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Old 10-04-2007, 11:01 AM   #45
DrMoze
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Posts: 860
Karma: 2852
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida!
Device: Sony Reader 500/505/300/350, Nook Glowlight Plus (6")
Quote:
Originally Posted by macastronomer View Post
I had a nice long detailed message written but my login timed out and I lost it all... so here goes a quick recap and then off to work...

Sony will RMA this unit, but due to supply constraints and also due to their inability to provide an RMA when they don't have one in stock—I still have it. I unboxed it and took this photo:

http://homepage.mac.com/deal/reader_crack.jpg

The outside plastic is uncracked and invisible in this image. The crack is well beneath the surface.

Notice that how far in the corner it is.

Try this experiment. Get a thin rectangular box (like a puzzle box). The only way you could stress something within the box would be to twist the hole box. That would stress the center (not to mention cause damage to the outside box). Now imagine trying to damage just the corner of something inside that puzzle box. There's no way you could do it without damaging the box. This is common sense.

I wish I could take a better photo of this, as the internal crack is incredibly thin. I can't imagine plastic being this thin and glass would have to be tempered (making it stronger but brittle).

I'm reassured that this thing can take normal use by individuals here but I still don't trust taking this thing out of my house—definitely won't be using it out of the house has I had intended.

Now... Copy, then preview, then send
I still don't see that as proof of there being glass inside the display. First of all, the display is rather thin overall. And given that the outer surface has to be fairly thick to withstand contact, the back surface of the display (which appears to have cracked in your photo) is probably rather thin. This can work because of the stiffer/thicker top surface of the display and the mounting within a rigid frame. In fact, a back plate that was glass would have to be very thin, and even more fragile than plastic.

Also, the crack could easily result from a blunt force applied to the corner of the Reader. The frame is not perfectly rigid, so even a twist on the corner could be enough to crack the rear of the display.

Given that the display is thin to begin with, that any e-ink display I've read about is made of plastic (so that glass is certainly not needed nor particularly beneficial), and that a very thin plate of glass would be extremely fragile compared to plastic, why do many folks continue to insist that the display is made of glass? From a design point of view, I would *avoid* glass unless it were necessary, for both durability and cost reasons. It makes no sense to put a large, thin glass plate into a portable device with a display that large, and the display doesn't require glass. And yes, a thin plastic plate will also crack if the right (or wrong!) type of force is applied to it.
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