[Lordvic]

the teardown for me was an eye opener . i didnt realize just how "fragile" they really are. I know i've dropped mine several times over it's lifespan. I think the first day i got it I fell asleep reading and it fell right out of my hands onto a tile floor.

it was my own ignorance to believe it's robustness. I should have researched E-ink better and seen exactly how it is made.

The reason for the insanely think pieces of glass i would assume might be two fold. The weight issue for one, and secondly, costs (not just dollar, but how much waste of material for extra glass would be used when in reality, it isn't needed).

Adding thicker back glass would definitly add to the weight. We are so used to the glass on our phones and tablets and how ridiculously strong they are. When I think of glass, i think of all those drinking glasses i've broken accidentally just with my hands cleaning them. Now I can see that if e-ink isn't using one of those "gorrilla glass" or deritives of re-inforcement, these devices are more fragile than your average tablet.

I know I spent the better part of the life of my device carrying it around in my pants pocket. I never thought twice about it.

I loved the e-reader. it was fantastic for reading on. Nothing compares but paper book. I'm going to look into how the e-ink on the pearl screens is done. if it's basically the same, with the same fragility, I might think twice about getting another one. I'm not rough on my devices, but a "spontaneous cracking" really troubles me. I might end up with a small tablet, Nook or Fire perhaps if i can get one up here, or perhaps one that has put in some extra reinforcement. The Kobo as shown above really has no structural reinforcement around the screen. the front case is stuck onto it with sticky tape, and the entire screen itself is glued directly to the PCB. Design flaw? Not really, just probably not as robust as other alternatives, that i will be fully researching now that i'm not so ignorant.