Don’t drop your smartphone was a very good advice if you didn’t plan on replacing your display prematurely, My family has a history of supporting a small business industry making their living by replacing smartphone displays.
With the Motorola Droid Turbo 2 and the Moto Z (2) Force Droid cracked displays have become a thing of the past, the firm says. As shown in their advertising, the shatterproof display of these Motorola smartphones uses a multilayer (five layers) plastic cover instead of the Gorilla Glass X cover used by other manufacturers. Gorilla glass is a chemically strengthened glass from Corning that adds considerable strength with very thin material. It seems that in a drop test comparison, the Motorola phone outshines all other phones from leading competitors by not showing any damage after a five feet (1.5m) drop onto a concrete patch.
Motorola Shatterproof Display from Youtube video
For reference you can find the test video on Youtube. It seems everything is working as advertised.
Looking at technology this seems a good solution if you tend to break your smartphone screen ever so often. There is no objective image test available to see if this solution impairs the visual performance, but with proper care and index matched materials this should not be a major issue.
Here is what is an issue. While the impact resistance as demonstrated in their test including TV advertising is great, this is accomplished by compromising the scratch resistance of the screen. Gorilla glass has a very high shore hardness (an index for measuring hardness – Man. Ed.) based on the high compression of the outside surface of the cover glass. It is basically impossible to scratch such a surface with anything you typically carry int he same pocket (diamond rings are excluded as they would actually cause damage). The Motorola solution will not have such a high level of shore hardness.
One hint that this observation is correct is the fact that Motorola offers its ShatterShield cover for a price of only $29.99 as an aftermarket product. The other hint is the warranty that reads:
“The display and embedded lens are warranted against shattering and cracking for four (4) years from the original date of purchase; scratches or other damage to the protective lens is not covered by this warranty, but should always be in place to prevent scratches and other damage to the underlying components. This phone is not shockproof or designed to withstand all damage from dropping. All other warranty exclusions, including scratches and other cosmetic damage, intentional damage or abuse, normal wear and tear and other limitations apply.”
Analyst Comment
In other words, if you want your Motorola phone to be scratch resistant add a glass cover on top, of course now it is not shatterproof anymore. I guess do far you can’t win it all. (NH)
n the video, a Galaxy Edge phone is dropped and breaks, but we would expect that this means damage to the cover glass. It’s not clear if the display itself is damaged. Of course, the phone cover glass would still need repairing. (BR – who has even replaced the display himself on a Galaxy at one point, following the instructions on YouTube !)
