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Opinion: I Hate Glossy Devices

7 points by mouse_ ↗ HN
Any glossy device that comes into contact with human hands is going to look filthy within the half hour. Of course it is going to look better in marketing materials and when you take it out of the box, but a week in, the matte counterpart is going to look better. Glossy devices wind up leaving me dissatisfied and wanting the new one; matte devices leave me content with what I have.

Excluding displays -- they tend to get the coating right these days.

4 comments

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Zambyte
They are shinier (like you mention) and sell more cases. Matte is obviously easier to get right for surfaces that are meant for human touch, but unfortunately economic incentives are at odds with that.
ggm
I don't like the kind of soft-touch plastic coating 5 years in. It de-plasticises very fast, and is unbelievably tacky (literally, not figuratively: it is sticky)

I've had to use eucalyptus oil to try and clear it off things which are otherwise fully functional.

Even non-soft-touch plastics can do this. A pair of baby shoes regressed to blue goo and the feet of a 2400 baud modem became Brer Rabbit Tarpit.

m463
> Excluding displays

I hate glossy displays myself, they only work well in dark environments or with REALLY bright displays (The worst combo is glossy display + OLED + not-dark-room)

As to fingerprints/etc, I think the folks who got this right are the ones that figured out matte nickle faucets do better than chrome faucets, which always have fingerprints and dried water droplets.

eternityforest
Most rugged phone cases seem to have a very nice(as far as plastic goes) look and texture, that never seems to get sticky.