Thursday, March 13, 2014

Sony Xperia Z1 compact revealed to be very scratch-prone

Juan Carlos Torres

Sony's mini flagship is coated with an anti-shatter film or ASF that is meant to protect the glass beneath from shattering. Apparently, however, this layer of plastic on top of the scratch-resistant glass isn't scratch resistant at all, as a cringe-worthy scratch test video attests to.

Although the video you'll find below does take scratching to the extreme, it does match the beating that the smartphone will eventually meet inside pockets or bags. Except probably for the scissors and scalpel, the items used in the test are everyday objects you might carry along with you. The pen test is quite interesting since Sony boasts of its smartphones' capability to accept input from fine-pointed objects, like a pen, for example. The keys, however, did the most damage among the regular objects. Hopefully people don't carry scissors in their pockets all the time to inflict even more damage.

The good news is that it's possible to pry off this plastic film to be replaced by a more scratch-resistant, fingerprint-resistant alternative. The bad news is that this ASF actually contains the Sony logo found on top of the device. Thus, the film actually functions as a warranty indicator as well. Remove the scratch-filled film and you run the risk of voiding your warranty.

Whether or not Sony has realized how practically useless the ASF is, it will no longer be employing its services in future devices. The Xperia Z1 Compact will be the last to make use of the film and the Xperia Z2 and all future smartphones will no longer have it. Hopefully, Sony's replacement will still provide shatter protection but also be scratch-proof at the same time.

VIA: Xperia Blog



source: androidcommunity

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