Dealing with minor scratches on gorilla glass

[fthis f]

I think my C5 pro is using gorilla glass 4. I've put off installing a screen protector and I dropped it face first onto a table surface less than 3 feet from where I was holding it.

Now there are scratches or marks that look like tiny round blotches 2-3mm in diameter. There are a few of them in the bezel area and one in the screen area. You can only see them outside and when the screen is turned off so it's not so bad.

I've also noticed that they are more easily visible when there are fingerprint smudges and become harder to see when I wipe the screen. They are definitely scratches, I can feel them with my fingernails, but barely. They are not caused by hardened food or anything like that.

I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to get rid of them or buff them out.

 

[Mike Dee]

I think my C5 pro is using gorilla glass 4. I've put off installing a screen protector and I dropped it face first onto a table surface less than 3 feet from where I was holding it.

Now there are scratches or marks that look like tiny round blotches 2-3mm in diameter. There are a few of them in the bezel area and one in the screen area. You can only see them outside and when the screen is turned off so it's not so bad.

I've also noticed that they are more easily visible when there are fingerprint smudges and become harder to see when I wipe the screen. They are definitely scratches, I can feel them with my fingernails, but barely. They are not caused by hardened food or anything like that.

I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to get rid of them or buff them out.

I'm not aware of anything you can to do to fix them. I also have a scratched screen. If you put a protector back on that might help hide it or at least prevent you from feeling it.

 

[Morty2264]

I agree with Mike Dee: a screen protector will help protect you from the scratches cutting you or bothering you; and may help to keep the scratches from getting worse. Potentially hiding the scratches is also a plus. How long have you had the device?

 

[fthis f]

Thanks. I've had it a couple of weeks, there was a stock screen protector installed but I removed it thinking I would replace it with a tempered glass protector which I never got around to doing.

I've just installed another basic, cheap screen protector for now. It sucks, the size is too small and fingerprints are really obvious but it does hide the scratches, there are no signs of them anymore.

 

[Rukbat]

1. They're like bullet holes in glass that don't go all the way through - some tiny particles on the table spalled pieces off the glass. (Carbide particles are a lot harder than Gorilla Glass or even tempered glass - the same thing would have happened to a tempered glass protector.

2. |There's nothing you can do.

3. A cheap plastic protector would actually protect the screen better - it adds a little shock resistance and a carbide particle won't cause spalling. (You may see a dot where it hit the particle.)

 

[fthis f]

1. They're like bullet holes in glass that don't go all the way through - some tiny particles on the table spalled pieces off the glass. (Carbide particles are a lot harder than Gorilla Glass or even tempered glass - the same thing would have happened to a tempered glass protector.

2. |There's nothing you can do.

3. A cheap plastic protector would actually protect the screen better - it adds a little shock resistance and a carbide particle won't cause spalling. (You may see a dot where it hit the particle.)

Thanks. Can you explain how the minor scratches are hidden now that I have placed a screen protector. I thought having it would magnify or make them more obvious but it seems to have done the opposite which is a relief.

 

[Rukbat]

They're spalls, not scratches, so that makes a difference. As far as why another sheet of glass over them seems to make them disappear, you'd have to speak to an optics expert. It probably has to do with refraction in the protector (but that's just a guess).