What's all the fuss about glass vs plastic touchpad in the article? I never had a glass touchpad on my laptops but I had glass touchpads on all my smartphones (the screen.) I see why the screen of the phone can't be plastic (colors, scratches, more?) but I never felt that the plastic touchpads of my laptops did not do their job as nicely as the screens of my phones.
It reminds me of the glass vs plastic phone backside arguments. Glass is more fragile than plastic and will not absorb shocks. It is also heavier and harder to replace (most plastic backsides can be removed with a guitar pick).
I was astonished at the amount of ink, or pixels wasted by this ridiculous and completely manufactured distinction on the part of inept tech "journalists" and bloggers who had to find something non-technical to identify a pecking order among phones in order to attract readership who didn't understand the more subtle distinctions between features that affect actual usage of the phone.
The only other ridiculous argument that had an even worse effect on the net usability of phones, as well as the indistinguishable limited variety that we have today, is the ridiculous obsession with thinness. And then everyone puts a case on it anyway.
Thin, thin, thin, and a glass back on top of that. I'm not usually sympathetic to conspiracies but it sure seems like the interests of phone manufacturers ( especially one in particular) who want to sell a new throaway device every year were suspiciously well served by both of these absurd abitrary obsessions of the tech press.
People say "vote with your feet" and "just don't buy the stuff you don't like", but you can't exactly buy nothing when there are no options you like, because what if you need a laptop anyway? So you end up having to buy something "thin and light" which is a signal to the OEM that people want more thin and light even if all they wanted was a laptop.
Unfortunately the phrase vote with your feet is too often misapplied either by the hopelessly idealistic at one end, or by the toxically cynical at the other.
particularly those who are well aware that you have two feet to work with while their side has paid influence wrangling a stampede of cattle in the other directiin.
I personally like light phones and thin or small are two ways to make them light. I prefer small to thin if I have a choice, but the sub 6" Android phones can be counted on the fingers of a hand nowadays (with fingers to spare) so I can't be too picky. 200 g seems to be the new normal. Ugh!
It just feels nicer to use. Not more functional to use, but it does feel different to your fingertip.
Like the author mentions, it's not a dealbreaker, but is a calling-card of this particular machine's build/materials/specs not living up to its pricetag.
