Hey, S3 owners... how have your plastic phones held up ...

[worknman]

As I'm sure you all know, there is currently an epic pissing contest going on between the HTC One and the Galaxy S4. The main criticism I've seen leveled at the S4 is that it is made of plastic, and plastic feels cheap. And thus, the HTC One must be superior, with its aluminum casing.

So will the S4 being made of plastic affect its durability? I figure that since the S3 and S4 have very similar designs, a good gauge of its overall durability would be to see how the S3 has held up thus far. So, for those of you that own an S3, what has your experience been like? Has your plastic toy phone fell apart yet? Or is the 'premium build quality' of the HTC One little more than marketing BS?

 

[Soundtrack to Chaos]

Build quality gets thrown our the Window due to most users using a case to either protect, or make their device look better

The htc one may look nice, but it's on an older version of android than the s4,and who knows when itl be updated. Plus, on the software side, outside of blink feed, which is essential flip board, htc has nothing, while atleast the s4 is packed with gimmicks to play around with

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[crester]

This whole plastic vs. aluminum thing is just a matter of opinion. Just because the Samsung Galaxy S3/4 is made of plastic it doesn't mean it will fall apart. Infact the plastic is more durable than the aluminum because it can absorb impacts. I've dropped my Samsung and nothing happened to it... try dropping an aluminum phone... the body of the phone will dent!

 

[Soundtrack to Chaos]

Also, I would much rather have a plastic device than the build quality of the htc one

I have a 7000mAh Battery in my GS3, while the htc one has limited capacity

So I personally never get the whole 'plastic sucks' argument

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[tat21985]

I absolutely agree, it all comes down to personal opinion as far as build quality goes.. I will say this though; after 7 months of use now, I still have an impeccable looking phone in the S3.. My first Android phone, and I really do feel as though I struck gold with this one!

 

[worknman]

Ya, I don't wanna turn this into another S4 vs HTC One thread, as there are enough of those already I just wanna hear from S3 owners how your phones are holding up.

 

[GTWalling]

I've had no problem with mine. My thoughts is Apples and Oranges. S3 removable battery and SD card slot. HTC One non-removable battery and no SD card slot. The back on the HTC One attached and can not be removed will make it seem sturdier. Just saying.

 

[CaneToad]

Mine is one of the first and has been accidentally dropped pretty often from as high as 3m (10'). There are a few minor marks on the back and around the camera lens and the screen under the screen protector is still perfect.

If they change to aluminum with a fixed battery I will be buying something else.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Polycarbonate (what the Galaxy phones are made of) is one of the toughest materials known to man. See Polycarbonate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's used for the canopies of fighter aircraft, for Pete's sake. Yes, a jet canopy is thicker, but then again our phones don't have to deal with Mach 3 impacts. The plastic construction of the Galaxy will stand up to any reasonable level of abuse. The screen will be destroyed long before the plastic case or frame will be damaged. In a drop, plastic will give and spring back where metal will dent. The plastic will probably scratch more easily than the htc, but that's about it. I'd rather have a few scratches on my easily replaceable plastic back cover than a dent in my non-replaceable aluminum one.

When was the last time you saw an aluminum car bumper? Or a metal motorcycle helmet? Speaking of motorcycles, I once had my plastic Palm Treo mounted to my motorcycle when I had an accident. It bounced and slid about 20 - 30 feet down the road. The back came off and the battery flew out. I never did find the battery, but when I plugged my spare in the Treo booted up and worked perfectly. It was scratched, but the plastic didn't crack or wear through.

BTW, I checked out both phones at a Sprint store yesterday ( http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/273391-just-came-back-sprint-store.html ). The "all-aluminum" htc has a plastic rim all around the edge of the phone, just like the Galaxy. So much for "aluminum monobloc." Check them out yourself, but to me neither one felt dramatically better or worse than the other.

There are good reasons for choosing either phone. Build quality isn't one of them.

 

[Soundtrack to Chaos]

Polycarbonate (what the Galaxy phones are made of) is one of the toughest materials known to man. See Polycarbonate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's used for the canopies of fighter aircraft, for Pete's sake. Yes, a jet canopy is thicker, but then again our phones don't have to deal with Mach 3 impacts. The plastic construction of the Galaxy will stand up to any reasonable level of abuse. The screen will be destroyed long before the plastic case or frame will be damaged. In a drop, plastic will give and spring back where metal will dent. The plastic will probably scratch more easily than the htc, but that's about it. I'd rather have a few scratches on my easily replaceable plastic back cover than a dent in my non-replaceable aluminum one.

When was the last time you saw an aluminum car bumper? Or a metal motorcycle helmet? Speaking of motorcycles, I once had my plastic Palm Treo mounted to my motorcycle when I had an accident. It bounced and slid about 20 - 30 feet down the road. The back came off and the battery flew out. I never did find the battery, but when I plugged my spare in the Treo booted up and worked perfectly. It was scratched, but the plastic didn't crack or wear through.

BTW, I checked out both phones at a Sprint store yesterday ( http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/273391-just-came-back-sprint-store.html ). The "all-aluminum" htc has a plastic rim all around the edge of the phone, just like the Galaxy. So much for "aluminum monobloc." Check them out yourself, but to me neither one felt dramatically better or worse than the other.

There are good reasons for choosing either phone. Build quality isn't one of them.

Yea, i really find build quality to be such a stupid argument, and to hear it mentioned in every s4 review gets tiresome

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[gollum18]

Lol I went careless for about the first 4 months of having my s4. And I can tell you I've dropped it my fair share. Its never been cracked or my screen has never cracked. That plastic is exceptionally resilient.

Its a logical fallacy to assume plastic=crap, they should do their research first, and stop sounding like apple fan boys.

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[droidrider]

Mine is holding up just fine. Thanks for asking.

 

[The WheelMan]

If the phone felt or looked like a Fisher Price toy, I might buy into the whole plastic argument. But it doesn't, and since the S3 has been around for almost a year (and been dubbed the best phone of 2012 by pretty much all media sources, it seems), you'd think that "plastic-gate" would be dead for the S4. Haters just gotta hate I guess.

 

[Redx]

yeah the s3 wouldn't be the number 1 phone if it was made off pos plastic. Phone is amazing

 

[AxlMyk]

I will say this though; after 7 months of use now, I still have an impeccable looking phone in the S3.. My first Android phone, and I really do feel as though I struck gold with this one!

Hear hear. +1

--Tapatalk on SGS3.

 

[gollum18]

yeah the s3 wouldn't be the number 1 phone if it was made off pos plastic. Phone is amazing

Actually that pos polycarbonate is the same material that aircraft are made out for the us air force.

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[Redx]

Actually that pos polycarbonate is the same material that aircraft are made out for the us air force.

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I was saying it wouldn't be the #1 phone if it WAS made out of pos plastic. I know its made out of great materials!!

 

[megagene]

My S3 is 10 months old. For more than half of that time, I never even used a case. As it stands now, my phone doesn't have a single scratch. Neither on the screen (which has no screen protector) nor on the chassis.

 

[The Hustleman]

As I'm sure you all know, there is currently an epic pissing contest going on between the HTC One and the Galaxy S4. The main criticism I've seen leveled at the S4 is that it is made of plastic, and plastic feels cheap. And thus, the HTC One must be superior, with its aluminum casing.

So will the S4 being made of plastic affect its durability? I figure that since the S3 and S4 have very similar designs, a good gauge of its overall durability would be to see how the S3 has held up thus far. So, for those of you that own an S3, what has your experience been like? Has your plastic toy phone fell apart yet? Or is the 'premium build quality' of the HTC One little more than marketing BS?

No one can really say if the one has great build quality or not, build materials doesn't mean build quality.

But on topic, my s3 has held together nicer than my other phones in the past.

Funny how Samsung used to make the worst phones, but now making the best

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[Drov]

I had an S3 that I used with no screen protector or case at all for 6 months and it still looked brand new when I gave it to my wife to get a Note 2. As far as real world use and durability I think Samsung knows what they are doing.