy.World

My old $250 Motorola G9 Power phone lasted almost 4 years with only very minor scratches. Obviously in that period I have dropped it a few times, especially getting out of the car, where the phone sometimes work itself out of my pant pocket while I drive. But no problem, despite cheap plastic back and Panda glass front. Then I bought my $800 glass back Xiaomi 13T Pro in January, and I loved the phone for the camera and good specs. But alas after only 4 months, and single drop of just 30 cm while sitting on the porch, the glass back immediately cracked! The back now looks like an ugly mess, and the high water resistance is very likely gone too. For sure the last time I buy a phone with a glass back!!! I wonder why it’s so popular, and I curse the media for reviewing the Samsung Galaxy 2 as “feeling a bit cheap”, because the back was synthetic, and drop tests showed it was 10 times as durable as the iPhone with its glass back. Samsung did it right in the beginning, glass backs are a curse. PS: I don’t use condoms for my phones, if they need that for daily use, it’s an obvious design flaw!!!

It’s like we can’t have good phones. If you want Headphone Jack, SD card, Message LED, and synthetic back, you can’t get a phone with good camera, GPU and water resistance at the same time.

Why are phone makers so hostile to their own users?

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover Pro has all of those things plus a removable battery and can take a serious beating. I used to throw the phone almost daily to demonstrate it’s durability. The sides got dents and gouges, but I never once had a crack in the screen. The newer Xcover 6 Pro has all of the same features as well as an iPhone 12 quality camera.

I managed to kill one after breaking the charging port (ironically not related to years of repeatedly being thrown at concrete) and got a Unihertz Titan. Its basically an oversized modern Blackberry 8830 and has the same durability, battery life, and a physical keyboard. No removable battery unfortunately and the camera sucks though.

Never heard of the Samsung Xcover 6 Pro, that looks very interesting. But I don’t think it’s a match to the Xiaomi 13T Pro spec wise.