Worst. Samsung Galaxy S4 Scratch Test. Ever

Since I visited Corning’s booth at the 2013 International CES and witnessed some fairly intense strength tests of the brand new Gorilla Glass 3 , I’ve anxiously awaited the day that I get my hands on a device with new display glass.

I’ve written quite extensively about Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 smartphone during the past week or so—check out pricing and release details and a list of the GS4’s coolest new features. And the GS4 will apparently be the first Samsung smartphone that uses Gorilla Glass 3.

Shortly after the Galaxy SIII was released, I dropped the device on pavement while getting out of my car, and it shattered. The phone fell from less than two feet, and its screen still broke, even though the display was made of Gorilla Glass. I was less than pleased, and I lost a lot of faith in Corning and Gorilla Glass.

Gorilla Glass sounds tough, but in my experience, it really isn’t particularly durable. Sure, it’s stronger than regular ol’, glass glass. As such, I’m curious to see how the latest version stands up to abuse. So I clicked over to the above video when I saw it featured on an Samsung-related blog.

Unfortunately, the video is worthless. In fact, it’s a good example of how not to perform a smartphone scratch test. I don’t know what the guy on camera is thinking, but the choice of music in the background was the first sign that he may be a few keys short of a full QWERTY. (He is from the site SamsungMobilers.co.uk, which is apparently “an exclusive network of bloggers who are first in line to trial and review the latest Samsung products, for free!” Sounds impressive, huh?)

The scratcher uses a bunch of different tools, but he barely puts any pressure on them, making all of his “tests” useless. At one point he employs both a serrated knife and a larger knife with what looks like a very sharp point. I guarantee that if you put any amount of pressure on the either of those knives and dragged them across the screen, you’d get some fairly significant scratches, Gorilla Glass or no Gorilla Glass. In fact, you could also perform all of this dude’s “tests” on Gorilla Glass 2 or another comparable material and not see any significant damage.

The video is disappointing to say the least. Frankly, I expect much more effort from people damaging perfectly good gadgets in exchange for page views.

AS