How durable is the screen and body on the HTC One and how can you protect your investment?

We hope many of you have received your shiny, new HTC One or at least hope it will be arriving in the next few days. If you haven’t bought one yet we have to ask what are you waiting for! Once you get that expensive new smartphone you want to preserve that thing for as long as you can or at least try to keep it scratch free for as long as possible. The video below takes the HTC One screen and sexy, aluminum body through the ringer with several tests to give us perspective on how durable the phone is and what areas are more susceptible to daily wear-and-tear. We’ll conclude with some tips for keeping that glorious new phone looking sharp.

The original creator of the video below forcefully stroked a key and sliced a kitchen knife over the front, back, and sides of the HTC One to see how much damage could be inflicted. Afterwards, he took a mallet and pounded the screen for a bit to see if the glass would give in to the powerful blows. While we don’t encourage any of you to do this with your HTC One we can reflect on what others have taken upon themselves to demonstrate.

WARNING: The video you are about to watch contains scenes that some viewers may not want to watch. Viewer discretion is advised!

We know what you’re thinking. Ouch, right. Who would do these things to a phone? It’s not very likely that you will use your phone as a cutting board in the kitchen and we don’t encourage you to pull out your phone in the middle of a knife fight (umm, well we don’t encourage you to get in a knife fight at all), but we do think you should be aware of some areas, like the machined edges, that may show nicks sooner than other areas.

We’d like to offer some advice to help keep your phone in good shape. Cover that phone up! Below are a few HTC One accessory options to think about if you want to make sure your precious new toy stays safe.

Minimalistic approach

I prefer to show off the excellent design HTC worked so hard to bring us so I invested in a full body screen protector by Zagg that covers the screen and the back surface of the phone. I have used these on many of my previously owned phones and can attest to their strength and durability. The weakest areas on my personal phones have been those not covered with Zagg protection. I must also add that I do not combine keys, spare change or anything else in the pocket that I carry my phone in and I rarely drop my phone (my HTC One S fell twice, and my HTC HD2 never hit a hard surface).

Medium approach

If you can’t trust yourself to hold on to your phone at all times, then you might want to invest in a rubber case at the very least. This will cover a large amount of the aluminum casing and protect it against most drops depending on how evenly and hard it hits the ground. There’s a the Poetic Atmosphere Case that we have our eyes on. Although Gorilla Glass 2 does a very good job against scratches, just like we saw in the test, once a non-removable scratch lands on the screen it’s there for good. You can add any kind of screen protector to this approach and it should keep it safe.

Maximum approach

Otterbox is well-known for making durable cases for all sorts of phones, especially the super-fragile iPhone. Although cases made by Otterbox won’t stop a bullet, they sure do offer a lot of protection with their Commuter and Defender series cases. More protection comes at a higher price too, these will run around $30 – $60

The materials HTC used for the HTC One are impressive. The design outclasses many of its competitors and will be susceptible, just like all phones, to drops and normal wear-and-tear abuse so do what you can to protect your investment.

Source: AndroidAuthority via PhoneBuff