Potentially the longest thread in history...

[Puddle Jumper]

Same reason people want metal spoons, cars, and ovens.. it's nicer. It's more aesthetically pleasing and feels nicer in your hand, plus the entire phone doesn't twist and creak in your hand.

There have actually been issues with people bending their iPhone 5s from carrying then in their pockets so rigidity is not a reason to use aluminum.

I would agree with you if we were talking about stainless steel but we aren't, aluminum is used because it is cheap, the same reason it is used in cans for cheap beer and soda instead of glass bottles.

 

[PP Mguire]

Re: Today I have...

Same reason people want metal spoons, cars, and ovens.. it's nicer. It's more aesthetically pleasing and feels nicer in your hand, plus the entire phone doesn't twist and creak in your hand.

And it is more premium. Lets not pretend it costs as much to make a plastic phone as a phone from a milled block of high grade aluminum.

I don't know the hardness ratings and stuff, all I can say is my iPhone 5 held up better than my Note 2. Now overall I prefer my Note 2 which is why I have one, so don't think I am being a fanboy.. it is just the truth. I sold my iPhone 5 and it looked brand new once I cleaned it.

I look after my Note 2 really well, and it's in great condition, but there are one or two very small parts of dented or crushed plastic.


And yes - plastic can be nice and premium. Samsungs implementation is far from it though, it's just cheap bendy scratchy plastic coated in a gloss.

My Spyderco knife is a 3inch lockblade knife worth over £100, so it's certainly premium and yet it uses a plastic handle. However, it's a nylon reinforced plastic. It feels very tough, very hard, and yet impact resistant with phenomenal grip. It's the nicest so called 'plastic' i've felt. If Samsung can use the same material then great.

Most if not all modern cars are plastic/fiberglass. Only the chassis and some other parts (besides the obvious) are metal, and even then they are aluminum.

My GS2 is plastic and I can barely bend it, and I'm actually trying. I'm sorry, but metal doesn't make anything more "premium". It adds weight, denies expansion to certain things, and causes interference with radio signals. I would rather have a high grade plastic phone over a metal one any day. Kind of like how I prefer aluminum cases over steel due to sheer weight. I already feel like I have a brick in my pocket and if I had a metal phone it would be even worse. IMO, if you want that extra "BS" then head back to Apple or buy another brand that suits your needs. I know that comes off extremely harsh/rude but I'm sorry I'm tired of hearing you complain about something so minute. I just sit here thinking, if it's THAT big a deal then go back to the ****ty iPhone.

Today we were going to head to Six Flags but I hit IH30 traffic before even getting to Six Flags Rd. and said nope, turning back around. Mariah didn't think Six Flags would be packed, on spring break, on a beautiful day.......Idiot. So instead we took Ezio to the park and let him play around. Then we took him for some lunch at McD's and let him play at the play place. I'm proud of him, he picked up an apple before a Mc Nugget.

As of right now, I'll be finishing my benchmarking with dual PSUs.

 

[Oreo]

Re: Today I have...

There have actually been issues with people bending their iPhone 5s from carrying then in their pockets so rigidity is not a reason to use aluminum.

I would agree with you if we were talking about stainless steel but we aren't, aluminum is used because it is cheap, the same reason it is used in cans for cheap beer and soda instead of glass bottles.

And the same reason for exotic cars and planes ?

Most if not all *modern cars* are plastic/fiberglass. Only the chassis and some other parts (besides the obvious) are metal, and even then they are aluminum.

My GS2 is plastic and I can barely bend it, and I'm actually trying. I'm sorry, but metal doesn't make anything more "premium". It adds weight, denies expansion to certain things, and causes interference with radio signals. I would rather have a high grade plastic phone over a metal one any day. Kind of like how I prefer aluminum cases over steel due to sheer weight. I already feel like I have a brick in my pocket and if I had a metal phone it would be even worse. IMO, if you want that extra "BS" then head back to Apple or buy another brand that suits your needs. I know that comes off extremely harsh/rude but I'm sorry I'm tired of hearing you complain about something so minute. I just sit here thinking, if it's THAT big a deal then go back to the ****ty iPhone.

Today we were going to head to Six Flags but I hit IH30 traffic before even getting to Six Flags Rd. and said nope, turning back around. Mariah didn't think Six Flags would be packed, on spring break, on a beautiful day.......Idiot. So instead we took Ezio to the park and let him play around. Then we took him for some lunch at McD's and let him play at the play place. I'm proud of him, he picked up an apple before a Mc Nugget.

As of right now, I'll be finishing my benchmarking with dual PSUs.

*modern American... I don't know what cars you're looking at. My car is metal, and its an average priced hatchback car..

Whats your logic with regards to a phones quality of manufacture and choice of material being so minute detail?

If you read properly you would see I said I prefer the Note 2's function over the iPhone 5. Thats why I have one. I prefer it. Doesn't mean I think it's universally better than an iPhone.

So excuse me If I think a harder, less flexible, more attractive, and more structurally sound material is better.

I just don't see how it can be argued that aluminium isn't a better material.

Aluminium is light. The iPhone 5 is 112grams.
Aluminium uni-body is stronger, less flexible.
Aluminium is more thermally conductive and better for heat dissipation.

Sure plastic means it is easier to remove the back off a phone. I'm not arguing that, it is a strong point of having a plastic case. I've never said otherwise. My only complaint against it is the ****ty quality.

Metal phones do not have signal issues. My Speedtest.net download speed on my iPhone 5 were the exact same as my Note 2, and I get just the same signal.

edit:

And here is some proof for my case. My note 2. Bending like a ruler. And take a listen, creaking much ?

Out of focus 'cus ma DSLR is ****e at videos but you get the idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pq1oc5QzmI

 

[Puddle Jumper]

And the same reason for exotic cars and planes ?

*modern American... I don't know what cars you're looking at. My car is metal, and its an average priced hatchback car..

Whats your logic with regards to a phones quality of manufacture and choice of material being so minute detail?

If you read properly you would see I said I prefer the Note 2's function over the iPhone 5. Thats why I have one. I prefer it. Doesn't mean I think it's universally better than an iPhone.

So excuse me If I think a harder, less flexible, more attractive, and more structurally sound material is better.

I just don't see how it can be argued that aluminium isn't a better material.

Aluminium is light. The iPhone 5 is 112grams.
Aluminium uni-body is stronger, less flexible.
Aluminium is more thermally conductive and better for heat dissipation.

Sure plastic means it is easier to remove the back off a phone. I'm not arguing that, it is a strong point of having a plastic case. I've never said otherwise. My only complaint against it is the ****ty quality.

Metal phones do not have signal issues. My Speedtest.net download speed on my iPhone 5 were the exact same as my Note 2, and I get just the same signal.

Aluminum is used in cars because it is cheaper than carbon fiber.

Look at the S4 and the One side by side and you can see why we want polycarbonate, the S4 is much thinner and lighter despite having a much larger removable battery and wireless charging.

The iPhone has gorilla glass panels on the back which is why it does not have signal issues.

 

[PP Mguire]

Re: Today I have...

And the same reason for exotic cars and planes ?



*modern American... I don't know what cars you're looking at. My car is metal, and its an average priced hatchback car..

Whats your logic with regards to a phones quality of manufacture and choice of material being so minute detail?

If you read properly you would see I said I prefer the Note 2's function over the iPhone 5. Thats why I have one. I prefer it. Doesn't mean I think it's universally better than an iPhone.

So excuse me If I think a harder, less flexible, more attractive, and more structurally sound material is better.

I just don't see how it can be argued that aluminium isn't a better material.

Aluminium is light. The iPhone 5 is 112grams.
Aluminium uni-body is stronger, less flexible.
Aluminium is more thermally conductive and better for heat dissipation.

Sure plastic means it is easier to remove the back off a phone. I'm not arguing that, it is a strong point of having a plastic case. I've never said otherwise. My only complaint against it is the ****ty quality.

Metal phones do not have signal issues. My Speedtest.net download speed on my iPhone 5 were the exact same as my Note 2, and I get just the same signal.

edit:

And here is some proof for my case. My note 2. Bending like a ruler. And take a listen, creaking much ?

Out of focus 'cus ma DSLR is ****e at videos but you get the idea.
Note 2 Bending - YouTube

Aluminum or Fiberglass, they both flex/bend/crush just as easy. When you speak of metal, try to remember that Aluminum to us is a soda can. Metal is iron, steel (Murica). I doubt seriously your car is made of either material. None of it. Sure aluminum is actually a metal in all technicality but it's material strength is non-existent to something like a car with steel or iron where safety is concerned. The only reason I'm saying this is because of the American comment. I'm American, and metal on a car to me is iron or steel.

All that aside, metal/aluminum is heavier. Period. When talking about a phone, a metal phone is going to be heavier. If you had read what I typed you would have seen I put specifically "I don't want a brick in my pocket".

Having aluminum on your phone doesn't make it premium or of better quality in the least. That is your old (or current) Apple ways speaking. From somebody who has never owned an Apple phone or Apple device I can honestly sit here and say nothing about metal casings make me think of a premium or "better" product. I think of weight and nothing but.

As to harder, blah blah blah. If you need a metal phone then you need to take care of your devices better. If you indeed take care of your devices then it's just placebo, period. In other words, it isn't needed and the sales of the S and Note series reflect this.

In all honesty, I don't get why you are even arguing over the metal crap again. It's a preference to you, and doesn't change the quality of the end product in the least.

Edit: BTW just weighed my GS2, it's ~75 grams.

 

[hikaricloud]

Re: Today I have...

lolwut

I like the way WMP has it's playlist / Now Playing setup. Used Songbird for a bit, tried WinAMP as well. Just kept going back to WMP.

I've been a Winamp user for years and years, finally just started getting into the media library portion of it and love it. WMP has forever been soured for me because of how it played the tracks, the quality was atrocious. To be fair, I'm sure it's been fixed since then but that was the way it was for a long time, and not just with .wma files. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about when the fairy dust sounding cymbal crashes?

 

[Oreo]

Re: Today I have...

You need better scales, it's 116grams - heavier than an IP5 lol (yes I know it's bigger.. ) . Anyway, how can you watch that video and then say it doesn't affect the quality ? If it doesn't affect quality, why do manufacuters use ALU for anything ? Might as well have a plastic PC case. Fancy that ? how about plastic furniture, plastic knives. **** it, lets build skyscrapers out of plastic.

And now you seem to be arguing aluminium isn't metal because you're American ? What the ? Steel isn't used in cars where possible because of it's weight. The new range rover swapped out steel for aluminium because it's over 400KG lighter, which is better when it comes to body panels on cars because you gain performance and fuel consumption. No car manufacturer in their right mind was use iron/steel for anything other than providing the very base structural foundations.

I'm only arguing it because I just can't believe anyone that cares even the slightest amount about build quality can think anything other than what I showed in my video as not very good.

Aluminum is used in cars because it is cheaper than carbon fiber.

Look at the S4 and the One side by side and you can see why we want polycarbonate, the S4 is much thinner and lighter despite having a much larger removable battery and wireless charging.

The iPhone has gorilla glass panels on the back which is why it does not have signal issues.

Yes, I totally get that. There ARE advantages to a plastic phone. Everyone seems to be forgetting I upgraded from a metal phone to a plastic phone. I am entirely aware of the advantages. I even said plastic *can* be done well. But Samsungs choice of plastic and how it implements it is an absolute joke. Plastic done right is something like Nokia Lumia.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Re: Today I have...

Yes, I totally get that. There ARE advantages to a plastic phone. Everyone seems to be forgetting I upgraded from a metal phone to a plastic phone. I am entirely aware of the advantages. I even said plastic *can* be done well. But Samsungs choice of plastic and how it implements it is an absolute joke. Plastic done right is something like Nokia Lumia.

From an engineering standpoint the Lumia is actually inferior to the S3/S4, it's basically a giant hunk of plastic that they CNC machine into a case and as a result is fat and heavy. The molded plastic on the S3/S4 is a far more advanced design which allows it to be both thinner and lighter.

Aluminum does feel nice to a lot of people, I'll give you that, but it's really a compromise when it comes to phones more than an optimal choice. If you were making a phone and only cared for the metal used it would be either stainless steel for aesthetics and durability or Titanium for lightness and durability.

One thing to keep in mind with Aluminum in phones is it adds a lot of potential places to go wrong in the engineering process. First off there is the RF interference issue which basically killed the Transformer Prime and that was a tablet, RF interference in a phone is a much bigger deal obviously. Secondly you have to have some type of finish on it if you don't want it to oxidize and look and feel like crap. In the case of the iPhone and Macs Apple uses anodized aluminum however they cut corners there (probably for cost reasons) and it doesn't hold up as well as one would like to the abuse most phones encounter. I've seen much tougher anodized products but they generally haven't been cheap so the process must cost a lot relatively.

I'd actually like to see phones make use of stainless steel frames with carbon fiber or kevlar fiber panels but my guess is that would cost serious $$$. There are also some plastics out there that you would swear were metal based on the feel and sound of them but they don't seem to be used much.

PP, Kman is right about the cars. In the US nearly every mass production car is steel or aluminum bodied with plastic bumpers. Saturn did make plastic bodied cars and of course there is the fiberglass Corvette as the two exceptions.

 

[iFargle]

Re: Today I have...

Today I got a refund for SimCity (bought through Origin)

Just ate dinner, now I'm going to sit down and play SC2: HOTS

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Re: Today I have...

Today I got a refund for SimCity (bought through Origin)

Just ate dinner, now I'm going to sit down and play SC2: HOTS

A lot of people at work have gotten Sim City refunds and jumped to SC2: HOTS too, it looks like EA's loss is Blizzards gain