[Intro] Each of these three items has one thing in
common: sapphire. Pure synthetic sapphire is one of the hardest
minerals on the planet, usually falling at an 8 or a 9 on Mohs Scale of Hardness – right
below the hardness level of diamonds. While regular clear glass and clear sapphire
might look the same on the outside, they are actually made from entirely different materials. Tissot, a watch manufacturer, uses sapphire
instead of glass on their premium watches. This makes sense from a durability perspective
because the sapphire will remain scratch free forever, unless your watch is coming in contact
with diamonds on a regular bases. Of course glass would be cheaper to manufacture,
but it also scratches at a level 5 or 6. Sapphire is much more expensive to make, but
its hardness level and scratch resistance makes it very appealing for use in high-end
gadgets and electronics. HTC recently released a special deluxe sapphire
version of their HTC U Ultra, with a sapphire crystal display. This sapphire version of the Ultra is being
slowly rolled out to multiple countries at the moment, and somehow dbrand managed to
score me one of the early ones for my tests – so thanks for the pink phone guys. I appreciate it. If you can overlook a few missing features
and a lack of a headphone jack, the HTC U Ultra is actually a pretty good looking phone
on the outside. This cosmetic pink finish is rather exquisite. And last but not least, we have the most expensive
screen protector in the world from Zagg, costing a mind blowing 50 US dollars. This Zagg screen protector advertises a hybrid
glass with real sapphire crystals infused inside of the protector. The box also claims unparalleled scratch protection
so we’ll have to see how this holds up. So far its feeling and acting a lot like plastic. Today we’re going to find out which of these
devices are using real quality sapphire and which companies are just taking advantage
of this sapphire hypetrain and using advertising buzz words to empty the wallets of their unsuspecting
customers. One of the easiest ways to tell different
minerals apart is by their hardness level. Plastic scratches at a level 3, glass is a
5 or a 6, and sapphire would be an 8 or a 9. Diamonds are the hardest mineral on earth,
topping the scale at a level 10. Mohs scale has been used by geologists and
scientists for over 200 years now. I’ll go down the line scratching each sapphire
object in order with the same tip to see which one scratches first. Already at a level 3, we start running into
problems with that unmatched scratch protection on the world’s most expensive screen protector. Pretty embarrassing. It is very heavily scratched at a level 3,
just like we would see on any other plastic screen or plastic screen protector that would
cost a few pennies. Very disappointing. You might be better off just taping a 50 dollar
bill to the front of your phone and hoping for the best. Last time I checked, sapphire doesn’t catch
fire either. Plastic, on the other hand, would catch fire. Not sure why this protector marketed as a
hybrid glass material when it’s clearly neither glass nor sapphire. Now you might be thinking to yourself, Hey
Jerry, isn’t false advertising illegal? But before we grab the pitchforks though,
I did do an elemental analysis of this screen protector and I did find trace amounts of
aluminum oxide inside of the plastic. So technically Zagg isn’t lying about the
elemental makeup of the protector. They did toss some aluminum dust into the
mix, but it’s still pretty darn sketchy advertising in my opinion and this melted
glob of plastic defiantly does not live up to the hype on the box; so don’t buy this. The levels 2 and 3 pick did absolutely nothing
to the HTC U Ultra, nor the Tissot watch, so no surprises there. Now levels 4 and 5 picks are still relatively
soft metals. These are where most razor blades, keys and
coins would fall. Like nickel is a level 4 and steel is 4.5. And still the watch is unscathed. Normal glass won’t start to scratch until
level 5 or 6, and if you’ve watched any of my other videos, the majority of tempered
glass smart phones these days will scratch at a 6. I did run into a problem a few months ago
with the impure sapphire that Apple is using on their camera lenses. This also scratched at a level 6. I made a whole video on that subject which
I’ll link in the video description. Either way, level 6 and 7 are where things
usually start to get interesting. I honestly had zero expectations for this
HTC Ultra. It’s incredibly hard to make pure sapphire. Sapphire is actually grown inside of large
furnaces and because of it’s hardness level and brittleness. The shaping process is very difficult, especially
when creating larger objects like phone displays. The company that was contracted to make the
sapphire displays for Apple’s old iPhone 6 actually went bankrupt trying. So it’s impressive that HTC has gotten this
far. And we can see here that the level 6 and 7
picks did absolutely nothing to the display of the HTC U Ultra sapphire edition. Only when we started scratching with the levels
8 and 9 is where we start to see some damage. Both the sapphire Ultra and the Tissot watch
face have started to scratch. It does look like HTC was true to their marketing
though and they use solid quality sapphire. I am very impressed. The sapphire crystal screen of the HTC U Ultra
is the most scratch resistant smart phone screen I have ever tested. It definitely deserves a thumbs up. Keep in mind that not every Ultra is sapphire. If this is a special edition phone, that does
cost a lot more. So the Tissot watch passes the sapphire test. And the HTC U Ultra definitely passes as well. But that 50 dollar sapphire defense hybrid
screen protector from Zagg is an overpriced, overhyped, buzz word filled piece of advertising
garbage that takes advantage of unsuspecting old ladies who don’t know any better. I’m seriously not a fan. You’re better off buying a 5 pack of screen
protectors from Amazon for a dollar a piece. I’ll link some in the description of this
video. If HTC can bring back all the flagship features
they dropped from the Ultra and pop a sapphire display on their next flagship phone, they
might have an epic winner on their hands. I have my fingers crossed for HTC. If you know someone who could use some real
sapphire on their smartphone, or protection from fake sapphire, show them this video. And if you want sapphire on your phone, let
me know in the comments. Thanks a ton for watching. I’ll see you around.
It's actually really cool that the screen is true sapphire crystal. With all of the monumental mistakes that HTC is making, it's nice to see this actually working out. I hope that in the future we'll see this in every phone but that'll probably take a while.
I can't imagine how spectacularly that screen will shatter once you drop it, though. Considering how brittle sapphire crystal actually is, I imagine you'll have a nice explosion of glass shards once you do drop it. We'll still need screen protectors to prevent that little glass shower, and here's hoping other screen protectors won't be as pathetic as the one Zack showed.
$50 plastic screen protector, this is insane.
Employee discount at Best buy for that Zagg shield makes it 9$, just so you guys know how shady they are.
ZachZagg and Best buyEdit: Looks like Zagg is not Owned by Best Buy even though they are the only brand they carry for screen protectors(in store). What I did learn is that Mophie is owned by Zagg, so being overpriced is probably the better word to describe them instead of "shady"
How much money does this guy have to be able to casually scratch all these phones AND a Tissot watch with no remorse?
It's good to see that HTC is at the forefront of this in the smartphone space. They were also the first, I believe, to start using antenna lines on the back of their all aluminum back phones.
In my sleep-addled eyes the title first read "The battle of the sapphites" and I wondered how my NSFW filter got turned off...
That scam should totally be illegal. Really fucked up.
Anyone else irritated that the second hand on the Tissot didn't line up with the minute markers? That's really crappy for an expensive brand.
Finally HTC has something going for them.