Motorola Droid Screen Protected By Gorilla Glass
| by Rob Jackson on December 22nd, 2009 |
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Apparently Anthony Perez didn’t get the message: the Motorola Droid screen should be harder to break than the vast majority of phone screens because it is protected by Gorilla Glass. Now you’re wondering what the heck Gorilla Glass is… aren’t you? It’s made by Corning and essentially the glass is supercharged by dunking it in superhuman glass juice. Or more scientifically speaking:
Like many glasses used in these kinds of applications, Gorilla glass chemically strengthened. Glass is a brittle material. Brittle materials are extremely strong under compression but extremely weak under tension. When you chemically temper a glass, you immerse it in a salt bath and you stuff larger ions in all the surfaces and put them all under compression.
What’s unique about Gorilla Glass is that because of its inherent composition, it can allow those larger ions to penetrate the surface more deeply to increase the compression tolerance and tolerate deeper scratches.
The compression pushes a flaw back. It’s harder to break from a deeper scratch.
And if you’re REALLY interested in how all this works, you’ll probably be entertained by the following little chart that compares Gorilla Glass and Soda Lime Glass (they should rename it Sprite Glass or 7UP glass):
I originally found this goodness over at Gizmodo where their article is titled “Why Even Clumsy People Like You Would have Trouble Breaking The Display On a Motorola Droid”. But what if you’re wearing sweatpants in your Celica and your Droid slips out of your pocket as you stand up? That, my friend, is an unfortunate problem that even Gorilla Glass could never protect against.
Like I told you before… just ask Anthony Perez.
1. CJ wrote on December 22, 2009
Actually Gorilla Glass did it’s job by preventing the underlying LCD from also fracturing.
2. Integgroll wrote on December 22, 2009
It does at least explain why the screen still worked and didn’t slice his hand to shreds when he tried to use it.
3. Rob Jackson wrote on December 22, 2009
Good points CJ and Integgroll… that’s a really good point.
4. Anthony Perez wrote on December 22, 2009
Yeah. Otherwise I would of been the epic failure who drives a Celica, wears sweatpants out of his house, broke his Droid, and severed his fingures. Thank you gorilla glass for not making a complete failure! Haha
5. paladaxar wrote on December 22, 2009
Haha…what has this world come to when even the “more scientifically speaking” quote includes things like: “…stuff larger ions in all the surfaces…”
6. lordhong wrote on December 22, 2009
seems like iPhone also uses Gorilla Glass… i saw a few iPhones w/ broken glass but still functioned well, and not cutting the fingers a single bit
7. Eric wrote on December 22, 2009
Wow. Glad I bought a $20 screen protector….
8. androidnewby wrote on December 22, 2009
so what did Anthony Perez do? Please tell me you had insurance and could just dish out the $50 to have it replaced??
Note to self…don’t wear sweat pants when getting out of a Toyota with your Droid ;)
9. Maxwell wrote on December 22, 2009
The Droid doesn’t have a whole lot of protection for the edge of the glass, which is the weak point of most tempered glass.
10. webby wrote on December 22, 2009
@androidnewby … asurion insurance thru verizon = $89 deductible, not $50, and they can give you whatever they feel like giving you for a replacement basically, if you read the fine print.
11. BachinPhx wrote on December 22, 2009
Any opinions about what a screen protector like a Phantom Skinz might do to help reduce this situation?
12. Patrick wrote on December 22, 2009
lol Sprite glass. And boo to sweat pants. They should never be worn in public
13. l3reak wrote on December 22, 2009
I guess this explains the videos where people just go to town on their Droid with a metal key and it doesn’t make a single scratch.
14. manny wrote on December 23, 2009
@androidnewby
Yeah deductible is $89 for Verizon’s insurance as Webby said.
If you bought your phone at Best Buy though and purchase their insurance as well/in lieu of Verizon’s insurance, they will replace the glass for free. (I should note that Best Buy coverage doesn’t cover lost/stolen phones though so that is something to consider if you are the type of person who often loses their phone)
15. Drin wrote on December 23, 2009
Funny. I user gorilla glass plugs in my 1/2″ stretched earlobes.
http://www.getgorilla.com/products.htm
16. Chris wrote on December 23, 2009
Why was your phone in your pocket when you were driving? How could you answer it if it rang? How do you use the nav when its in your pants… don’t answer that!
17. HotDawg wrote on December 23, 2009
Sigh. It HAD to be the sweatpants, LOL. Let’s chip in and get Anthony some jeans for Xmas.
18. Mensahwatts wrote on December 23, 2009
Some people have talked about how Droid is cheaply made …that’s not so dandy…maybe this will help close there gaps. …ha
19. Navarre wrote on December 23, 2009
I am a ceramic engineer. The soda-lime glass is called that because the primary additives are sodium and calcium carbonate (lime as in limestone).
20. hughes3000 wrote on December 29, 2009
Happens in corduroy pants too. My glass is just cracked in the corner luckily. I gorilla glued it to keep it from getting worse, so far so good.
21. graig wrote on January 13, 2010
iphone doesn’t use gorilla glass. if you saw an iphone with a cracked screen it’s because it had a screen protector on it. with gorilla glass you don’t even need a screen protector.
22. 50 cent wrote on January 15, 2010
g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g unit!!
23. Robert Bennett wrote on February 6, 2010
yes i wondered if i was just lucky or what! i dropped my droid and the glass got all cracked and it was hard to see but the screen itself did not get cracked!
24. jack wrote on February 16, 2010
best buy’s insurance sucks…they have the option to send your droid out for service and will give you their crappiest phone as a temporary replacement for a $150 deposit.
one of the mobile moron’s at the Atwater Village best buy said i should just go to the verizon store since my phone was still under the 1 year warranty. luckily for me, the damage was in the inside and not apparent that it was from a drop…
best buyer beware!