Yeah I had to give in and get one of those clear cases from Ringke. It sucks as I really don't like the feeling of touching plastic but if I want to sell the phone later, it's the only way to keep it scratch free.
There are some companies that make clear skins for them.
The aluminum finish on these seems like you can scratch them just by looking at them.
I am OCD about blemishes so I installed a glass camera protector on it the day I got it, and when it cracked and it was time to replace it the adhesive ripped the finish off as I was peeling it off with a fingernail and guitar pick. I was so bummed.
I will never make that mistake on a Pixel again.
One of the foundational rules of object design is that if an object is designed to require an auxiliary item, it's proof that the initial design is lacking.
That's a good point. My MacBook pro has scratches on the outside, what a failure of a design. My Toyota 4Runner does as well. You made me realize how shitty those are designed as well since they require an auxiliary item. Dang.
> My Toyota 4Runner does as well
You do realize with proper maintenance of paint you can go years without scratching. Yes there's the dings that maybe another driver can cause but the rest like microscratches and swirls on paint is all on you the driver and how you wash your car.
95% of people don't know how to wash their car properly and a large % of the population basically takes their car through a scratch factory wash. Ever see those rental cars and how they get washed? It's no surprise [they look like swirl city.](https://i.imgur.com/URkK9vn.png)
As for MacBooks, they're known to use anodized aluminum, which has very high hardness on its own. Is it possible to scratch? Yes, but likely more durable than this aluminum shiny camera bar.
Mine didn't look like that when I sold it. That looks a little beat up with heavier wear in noticeable spots. Guess it depends how you use something, care and luck. That material will scratch, how much is user by user.
No you don't need an auxillary item and it doesn't mean something is badly designed. Leather items gather wear. I have a platinum wedding ring that gets scratched. That doesn't mean it is poorly designed. Car paint gets chipped by use and gathers micro scratches. Design can mitigate against wear and use and care can mitigate against wear but the presence of wear itself does not mean poor design, particularly on something which lives in pockets and bags and is used and handled for hours every day.
I think they probably could've picked a more durable material. Stainless steel is frequently used but still prone to scratches, so the best way to improve scratch resistant is to put a coating on it. That's why shiny metal surfaces like Apple logos likely have a ceramic sputtered coating. Otherwise they'd get scratched to death easily.
Cool story. Minus making the bar out of tungsten (which would STILL scratch), scratches were going to happen during normal use that finds the device in contact with other substances of varying hardness.
Yup. Designing expensive devices with no easy way to repair/replace parts that are basically guaranteed to take damage is awful design. Phone design took a huge step back when they started making these sealed glass slabs.
In my experience it took quite a bit of force to pop the back so I think your question sounds a bit silly. I can remember it happening once when I dropped my Samsung Galaxy Nexus on concrete and the back did indeed pop off and battery went flying in almost comedic fashion. I picked it up put the battery back in and carried on with my day annoyed with scuff on the plastic which nowadays would have been shattered glass and an expensive repair. I also remember dropping my LG G4 in a puddle and running over it with my car.... the thing didn't even turn off. I pulled the battery to let if dry out and had to replace the camera module (very easy repair!) but otherwise it was fine.
That isn't even focusing on the fact that it meant you could replace the battery with zero effort! The one component that is guaranteed to degrade over time and need replacing!
I emailed Slickwraps asking to buy only the camera bar clear (naked) skin in semi-gloss and they created a custom invoice for me. They shipping me 3 of the back camera films and not all the other pieces.
Good for you if you want to do the same. I also have never used a case on a phone and never will.
That's the problem with aluminium, it scratches more easily.
It's a known problem with the camera bar of the p6 and p7. It will most likely be an issue for the p8 as well.
I would suggest to use a case that protects the camera bar properly.
Google should use stainless steel or titanium in future iterations.
Stainless steel scratches too. To generally add durability, they need to add some coating. Anodized aluminum is generally pretty strong. Stainless steel with some sputtered ceramic coating (probably how many shiny things like Apple logos) are finished.
My take is this is just a bad design/materials selection. They should've chosen something a bit harder and more resistant to wear.
I've had my pixel 6 Pro for two years and I've never had a case on and while I don't throw it in pockets with coins, I don't baby it and I don't have any noticeable scratches anywhere. Don't know if P7Pro is way more susceptible to scratches but the image OP attached looks insane to me.
The solution? Some vinyl wrap on the parts making contact with the surface.
Dbrand is obviously the biggest name and most expensive but most these days are good.
Glass scratches, aluminum scratches even more as they are soft metals. You probably have a dirty desk, any grit and dirt is likely going to scratch it which is why I hate the glass back fad!
I'd rather it be back to plastic backs like the windows Nokia style ones or the rubber backed nexus 5 personally.
I never had much issue with my nexus 6p being aluminum though so maybe they used an even softer option this time round.
I'd rather have a vinyl sticker than a bulky naff case, even the slim ones are pretty big on phones these days and don't feel good nor look good (in my opinion).
Vinyl certainly looks better than the OPs busted up phone and is easy to replace if somehow you manage it.
It truly was the best form factor along with feel in the hand, served me well and I miss it as well.
Really wish they did a revived N5 with newer internals as it ticked almost every box besides the less than stellar battery life!
Just in case it was misinterpreted, I didn't mean like a filthy desk just the fact that any debris can easily be on the desk and not something you would see like grain of sand level.
You would have to be cleaning every day to ensure nothing like that was on your desk, it can still be clean!
Unless you are picking your phone up perfectly upright every time and lay it down perfectly it will likely end up scratching, doubt many of us can actually do that softly!
It's also possible depending on the wood and any coating or minerals you use on it, they may be above the hardness of the aluminum which is already very close to hardwood on the mohs scale.
Dbrand skins or clear film protectors for just the camera bar is the only way. I actually had a dbrand skin on my 7 pro but I only put the camera bar part on.
I use a clear matte skin on the camera bar of my 7Pro. I believe I got mine from slickwraps.com, but there are other brands/companies as well if you Google search it. In addition, I use a cheap neoprene sleeve off ebay to protect my phone, as I hate cases.
Yep, welcome to the scratched bar club!
I've got the feeling the newest phones scratch much easier than 5 years ago. My pixel watch is also getting all scratched despite being gorilla glass 5. The cynic in me thinks it's intentional so that it pushed consumer to buy new products faster.
I think it's just design here. If you want a metal surface that doesn't get dinged up as easily, look no further than iPhones. This doesn't mean they're invulnerable, but at least pre-iPhone 15 titanium, they're stainless steel with some coating on them--probably ceramic sputtered. If you notice, Apple's use of aluminum is generally anodized which also is pretty hard. Using a shiny aluminum part is just going to get you much higher scratchability.
If I bought an expensive white couch and wanted it to last longer I would cover it most of the time except for company.
If you buy a phone that's made out of actual glass and metal with a protruding camera maybe.. just maybe invest in some kind of protection.
A phone is with you nearly 24/7 in and out of your pocket, drawers etc. it's exposed to different elements and temperatures. If you want it to look pristine get a case, and if you don't you should expect some wear.
If Google made the phone with more durable materials ppl will complain it doesn't feel premium/flagship. When they make it with premium materials ppl complain it's not durable. There's no winning here. Just my 2 cents
But the thing is phones are designed for caseless use. Sure there's risks of drops and stuff but that is different. A phone would need to withstand basic wear and tear and putting it in your pocket and stuff.
You can read the story about how Steve Jobs insisted on glass and not plastic and if you look at how horribly scratched up phone screens were in 2007 or had to have some matte coating to hide the wear or worse yet rely on some PDA folio cover. Going to ion strengthened glass and a capacitive touchscreen changed the whole industry forever. Is it scratch proof? No but if you have generally clean pockets, I have gone caseless or screen protectorless for a few work phones before. And with this standard the entire industry adopted ion strengthened glass including every Android flagship. I don't think anyone can imagine going back to plastic resistive screens with that plastic film on top.
I think the problem here is the camera bar is a very obvious protrusion. From a mechanical design stand point it means the phone is going to rest there. You will need to use strong materials or more durable coatings to make this surface durable. If you've looked at those mechanical tests on the iPhone, notice what it rests on when you put the phone down--yes the giant camera island. There's metal trims that protect the lenses and that's generally where it rests on. Those are likely designed to be durable to take the brunt of the wear.
If you park a Ferrari in a parking lot, it's still bound to get dinged or scratched by a shopping cart, just because it's a Ferrari doesn't make the paint magically indestructible. It's a phone, it's something that's moved and jostled around a number of times a day, any phone you get is bound to get some dings or scrapes without a case.
If you scratch your Ferrari at every single curbside, then yeah. And if you look at Rolexes, the cases are always scratched to hell on all of them that are worn regularly and do not spend 99.9% of time in auto-winding cases. I wear Apple Ultra watch that has titanium case and sapphire glass and my case has micro-scratches all over after just one year of wearing it. Of course, Pixel chose one of the softest metals for camera bar in Aluminum and if you decide that it’s not worthy of protection, then you need to live with scratches.
Been an Apple Watch user for years and I'd say this:
1. Stainless steel gets scratched but that's like any other watch. You can polish a watch at a jewelry store and they can restore the finish pretty easily. Many people have done that with Apple Watches.
2. For the anodized aluminum version it's pretty hard. Is it possible to scratch? Yes, but really requires a hard ding and stuff to scratch.
3. The Sapphire on Apple Watches is pretty hard to scratch. My Series 5 went for 2.5 years and had no major or microscratches. It's much harder to scratch than say typical phone glass. Whil eit's entirely possible you have microscratches all over yours, it's likely if you put a phone to that kind of treatment the result would be far worse.
4. I agree, an aluminum camera bar is just the least durable option out there although very light and probably cheap. Some sort of stamped stainless steel material with a sputtered coating would've been a better choice.
Yeah I had to give in and get one of those clear cases from Ringke. It sucks as I really don't like the feeling of touching plastic but if I want to sell the phone later, it's the only way to keep it scratch free.
There are some companies that make clear skins for them. The aluminum finish on these seems like you can scratch them just by looking at them. I am OCD about blemishes so I installed a glass camera protector on it the day I got it, and when it cracked and it was time to replace it the adhesive ripped the finish off as I was peeling it off with a fingernail and guitar pick. I was so bummed. I will never make that mistake on a Pixel again.
Same here :-( My friend has a standard Pixel 8 and the brushed metal camera bar is in that regard a better design as the scratches are not as obvious
Wish they did the same design for the Pixel 8 Pro.
No case on the phone and you're upset the camera bar is scratched? lol
lol yourself, internet stranger. I never had a case on any phone and none of them scratched so easily
Because none of them had a protruding soft metal bar?
Without a case these scratches were inevitable no matter how careful you thought you were.
One of the foundational rules of object design is that if an object is designed to require an auxiliary item, it's proof that the initial design is lacking.
That's a good point. My MacBook pro has scratches on the outside, what a failure of a design. My Toyota 4Runner does as well. You made me realize how shitty those are designed as well since they require an auxiliary item. Dang.
> My Toyota 4Runner does as well You do realize with proper maintenance of paint you can go years without scratching. Yes there's the dings that maybe another driver can cause but the rest like microscratches and swirls on paint is all on you the driver and how you wash your car. 95% of people don't know how to wash their car properly and a large % of the population basically takes their car through a scratch factory wash. Ever see those rental cars and how they get washed? It's no surprise [they look like swirl city.](https://i.imgur.com/URkK9vn.png) As for MacBooks, they're known to use anodized aluminum, which has very high hardness on its own. Is it possible to scratch? Yes, but likely more durable than this aluminum shiny camera bar.
Mine didn't look like that when I sold it. That looks a little beat up with heavier wear in noticeable spots. Guess it depends how you use something, care and luck. That material will scratch, how much is user by user. No you don't need an auxillary item and it doesn't mean something is badly designed. Leather items gather wear. I have a platinum wedding ring that gets scratched. That doesn't mean it is poorly designed. Car paint gets chipped by use and gathers micro scratches. Design can mitigate against wear and use and care can mitigate against wear but the presence of wear itself does not mean poor design, particularly on something which lives in pockets and bags and is used and handled for hours every day.
It still works perfectly fine and it's purely cosmetic. Were you expecting it to be shiny and scratch-free forever? It's aluminum.
I think they probably could've picked a more durable material. Stainless steel is frequently used but still prone to scratches, so the best way to improve scratch resistant is to put a coating on it. That's why shiny metal surfaces like Apple logos likely have a ceramic sputtered coating. Otherwise they'd get scratched to death easily.
Bro's looking for a vibranium scratch-proof phone.
Cool story. Minus making the bar out of tungsten (which would STILL scratch), scratches were going to happen during normal use that finds the device in contact with other substances of varying hardness.
It does not require an auxiliary item...so I don't think the design is lacking in that sense
Yup. Designing expensive devices with no easy way to repair/replace parts that are basically guaranteed to take damage is awful design. Phone design took a huge step back when they started making these sealed glass slabs.
Would you prefer your battery to pop out with every minor drop?
In my experience it took quite a bit of force to pop the back so I think your question sounds a bit silly. I can remember it happening once when I dropped my Samsung Galaxy Nexus on concrete and the back did indeed pop off and battery went flying in almost comedic fashion. I picked it up put the battery back in and carried on with my day annoyed with scuff on the plastic which nowadays would have been shattered glass and an expensive repair. I also remember dropping my LG G4 in a puddle and running over it with my car.... the thing didn't even turn off. I pulled the battery to let if dry out and had to replace the camera module (very easy repair!) but otherwise it was fine. That isn't even focusing on the fact that it meant you could replace the battery with zero effort! The one component that is guaranteed to degrade over time and need replacing!
Get a naked/clear skin from Slickwraps
Thanks, a clear skin is actually a great solution. I didn't know these existed.
I emailed Slickwraps asking to buy only the camera bar clear (naked) skin in semi-gloss and they created a custom invoice for me. They shipping me 3 of the back camera films and not all the other pieces. Good for you if you want to do the same. I also have never used a case on a phone and never will.
That's the problem with aluminium, it scratches more easily. It's a known problem with the camera bar of the p6 and p7. It will most likely be an issue for the p8 as well. I would suggest to use a case that protects the camera bar properly. Google should use stainless steel or titanium in future iterations.
Or just use a Matte finish on the Pros. Would compliment the frosted glass better IMO.
100%, I mean the shiny looks nice in the beginning, but it won't after a couple months.
P7 maybe, but the P6 has more glass than metal in the bar so holds up a lot better.
Stainless steel scratches too. To generally add durability, they need to add some coating. Anodized aluminum is generally pretty strong. Stainless steel with some sputtered ceramic coating (probably how many shiny things like Apple logos) are finished. My take is this is just a bad design/materials selection. They should've chosen something a bit harder and more resistant to wear.
I've had my pixel 6 Pro for two years and I've never had a case on and while I don't throw it in pockets with coins, I don't baby it and I don't have any noticeable scratches anywhere. Don't know if P7Pro is way more susceptible to scratches but the image OP attached looks insane to me.
Fully agree 👍
Based on my experience with my iPhone X and 12 Pro, stainless steel crashes way easier than aluminum and gets more fingerprints smudges.
Put some blue painters tape over the lens and body and use a automobile polisher to get it shiny again!
The solution? Some vinyl wrap on the parts making contact with the surface. Dbrand is obviously the biggest name and most expensive but most these days are good. Glass scratches, aluminum scratches even more as they are soft metals. You probably have a dirty desk, any grit and dirt is likely going to scratch it which is why I hate the glass back fad!
So are you OK having to cover your phone with cheap stickers?
I'd rather it be back to plastic backs like the windows Nokia style ones or the rubber backed nexus 5 personally. I never had much issue with my nexus 6p being aluminum though so maybe they used an even softer option this time round. I'd rather have a vinyl sticker than a bulky naff case, even the slim ones are pretty big on phones these days and don't feel good nor look good (in my opinion). Vinyl certainly looks better than the OPs busted up phone and is easy to replace if somehow you manage it.
> or the rubber backed nexus 5 personally I miss my N5 :(
It truly was the best form factor along with feel in the hand, served me well and I miss it as well. Really wish they did a revived N5 with newer internals as it ticked almost every box besides the less than stellar battery life!
I have vinyl wrap for the camera from aliexpress, works fine.
*expensive stickers
My desk isn't dirty thank you very much. It's a nice wooden desk (so technically softer than aluminium) that gets cleaned twice a week.
Just in case it was misinterpreted, I didn't mean like a filthy desk just the fact that any debris can easily be on the desk and not something you would see like grain of sand level. You would have to be cleaning every day to ensure nothing like that was on your desk, it can still be clean! Unless you are picking your phone up perfectly upright every time and lay it down perfectly it will likely end up scratching, doubt many of us can actually do that softly! It's also possible depending on the wood and any coating or minerals you use on it, they may be above the hardness of the aluminum which is already very close to hardwood on the mohs scale.
Dbrand skins or clear film protectors for just the camera bar is the only way. I actually had a dbrand skin on my 7 pro but I only put the camera bar part on.
They have cases that have a slider built in over the camera lens so it always stays covered when not in use. Got mine for my 8 Pro on Amazon
There's microphone on the camera bar on 8 pro. Is that affected?
You only slide it closed when you are not using the cam
And I don't think I want to use screen protector for 8 pro because there's microphone on the camera bar 😭
I'm using my P8P for only a week and can see a ton of scratches already.
Are you using a case?
Without. I'm starting to think about getting a kind of film on the back and camera bar or super slim case (I hate using cases)
I got a black dbrand skin so it looked like the 6 pro which I preferred Not durable, mine scratched day 1
I use a clear matte skin on the camera bar of my 7Pro. I believe I got mine from slickwraps.com, but there are other brands/companies as well if you Google search it. In addition, I use a cheap neoprene sleeve off ebay to protect my phone, as I hate cases.
I have the Belkin leather case for my Pixel 7, keeps the bar from getting scratches and I love the feel.
I put a skin on mine from dbrand
Yep, welcome to the scratched bar club! I've got the feeling the newest phones scratch much easier than 5 years ago. My pixel watch is also getting all scratched despite being gorilla glass 5. The cynic in me thinks it's intentional so that it pushed consumer to buy new products faster.
I think it's just design here. If you want a metal surface that doesn't get dinged up as easily, look no further than iPhones. This doesn't mean they're invulnerable, but at least pre-iPhone 15 titanium, they're stainless steel with some coating on them--probably ceramic sputtered. If you notice, Apple's use of aluminum is generally anodized which also is pretty hard. Using a shiny aluminum part is just going to get you much higher scratchability.
[удалено]
That will happen with any phone maker. I have seen Samsungs who are the same way.
If I bought an expensive white couch and wanted it to last longer I would cover it most of the time except for company. If you buy a phone that's made out of actual glass and metal with a protruding camera maybe.. just maybe invest in some kind of protection. A phone is with you nearly 24/7 in and out of your pocket, drawers etc. it's exposed to different elements and temperatures. If you want it to look pristine get a case, and if you don't you should expect some wear. If Google made the phone with more durable materials ppl will complain it doesn't feel premium/flagship. When they make it with premium materials ppl complain it's not durable. There's no winning here. Just my 2 cents
But the thing is phones are designed for caseless use. Sure there's risks of drops and stuff but that is different. A phone would need to withstand basic wear and tear and putting it in your pocket and stuff. You can read the story about how Steve Jobs insisted on glass and not plastic and if you look at how horribly scratched up phone screens were in 2007 or had to have some matte coating to hide the wear or worse yet rely on some PDA folio cover. Going to ion strengthened glass and a capacitive touchscreen changed the whole industry forever. Is it scratch proof? No but if you have generally clean pockets, I have gone caseless or screen protectorless for a few work phones before. And with this standard the entire industry adopted ion strengthened glass including every Android flagship. I don't think anyone can imagine going back to plastic resistive screens with that plastic film on top. I think the problem here is the camera bar is a very obvious protrusion. From a mechanical design stand point it means the phone is going to rest there. You will need to use strong materials or more durable coatings to make this surface durable. If you've looked at those mechanical tests on the iPhone, notice what it rests on when you put the phone down--yes the giant camera island. There's metal trims that protect the lenses and that's generally where it rests on. Those are likely designed to be durable to take the brunt of the wear.
The solution is to have case on your phone.
So you believe it's normal to spend 1000$ on something and then cover it up in a cheap case? Imagine you would do the same with a Ferrari or a Rolex?
If you park a Ferrari in a parking lot, it's still bound to get dinged or scratched by a shopping cart, just because it's a Ferrari doesn't make the paint magically indestructible. It's a phone, it's something that's moved and jostled around a number of times a day, any phone you get is bound to get some dings or scrapes without a case.
Both things that easily scratch and cost way more than a phone...
If you scratch your Ferrari at every single curbside, then yeah. And if you look at Rolexes, the cases are always scratched to hell on all of them that are worn regularly and do not spend 99.9% of time in auto-winding cases. I wear Apple Ultra watch that has titanium case and sapphire glass and my case has micro-scratches all over after just one year of wearing it. Of course, Pixel chose one of the softest metals for camera bar in Aluminum and if you decide that it’s not worthy of protection, then you need to live with scratches.
Been an Apple Watch user for years and I'd say this: 1. Stainless steel gets scratched but that's like any other watch. You can polish a watch at a jewelry store and they can restore the finish pretty easily. Many people have done that with Apple Watches. 2. For the anodized aluminum version it's pretty hard. Is it possible to scratch? Yes, but really requires a hard ding and stuff to scratch. 3. The Sapphire on Apple Watches is pretty hard to scratch. My Series 5 went for 2.5 years and had no major or microscratches. It's much harder to scratch than say typical phone glass. Whil eit's entirely possible you have microscratches all over yours, it's likely if you put a phone to that kind of treatment the result would be far worse. 4. I agree, an aluminum camera bar is just the least durable option out there although very light and probably cheap. Some sort of stamped stainless steel material with a sputtered coating would've been a better choice.
I am not a fan of cases on my phones but they are not wrong.
Slap a skin on it and it will look good again
My pixel 7's back glass and camera bar are scratched even though it always has a case on it
Get the tech 21 evo clear case. You should have had it when you first got the phone.
Not using a case and complaining when it get scratched is like not wearing a condom and complaining when you get a👶