Scuffgate – Anodised Aluminium does not scuff so easily on the N8 as it does on iPhone 5
This morning we talked about the torture test on the Nokia Lumia 900, surviving all the usual bangs and knocks that would kill lesser phones.
http://mynokiablog.com/2012/09/26/video-nokia-lumia-900-torture-test/
I mentioned in that post about something the blogosphere has named ‘scuffgate’ where new iPhones are appearing with scuffs to the anodised aluminium out of the box and are scratching really easily on scratch tests.
Apple’s Phil Schiller was then reported to say that is a completely normal thing so essentially, users have nothing to worry about. Well it’s true that even the N8′s anodized aluminium CAN get scratched. BUT that was only from heavy abuse. In these scratch tests, similar to iPhone 5 and worse, the N8 fares so much better. In the N8, if you scratch it, you can rub the scratch away. The weakest part for me was the silly chromed bezel bit which was prone to paint chipping. The anodised aluminium bit was much tougher.
http://mynokiablog.com/2010/06/14/video-nokia-n8-scratch-test-with-shiny-media/
As cool as it is to have a metal phone, I love having a matte polycarbonate material. It truly is that colour throughout the device so that if you did scratch it, it is really hard to see And it’s quite difficult to scratch in the first place. My N9/800 looks absolutely pristine compared to my first N8.
Nokia’s polycarbonate is very different to your bargain basement plastic. Nokia’s anodised aluminium seems to be different to what’s seen in the iPhone 5.
Cheers Peter L for the tip!
Category: Nokia









what a pathetic response from Apple. People spend over £500 on these things, all they can say is, “tough s**t”. Or words to that effect.
No visible scratches on my E7 even after some abuse, then again, it’s the silver one.
To be honest, the latest iPhone seems to have even more of these little problems than any of the previous iterations.
- maps
- scratching
- still shatter -prone
- blue dinted photos
- some antenna problems
Yet their buyers want it so badly
I can’t wait to get my aPple 5.
The aPPel 5 sounds so cool, I want it so I can text and call. I like the aPPel on it. It’s like really, really cool and advanced.
rachel is your double, jay? lol
I have made a prediction that iPhone 5 will be the best selling iPhone ever, and with these small faults, I think it will be true. The next iPhone will suffer from iPhone 5, and, hopefully, better offerings from Nokia and other.
Even the N97 sold pretty well, but not the phones after.
well analysts show that so far the iphone5 sold basically the same amount as the 4S when you average the units sold to the countries where its available
Because they have no brains.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eRKIWfE6Fws
She is 100% on crack
i made a note about this in some iphone topics where people are arguing about the debacle with the iphone5 being chipped/scratched out of the box
My N8 is going on 2 years now and I don’t have a scratch or chip on the aluminum (the plastic bezel and top/end pieces sure) and this is with dropping the n8 a lot.. a lot on many surfaces, including concrete, and from many heights
Apple must have done a very very cost effective job on their anodising if its anodised at all and not merely painted
I have some minor removal of the anodized coating on my N8 – but only minimal (having had the phone resting on slate tiles a lot, and being moved around).
Did try the keys scratch test earlier on it – couldn’t get anything off ….
The only caveat on the build of the N8 is the plastic on the top and bottom – both of those easily get damaged.
Yup, all the plastic parts in the N8 were a bit of garbage :/ The lock thing and the end caps were pretty bad.
Not only N8s but you’ve just got to run a key across the components and some frames of mountain bikes to realise Apple are full of shit when they claim anodised aluminium scratches easily.
I once met the manufacturer of a high end bike company who quite proudly got a screwdriver out and gouged the anodising on his frame. Not a single scratch. I’ve got chain rings that are years old that don’t have scratches on them and I live in an area where the mud is best described as ‘gritstone in a sandy watery slurry’.
Apple have used very thin, soft anodising when they should have used the type of hard anodising used on bike components, and Nokia N8s.
Preach it, brother. The annodize on all my bike components is still in top form. Though none of my parts are hard annodized, neither is the N8. If thry were that would be bitchen, as the aluminum its self would be even stronger, but you would only be able to have a black or dark bronze color.
Apple’s annodize process seems to be just enough to get a little dye into to aluminum oxide substrate, were as the process they used on the 4S’s frame was at the level of the Nokias.
What most funny was Apple’s response to the whole situation. And My thought same about this chipping problem.
N8 is like god-like compare to iPhone 5 in this matter.
My both silver and black N8 are nearly as new as day one. Well silver one that was my sisters was used rough and show its age slightly but still nothing serious, nothing even slightly serious at all. Mine still looks as new, fresh out of box.
I just spoke to my colleague a while ago, who happens to be an iphone user, about how easily scratchable is the iphone 5.
Let’s just say I find it really scary on way he defended it, saying it’s impossible to scratch because it’s anodised aluminum, and refuse to accept any view whatsoever suggesting iphone 5 is less than perfect…
I’m better off not talking about iphone in the future from now on… I’m not good at handling those types
Haham those kind, what one can say about it. Because of those kind world is rich.
LOL LOL LOL LOL cant eny more LOL LOL LOL ……..Americans.
Nokia may be utter crap at making software but they’re still kings of hardware. I’ve dropped my bare E7 a few times on to concrete and tarmac, sometimes landing with the glass face down, and I end up getting scratches on the plastic end caps. The aluminium is unmarked. Fantastic
It’s a disgrace for Apple to use such thin anodizing on such an expensive phone and call it normal. It’s even more disheartening when a few million people ordered an iPhone 5 sight unseen. And this is the company that slapped glass on the front and back of a phone and made it really hard to repair…
It might be “okay” if the phone was just easily scratched, but to come scratched out of the box is just wrong.
Does anyone with an n8 also have their paint come of on the edge part of the camera hump ?
Nokia has always taken build quality very seriously.
http://everythingnokia.com/nokia-n8-is-tough-drop-test-results/
The first iPhone failed Nokia’s drop tests.
Iv’e repaired lots of nokia n8s bought from ebay and some off them have been in a right state.
The ones i used only had dints around the bezel.
My 808 has bounced on concrete and is still scratch free, but i sure miss the organic cold to the touch n8.