Cracked screens have become a fact of life. And since they're expensive
to fix, many people just endure a big gash in their displays until
they're ready to upgrade.
Motorola believes cracked screens could soon be a thing of the past.
In a partnership with Verizon, Motorola introduced the Droid Turbo 2 on
Tuesday, which claims to be the first phone with a shatterproof screen.
"People take it for granted that screens on phones would
break," said Rick Osterloh, president of Motorola, in an interview. "Our
big realization was: We shouldn't accept that."
The Droid
Turbo 2's unbreakable screen is an engineering marvel. The screen is
made of five distinct layers, each of which is designed to be shock
absorbent.
At the back of the screen is an aluminum chassis
that the rest of the display is fastened to, which makes the screen
durable (most screens kind of float on top of the phone's guts).
The next layer is a flexible display that looks and feels kind of like
plastic laminate. In front of that is a flexible touch layer followed by
a flexible lens layer. And it's all topped with a hard exterior lens
that works like a screen protector.
Notice that the word
"glass" isn't included in the materials -- because there isn't any in
the Droid Turbo 2. But you wouldn't know it -- it looks and feels just
like the display of any other glass smartphone.
The shatterproof technology has long been promised by screen makers,
but early attempts at flexible displays didn't quite do the trick.
Phones like the LG Flex were innovative, but the slightly bendable
screen could still shatter when dropped.
"We spent three years
to do the research and development on this," said Osterloh. "It was
really hard, and it took some terrific engineering work."
Motorola says the Droid Turbo 2 is designed to be shatterproof when
dropped onto hard surfaces from a five-foot height. CNNMoney tested its
claims by allowing a horse-drawn carriage to trot over the phone --
twice. It came out scratched, but otherwise unscathed. (Motorola
recommends using a screen protector.)
Still, it's an impressive
feat, and one that the rest of the smartphone industry would be smart
to adopt. Motorola says that 37% of smartphone owners have cracked their
screens, with one display shattering every two seconds.
The
Droid line of smartphones has become Motorola and Verizon's showcase for
innovative features that they believe will eventually enter the mass
market. Past innovations have included turbo charging, long-lasting
battery life and super-sharp screen resolution -- all of which are also
included in the new Droid Turbo 2.
-cnn
No comments:
Post a Comment