HTC One (M8): Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

[Ry]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

Reminder: Accusing someone of trolling is considered trolling. Keep the discussion civil.

 

[madlaw1071]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

Unfortunately, that doesn't have anything to do with the aluminum vs plastic subject. But, it seems you're simply trying to take a jab at the M8 again, to which I'll respond that I found the M8 to be better built than the Samsungs I tried yesterday with a wonky front button. Beyond that, they're both really well-built phones.

No jab at all. I own 3 M7s so I dont know why you keep thinking that I'm attacking the M8. I will most likely have an M8 within a couple weeks. I just ordered the SIM adapter so I can swap between by N5 and M8.

 

[Soundtrack to Chaos]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/HTC-Samsung-Twitter-Fight-Awards,23020.html

;-)

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Lmao, thanks

 

[Haalcyon]

I agree that better build material doesn't always mean better build quality. There is also cost of surface finish, treatment, etc. The total cost of housing/case would be material plus processing the shape, surface, etc. Though I don't know the cost of building M8 aluminum body, I doubt it's significantly higher than S5 or any other flagship phone with plastic body.

Interesting indeed. So some may place a higher value on metal because of the time, effort, and materials it takes to turn it into useful things along with it being quite strong and durable on a molecular level.


via the phone

 

[metz65]

I find the whole brand loyalty, my phone is better than your phone blah blah blah game highly amusing. Just get whatever phone does the things you want from a phone. It doesn't matter if Phil or anybody else doesn't like this feature or that feature. The only important thing is if the darn thing works. Everything else is personal preference.

I don't care what kind of phone you have, that's not how I judge someone's worth or intelligence.

 

[Haalcyon]

I find the whole brand loyalty, my phone is better than your phone blah blah blah game highly amusing. Just get whatever phone does the things you want from a phone. It doesn't matter if Phil or anybody else doesn't like this feature or that feature. The only important thing is if the darn thing works. Everything else is personal preference.

I don't care what kind of phone you have, that's not how I judge someone's worth or intelligence.

Exactly. This is why I struggle with the statement "Android is OBJECTIVELY better than...."


via the phone

 

[LindtChocolate]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

We're just tired of hearing that certain phones are of a higher quality because they're made of aluminum, since nobody has demonstrated why this is so, except for their own bias against plastic.

I already explained why. Plastic is cheap and has a nasty feel and look to it. That's all there is to demonstrate. Plastic is garbage (literally).

Aluminum is actually cheap, soft metal in general. There are numerous better metals. Just because it's looking shiny, feeling good doesn't make aluminum necessarily superior than polycarbonate case technically.

Aluminum is $1.7k/kg
Polycarbonate is like $10/kg

HOWEVER, Mercedes has much lower reliability/build quality.

A current mercedes does not have build quality issues like the cars from the 1980s/90s did. Also, don't try and compare cars to phones, especially when looking at mercedes and hondas...
I hate analogies and comparisons like that, because they are never relevant. Stick to phones dude.
If you ignore build quality lemons that both plastic and metal phones have, a metal phone will always feel and look better than a plastic phone. Take a look at the iPhone, huge market share and a beautiful phone with high build quality, then take a look at the S line and their squeaky plastic.

 

[madlaw1071]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

I already explained why. Plastic is cheap and has a nasty feel and look to it. That's all there is to demonstrate. Plastic is garbage (literally).


Aluminum is $1.7k/kg
Polycarbonate is like $10/kg


A current mercedes does not have build quality issues like the cars from the 1980s/90s did. Also, don't try and compare cars to phones, especially when looking at mercedes and hondas...
I hate analogies and comparisons like that, because they are never relevant. Stick to phones dude.
If you ignore build quality lemons that both plastic and metal phones have, a metal phone will always feel and look better than a plastic phone. Take a look at the iPhone, huge market share and a beautiful phone with high build quality, then take a look at the S line and their squeaky plastic.

you mean the S line with the HUGE market share?

 

[LindtChocolate]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

you mean the S line with the HUGE market share?

If market share were important in what products are actually good then the iPhone would be the best phone in the world.

 

[Habiib]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

If market share were important in what products are actually good then the iPhone would be the best phone in the world.

Bingo!

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[madlaw1071]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

If market share were important in what products are actually good then the iPhone would be the best phone in the world.

You were the one that raised marketshare. And the iPhone is arguably the best phone in the world.

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[Haalcyon]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

You were the one that raised marketshare. And the iPhone is arguably the best phone in the world.

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I love the iPhone and it is my phone of choice, right now, but there are far too many great products to say the iPhone is the best in the world...unless you're trying to make a joke...and in that case...LOL.


via the tablet

 

[dtblair24]

I find the whole brand loyalty, my phone is better than your phone blah blah blah game highly amusing. Just get whatever phone does the things you want from a phone. It doesn't matter if Phil or anybody else doesn't like this feature or that feature. The only important thing is if the darn thing works. Everything else is personal preference.

I don't care what kind of phone you have, that's not how I judge someone's worth or intelligence.

Basically. I have very little brand loyalty. I've bounced between different brands since the G1 days. Most recent phones have been an GSII, EVO 4GLTE, GSIII, HTC ONE, even an iPhone5s and now coming back to HTC. Just got to find what works for you

 

[madlaw1071]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

I love the iPhone and it is my phone of choice, right now, but there are far too many great products to say the iPhone is the best in the world...unless you're trying to make a joke...and in that case...LOL.


via the tablet

I said arguably the best not necessarily the best. It's hard to argue that it's a fine piece of hardware and software. Personally I think my N5 is the best device I've ever had but talk to me next week.

 

[worknman]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

I completely respect people's personal tastes and you should too. Just dismissing people's preference for metal as some sort of unfounded "bias" is just as bad as them saying you shouldn't like plastic.

I'm not dismissing anybody's personal preferences, but just calling them what they are - PREFERENCES. For example, you might have a preference for black phones over white ones, and you might even hate the look of white phones, but you wouldn't say that black phones are of a higher quality than white ones just because you like the look of black ones better; you would just say you PREFER them.

If something is of higher quality than something else, you should be able to demonstrate it by some kind of benchmark or reliability test, like battery life, CPU performance, or the durability of the shell. But you can't measure somebody's preference for a particular texture, so it has absolutely NOTHING to do with quality. Unless you can provide credible sources that have demonstrated proof the aluminum on the HTC phones is more durable/reliable then plastic of the Samsung phones ...

 

[worknman]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

I already explained why. Plastic is cheap and has a nasty feel and look to it. That's all there is to demonstrate. Plastic is garbage (literally).

You're expressing an opinion. Plastic, at least well made plastic, on a phone looks and feels fine to me. Well, to be fair, I'm kind of agnostic on the looks part of it. If it doesn't have titties, I don't really care how 'sexy' it is. If I were trying to decide between two phones that were equal in all areas that actually matter, and one were more aesthetically pleasing than the other, then I suppose that would be the deciding factor. But it would be the very LAST thing I'd consider. If I wanted a fashion accessory, I'd just buy an iPhone.

 

[Haalcyon]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

You're expressing an opinion. Plastic, at least well made plastic, on a phone looks and feels fine to me. Well, to be fair, I'm kind of agnostic on the looks part of it. If it doesn't have titties, I don't really care how 'sexy' it is. If I were trying to decide between two phones that were equal in all areas that actually matter, and one were more aesthetically pleasing than the other, then I suppose that would be the deciding factor. But it would be the very LAST thing I'd consider. If I wanted a fashion accessory, I'd just buy an iPhone.

So, you think the iPhone looks nice and stuff?


via the tablet

 

[B0WIE]

Re: Metal vs plastic - difference in quality, or personal preference?

I'm not dismissing anybody's personal preferences, but just calling them what they are - PREFERENCES. For example, you might have a preference for black phones over white ones, and you might even hate the look of white phones, but you wouldn't say that black phones are of a higher quality than white ones just because you like the look of black ones better; you would just say you PREFER them.

If something is of higher quality than something else, you should be able to demonstrate it by some kind of benchmark or reliability test, like battery life, CPU performance, or the durability of the shell. But you can't measure somebody's preference for a particular texture, so it has absolutely NOTHING to do with quality. Unless you can provide credible sources that have demonstrated proof the aluminum on the HTC phones is more durable/reliable then plastic of the Samsung phones ...

Respectfully, you're missing the point of what I said. Quality, in the capacity we're speaking of, is subjective. That is because some of the qualities that appeal to people (aesthetics, feel, cost, etc) cannot be benchmarked other than via a survey. If you want to gauge which is stronger, etc, then you need to specify. But, overall, people tend to gauge the quality of aluminum to be higher than plastic in this case and you can't disregard that just because the gauge of measurement is personal taste.

 

[spawndoodling]

The argument for metal just doesn't hold up on my end. Smartphones are supposed to travel with you at all times, like a wallet. They are not furniture, or paintings, or cars. Design is great and all but if your smartphone can't take a beating, I don't see the point. Even if you have been fortunate enough not to have dropped your phone by now, you probably will inevitably - juggling groceries, running to catch a train, pulling your phone out of your pocket. This is not a reason why plastic excels over metal. It's a reason why people buy cases for their phones.

If I'm going to put a big Otterbox over my phone, I do not see why the hell it matters that I have an aluminum brushed metal finish with a chiseled to perfection unibody casing.

And that's how I see the HTC One vs. Galaxy argument. I haven't made up my mind on which I'm going to buy when my contract is up in June, but material won't be at the top of the list. Is the One gorgeous? Yes. Is the GS5 the best looking phone on the planet? No. But if one has a much superior camera to the other, or if one performs much better than the other, I'll be sold. At the end of the day, both will be dressed up in an Otterbox case a week into my purchase and I'll likely never see the actual phone again until I'm ready to trade it in for a new one.

So the One's build quality might indeed and likely does feel 'more premium.' but a large segment of the market for smartphones - myself included - simply will not care when it comes to that decision. No premium feel is going to make me sacrifice a good camera or good performance.

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[ErnstMach]

The argument for metal just doesn't hold up on my end. Smartphones are supposed to travel with you at all times, like a wallet. They are not furniture, or paintings, or cars. Design is great and all but if your smartphone can't take a beating, I don't see the point. Even if you have been fortunate enough not to have dropped your phone by now, you probably will inevitably - juggling groceries, running to catch a train, pulling your phone out of your pocket. This is not a reason why plastic excels over metal. It's a reason why people buy cases for their phones.

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I guess I should ditch my metal watch because it is supposed to travel with me wherever I go... Lol

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