I collected this information for a long time and anxiously, for years, bit by bit, then analyzed it for several years, peeled it off and rechecked it, and now, finally, I am ready to share with you my exclusively subjective view of what body materials in smartphones should be, and which shouldn't. Only truth and facts!
Plastic housing
Obviously – the most ancient and universal material, tested for decades, first in phones, then in communicators and, finally, the material that has reached smartphones – plastic. Plastic is practical, it does not scratch too much, it hardly noticeably gets dirty, lightweight, strong, when a plastic smartphone falls, you can feel sad about a broken screen, but hardly a couple of scratches or dents, cracks on the case itself. On the other hand, as a rule, it is an inexpensive material, and a smartphone in a plastic case looks cheaper, simpler, worse (and so on) than its competitor in metal or glass. There is no style and zest in the plastic, whatever one may say.
Metal body
The most stylish and expensive material for smartphones. It would seem that metal is good and all around one pluses, but this is not so. Although they are. Metal is always a pair of glasses at once for the design and perception of the device. It just so happened that until recently metal was not used at all in cheap smartphones, hence the perception. I will also attribute to the pluses a barely noticeable soiling, traces and prints, stains and so on – they are invisible on metal. On the other side of the scale, impracticality, oddly enough. Any fall of the smartphone on a hard surface will result in either cracked glass, or dents and scratches on the metal of different depths. At the same time, if on a plastic device it's not so scary (well, plastic and plastic), then on a metal one all traces will be clearly visible.
Glass body
One of the most controversial, in my opinion, materials. There is always enough glass in a smartphone (and without a glass case, I mean), because the screen is protected by a glass panel, but no, some people want to make the smartphone completely glass. What well? Glass is beautiful, stylish and effective. It's foolish to argue that a shiny glass flagship from Sony or Samsung looks amazing in renders, photographs and even live, until you touch it with your hands. But it is worth touching, and all the gloss is lost. Smartphones in glass cases are excellent at collecting dust and any traces: fingerprints, streaks, casts of ears after talking on the phone, and so on. You need to constantly wipe the device or hide it in a case. And glass has the property of breaking, and it is better not to drop the device made of this material. Otherwise, both the front panel and the back are usually replaced.
For the sake of fairness, I note that the new Sony smartphones in glass cases are the most interesting of all that has been done before, frosted glass looks cool, and is no longer so easily soiled as the standard one. I have a glass Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, and I wear it in a case, because glass is beautiful and effective, but holding and using the device in a glass case is corny inconvenient.
Leather body
I immediately recall LG G4 and funny pictures about a leather lash and other related things, but, in fact, I liked the leather 'back' in that smartphone. Yes, if the body is made of delicate leather, write lost, it will wear out quickly and everything will be bad. But if the manufacturer chooses normal dense leather, it will wear out over time, while maintaining a presentable appearance. Now I use a leather case for Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, and everything about it suits me.
Anything Else Case
Bamboo back (OnePlus One, Moto X), other woods, ballistic nylon and other materials exotic for a smartphone are always interesting. All the disadvantages here boil down to the features of a particular material, as well as advantages, but there is one indisputable plus over the options listed above – a rarity. The case with elements made of wood or some other atypical material is rare on the market and, accordingly, unique in its kind. So, choosing such devices, you can be sure that you will be able to stand out against the background of comrades with just 'iPhones' and 'Samsung', at least at the expense of a smartphone.
