Why are Android phones made of plastic?

[dpy646]

Because it's cheap and enough, I really like my old Galaxy S2, after years it looks good and works just great

 

[ManiacJoe]

Damn, so you're saying that Samsung literally decided to use plastic to save cost?

Am I wrong here that plastic is cheap or is it that metal and glass are posh?

I guess my point is - why did they have to go all the way down to plastic? I have an HTC Desire HD that's made of something in the middle.

And then, I have this gorgeous Galaxy Nexus that's made of just regular old hard plastic. Though, I must admit, it's much lighter.

What you refer to as "cheap plastic", most other folks call "space age polymers".
While plastic may be inexpensive, it is not low quality.
Plastics provide lots of good heat resistance and durability and flexibility without metal's interference with radio signals.
If plastic is good enough to build handguns with, it is an obvious choice for cellular phones.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

It is actually polycarbonate, you know, the stuff bullet resistant glass is made out of. It is not like cheap plastic toys.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/ph...xy-s3-chassis-is-made-of-classy-stuff-1081413

 

[bnice]

Well first off what material a cellphone is made of has nothing to do with Android. Nokia, Samsung and even Apple make plastic phones etc etc. For the most part cellphones are made of plastic (polycarbonate), glass or metal. But to answer your question, plastic is use by most because of reception issues not to mention the durability that plastic offers. Metal phone have know to have reception issues all the time (HTC, Apple) and they still require a rubber band to get reception. So this is not a Android thing but more of the OEM doing was best to build a successful phone that's durable and provide solid reception to the consumers..

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Von Spradlin]

Wow.. Way to resurrect a 2 year old thread.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[cardboard60]

Know this is a old thread.
But look forward. People was worried about the Samsung not being as nice of a phone as a Iphone.
Now we lost the removable battery, the Sd card capability and a lot more cause we was worried about the Iphone being a nicer phone.
Question is does your Samsung phone get good reception ?
Does it operate good.
What is the problem.
My statement is if you want a Iphone. Go buy a Iphone.
After having 5 iphones and now 2 Samsung phones. I Like the Samsung better.

 

[Tech-Newb]

Loosing removable battery for design is quite acceptable... but not for SD cards!!!

Posted with ❤Love❤

 

[hasina10]

Maybe because it's cheap

 

[cardboard60]

Maybe because it's cheap

So you could remove the battery & SD card.
Buy since they wasn't nice enough for you look what we lost.

 

[Inders99]

So you could remove the battery & SD card.
Buy since they wasn't nice enough for you look what we lost.

Yes, people were so interested in the way their phones looked they gave up practicality, never really made sense to me but we're all different. Thankfully we have choices, my G4 still has both.

 

[Inders99]

Loosing removable battery for design is quite acceptable... but not for SD cards!!!

Posted with ❤Love❤

To each our own, but aesthetic design does me no good when I run out of battery when traveling. With my G4 I just pop in a new battery and I go from 0-100 in seconds...to me that's practical design!

Again, the beauty of Android is that we have choices. There have been plenty of times my iPhone associates were on fumes and not using their phones and I just pop in a new battery and chug away LOL!

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Because it's cheap and enough, I really like my old Galaxy S2, after years it looks good and works just great

Thats the beauty of plastic, very durable! I've also still got my Galaxy S2, its sitting in its box these days as a spare for me or whoever needs to borrow it, still looks good as new despite the abuse I gave it in its 1st year (2011) with me.

A mix of Metal and Plastic, IMO, is the best way to go. My Note 4 is solid and durable thanks to a metal frame and plastic back.

I don't care how pretty looking and expensive feeling Glass and Metal are, fact is, the S6 and Note 5 are truly brittle and weak. Rather I have either Plastic and Metal (Note 4) OR all Metal (HTC One, Huawei Mate 7, Mate 8). Simple.

 

[hasina10]

but now high-end and some mid android smartphones are made of noble materials.
Keep in mind that iPhone 5C are made of plastic too...

 

[HAWK]

If people cared more about what their phone does than what it's made of there would be so many note 4 users lol. Jk

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Damn, so you're saying that Samsung literally decided to use plastic to save cost?

Am I wrong here that plastic is cheap or is it that metal and glass are posh?

I guess my point is - why did they have to go all the way down to plastic? I have an HTC Desire HD that's made of something in the middle.

And then, I have this gorgeous Galaxy Nexus that's made of just regular old hard plastic. Though, I must admit, it's much lighter.

Well most of the Samsung's have been polycarbonate, not just simple cheap plastic. I can't speak for the Galaxy Nexus though.

Are there problems with the Galaxy Nexus plastic you have?

 

[Kelly Kearns]

That's fine. I don't mind what material the back is made out of.

I'm just saying that the plastic rim around my Nexus could have been made of something besides cheap plastic. This wasn't a cheap phone; I didn't buy it for a teenager.



But Apple sells even higher volumes and it can take the time to fabricate the glass/metal chasis on the iPhone 5S.

Event he 5C has a glass/metal chasis, while only the highest-end Android phones are made of anything but plastic.

It just kind of feels like Samsung is treating us like kids.. why so much plastic? I mean, people say that Apple fanboys would buy anything made by Apply, but Android users are perfectly okay with drastically inferior materials and build quality.

This goes for laptops too, now that I think of it. Compare a Macbook Pro Retina with ANY PC laptop.. metal vs. plastic.

Do I have this backwards? Is plastic great and metal/glass just excellent?

Then why care about it? If you already have such high standards that you will only buy a phone with the best materials, you're cornering yourself to buying only Apple.. whose design I am sick of.

So, I suppose I am angry with Samsung for not giving us the same materials because then I'm forced to buy Apple.



The Desire HD has a removable bottom where the SD card and SIM card can be easily accessed, as well a removable side where the battery can be removed.

Though, of course, both of those openings are plastic.



No, I agree. Going from a 3.5" iPhone 4 to a 4.7" Galaxy Nexus.. I can't even describe the difference.

But now, envisioning my next phone, likely the Note 4.. I just feel like an ***** not demanding better materials.

Ok the Note 4. That is polycarbonate and very durable and not cheap plastic.

 

[kshark27]

Not all android phones are made of plastic. It depends a lot what market the Phone Manufacturer is targeting. Since most android phones are targetted for medium to low income group, they tend to use plastic to decrease the cost of manufacturing and there reducing there selling price.

 

[cardboard60]

People lost the removable battery and for a while the SD card.
Because a little of people was crying about it made out of plastic.
Maybe if the would raise the prices to 1500 a phone and higher we wouldn't have people crying about what it was made out of .

 

[Jackie Chen2]

Maybe it just becauses that using metal doesn't cater to their designers

 

[cardboard60]

Maybe it's so you could replace the battery.
And if you dropped it, the phone would survive the impact better.