Corning is unveiling the newest iteration of its popular Gorilla Glass line of scratch-resistant and crack-resistant screens at CES tomorrow. But we were able to get an early preview of just how tough GG3 really is. And boy is it.
The original Gorilla Glass was an immediate hit when it launched in 2007 and has since been implanted in over a billion products. Reformulated Gorilla Glass 2, in turn, offered the same amount of protection as its predecessor while using 20 per cent less material — shrugging off minor scratches and nicks while minimising their visibility on the screen.
The newest version is the strongest yet. Gorilla Glass 3 features Native Scratch Resistance, which dents and deforms rather than cracking and splintering as other screens do. Damage is 40 per cent less visible and offers a 40 per cent increase in its structural stability. This means that any gouges from house keys or loose pocket change much less visible and far less likely expand and spread the next time you drop your phone.
In the demo above, a Corning rep shows us what happens when you roll a 175g steel ball bearing down a 24-inch track at a series of pre-scratched test plates (these test plates were scored with an industrial diamond using 7 Newtons of force). The first two plates, made of conventional glass and an unnamed competitors piece, immediately shattered upon the ball’s impact. The aluminium plate in the third run, which was machined to the same thickness as GG3 suffered obvious deformation. However the final plate, loaded with Gorilla Glass 3, barely showed a mark. While Corning is unveiling GG3 this week, the company is still prepping it for wide release so don’t expect to find it in new gadgets until the second half of 2013.
Poor guy was struggling so hard with his autofocus.
Very interesting presentation, but terrible video quality
I managed to shatter my "Gorilla Glass 2" screen. Not Impressed. Give me plastic any day over glass.
Plastic doesn't have the optical characteristics you need for modern smartphones. You'd be extremely disappointed with your screen. Trust me.
Plastics work just fine in many applications, they just don't "feel" as expensive as glass. It's just a stupid aesthetic reason to please the sheep who want iPhone look alikes.
Really? You want the front of your iPhone to feel like your average Car stereo resistive touchscreen? Each to their own I suppose.
No, but I'd be happy with the Galaxy Y standard. Even that has a lot of potential still, design wise.
Sounds like he said 135g ball not 175g.
The five rolling tests were (according to what he was saying):
competitor (cracked badly)
gorilla 2 (nothing)
gorilla 3 (nothing)
steel plate (dent)
gorilla 3 (nothing)
The issue I have with the glass denting/deforming rather than cracking, is that it has to dent/deform into something. In the case of an LCD display, it may end up deforming into the display itself.
Ah well, by the time the iPhone comes out in 2014 (not the 5s, or whatever, this year) hopefully they implement this as well as the Liquipel nano coating. I eagerly await my indestructible iPhone 6.
If they make it indestructible, how will they sell apple care for phones?
I wasn't aware anyone bought AppleCare for iPhones. Seems silly when the ACLs provide protection for the device for the entire duration of the contract.
I dont know whyt anyone would wantto buy an iphone in the first place?