Samsung Galaxy S4 Polycarbonate Glaze Explained!
Since
we already spoke about the use of plastics by Samsung, and their unwillingness to move to a different type of build for their most recent flagship the
Galaxy S4. A lot of readers are confused about the one statement made by Samsung Executives who said, “The new
Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with
Polycarbonate Glaze”, in fact it appears Samsung’s use of the said statement has actually met with its purpose.
Lets lay down the details first, the
Samsung Galaxy S4 is the Korean company’s latest flagship announced at an event held in New York on the 14th of March 2013. The
smartphone just like any other from Samsung in the past and others this year, features top of the line
specifications.
The norm being full HD 1920 x 1080p display, a 13 MP camera, various
storage capacities, an octa-core processor and a newer set of software
tweaks to satisfy the user and to set them apart from others. The
Samsung Galaxy S4 also has a large 2600 mAh battery and the very latest
Android 4.2.2 with their new designed for life TouchWiz/ Nature/ Life UI.
But one major element of the latest
smartphone
that seems to not be catching the fancy of the eye is the lack of
design change and the continued use of plastics in the so called natural
form factor. We do understand that most companies follow the “if it
sells then why change it?” policy, But the reason Samsung came into the
limelight is because they changed the norms, with the S2, with the Note
series and even with their tablets to some extent, which were unique in
their own way and different from the herd of
smartphones that were being built on Android.
But, before we start another battle, lets talk about the “
Polycarbonate Glaze”.
Polycarbonate
Glazing (confused here), is used to replace glass in areas where extra
strength is required, like greenhouses, security cars, safe rooms and
even on some fighter jets. However the thinnest form of this
polycarbonate glazing which can be used effectively is either 4mm or 5mm, and since most of us know that the
Samsung Galaxy S4 is just short of the 8 mm thickness, Samsung did not fill half of that bulk with a polycarbonate sheet.
special poly-carbonate body
Polycarbonate
Glaze, however, is what Samsung has actually done on this variant of
the Galaxy, Glaze by definition of its use here is “a layer of paint,
thinned with a medium, so as to become somewhat transparent” . The
Samsung Galaxy S4 has a fully plastic shell/frame which does not use
Polycarbonate anywhere. In-fact Samsung goes to say that the Galaxy S4′s
bezel is wrapped in a “special
polycarbonate body” which means
that the plastic back panel has a coating of polycarbonate paint,
generally used to provide added strength to RC boats, cars and toys.
This particular “Polycarbonate Glaze” is also used on some other model
novelty items to provide some added shine and strength.
In May 2012 Samsung responded to several users upset with the
build quality
of the galaxy S3, claiming that the back cover of the Galaxy S3 in-fact
has polycarbonate, “Using three layers of high quality, pure and clear
polycarbonate”, what they did not mention is that these three layers are
by all intents and purposes laid on top (read: painted/coated) of the
plastic back panel of the Galaxy S3, the Note 2 and in-fact the recently
launched
Galaxy Grand
aswell. So, go ahead Grand owners celebrate your phone is made out of
polycarbonate. The Lumia series of phones from Nokia, are the greatest
example of the kind of feel a polycarbonate shell would give to the one
holding it, some HTC phones also possess this type of build.
The fact remains Samsung may or may not change their design process,
especially if they continue to sell the numbers they already do. We have
reached out to Samsung for better clarification and will update this
article, once they do respond.
