Just How bad is Plastic?

Consumer electronics come in all shapes and sizes but the material used for their enclosures (housing or shell if you prefer) are not so varied. Generally, these enclosures are either made of plastic, glass, metal or wood. Sometimes, a combination of some or all of these materials is used. In recent times, plastic enclosures have been derided and labelled as inferior but is there any merit to this argument?

At times, the choice of material(s) for the housing goes beyond aesthetics. A good example is metal. Metal is a good thermal conductor and is sometimes chosen to help dissipate the heat generated by the internal components. 

In certain circles in the audio industry, wooden enclosures are regarded as essential for good speaker performance. However, I have observed that many cars dispense with this idea/logic and are still able to produce a superb auditory experience. I have also observed many Hi-Fi systems that use plastics for all the satellites and use wood only for the subwoofer. Likewise, I am yet to come across a car with a wooden subwoofer. I am not a sound engineer neither am I a physicist but I suspect that the use of wood in speaker housings has more to do with aesthetics and heritage than performance. Speaker performance has more to do with the diaphragm than the speaker housing.

This brings me to plastic enclosures. Many are of the opinion that a plastic casing is inferior and should be avoided most especially in the case of high-end products (no pun intended). This argument is most popular in the mobile industry where flagship phones with a plastic casing are viewed as rip-offs and cheapos. When this debate started two years ago, I dismissed it and its proponents on the grounds that the case/body of a phone was of no consequence as long as it had capable hardware to power its functions. And that has been my stance ever since. All that changed a few weeks ago during a musing session when I discovered that I too hated plastics.

How had this sudden reversal on a firmly held conviction come about? It had to do with my dislike for some cars. More particularly, the plastic used in the interior of some cars. Of course some car manufacturers call it a silver satin finish. But let’s call it what it is. It’s just plastic painted in a dull grey colour. Why do I hate these plastics? After all, plastics are used in the several other cars that I consider as having good interiors. After much cogitation, I realised that it wasn't really the plastic that I hated; it was the finish applied to the plastic. What a relief to know that there was some sound rationale behind this volte-face.

Properly finished plastic. This 'metallic' door release lever is plastic underneath.

So why do many people abhor the use of plastics in high-end mobile devices? To be more specific, why do they deride the plastic based flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2/S3/S4/Note 2? The S3 and S4 are not poorly finished, that’s for sure. They are finished with what Samsung calls Hyper Glazing. That’s a glossy finish to the rest of us. And it feels good to the touch. Sure the iPhone 4 and 5 feel great with their glass and aluminium backs. So are the plastic based phones like the S3 and Note poor or cheap looking? I would say no. 

It is also interesting to note that before the debut of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3G/3GS had plastic backs and they felt good. And back then there was no derision of plastic construction in the industry; the whole world it seemed, was happy with plastic phones. So what changed? For one, Apple and the iPhone. Ever since the iPhone 4, Apple has been waxing on about premium materials and a premium feel. More recently, others like HTC have also joined in the fray. No doubt, phones like the HTC One and the iPhone 5 have a better look and feel to plastic phones like the S3 but then again, the pricing also reflects it. No harm, no foul then.

What I find to be interesting is the inconsistency in the attitude of the premium materials advocates. While phones like the iPhone 4& 5 are lauded for their premium materials and plastic phones like the S3 are maligned, other plastic based flagships like the Nokia Lumia 800/900 series escape unscathed. Equally interesting is the absence of this debate in the PC industry. The dv series in HP’s Pavilion line of laptops are all plastic based but are finished in a superior fashion right from the imprinted floral radiance pattern to the lamination of the plastic. Apple has been using aluminium for their laptops and desktops for a few years now but I think the plastic-based G5 computers looked and felt much better. Many people have been conditioned to think that the use of plastic connotes inferiority. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The aforementioned HP Pavilion laptops and the iPhone 3G/3GS are good examples. And if rumours of plastic-based budget iPhone ever come to fruition, will plastic be cool again? What I don’t get is why the end users allow firms like Apple to frame the discussion and skew the logic.

Acer Iconia B1: Who says plastic can't look good?

From the foregoing, it appears that the debate of plastic construction being inferior is highly subjective. The price and applied finish are very important factors to consider. And then there are cheap and cheerful devices like the Acer Iconia B1 tablet; made of plastic and still manage to look stunning.  So do I hate the plastic of the Samsung Galaxy S4/S4/Note 2? Not in the slightest. They offer top notch performance, top notch hardware, nice to the touch and are cheaper than the HTC One and iPhone 5. Remember that whenever anyone scoffs at the plastic construction.