Is the gloss really that bad

[hcoreyh]

Okay guys well Telstra has finally got the 920 [out of stock in hours]. But unfortunately do not have the matte cyan =[. Are the gloss finishes really going to slip out of your hand. I'd like the experience of real users not biased reviewers. Is it at all annoying. Is it maybe even a deal breaker or do you not care at all.

 

[JammyGitz]

I've had a black matte one and now have a white gloss. The gloss ones are MORE grippy! The matte ones are very slippery but the glossyness of the gloss ones actually help the phone to stick to your hand. Place your hand flat onto a window try to move it up and down, it will be very grippy

 

[philpeeps]

A coworker has a gloss white and a matte black. When we were discussing the slickness of the matte (I have cyan), he said that the gloss white was actually less slippery. Showed fingerpirnts like mad, but less slippery. I haven't held a glossy one to know the difference, but I find the size, weight, and finish of my matte cyan to provide for the most clumsy phone to hold that I have used. I find it slipping from my grasp holding it various ways all the time. That being said, it just takes some re-learning on how to handle the 920 vs my old iP4...

 

[johnnyrussoa3]

No having used both, a cyan and a white model while waiting for my cyan to get replaced, the gloss is not slippery. In fact I came to enjoy the white 920 very much, to the point where I'm not sure which I want to keep.

 

[AndrewakaMJ]

I have the gloss white, and its definitely not slippery, although I've never had the matte to be able to compare. As far as fingerprints go, yes they get on it but because of the color, I don't see them unless I move the phone around in different lighting. In other words, I have to be actively looking for the prints to notice them.

 

[socialcarpet]

I *hated* the idea of glossy for a long time, but I wanted to use my 920 without a case and I remembered how my matte 900 was kind of slippery before I put the bumper case on it, so I started doing a little investigating...

I was surprised to find that the glossy actually sticks to your hand BETTER in most situations. Basically if you have even the tiniest bit of moisture or oils on your hand or on the phone, which is almost all the time, that gives you some grip on the phone by making it stick to your skin a bit. The matte finish simply doesn't do that, so it actually winds up being slightly slippery in real world use.

The only exception is if your hands are extremely dry and the phone is immaculately clean and free of skin oils. That's only happened to me once so far. I had been soaking in the hot tub and dried my hands thoroughly so my skin was free of oils, and it was when my phone was brand new and super clean. I grabbed the phone and it was real slippery.

Maybe if you live in a very cold climate and your skin is really dry, I'd say the matte is going to be as easy to grip or easier than the glossy. In any other case, the glossy is definitely easier to keep in hand.

So in the end I went with glossy white, which I never thought I'd do, but it works well and I have no regrets. My only other concern about the glossy was that it might show scratches or swirl marks over time, but that's pretty much negated by choosing white because they'll be virtually invisible.

 

[Pete C]

The glossy is far easier to handle than the matte. My matte black 920 was actually very slippery in the hand. If you are not literally gripping that phone it will fall. My replacement white that I got does not slip at all. I can place it in a relaxed palm and use it comfortably. I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions about the matte vs glossy phones. Aside from that I even like the look of the glossy better now.

 

[zeronoise]

I'm actually curious about that too BC I'm debating about the red yellow or cyan one. Currently have the black and will go to exchange soon

 

[JammyGitz]

You can't see fingerprints on the white one unless you deliberately reflect a light source off the prints and look closely

 

[teddystiles]

Got two cyans for my wife and I, but hers was constantly rebooting. Because I'm a "business" customer (I'm not, but get some kind of discount at AT&T through the Air Force), I was getting the runaround on returning hers. (I long for the good ol' days when they'd send me a replacement unit and a box to send back my defective unit.) It took the phones 8 days to get to me after ordering them, then another two days before we decided that her phone wasn't going to behave, so the rep was like "you only have 4 days to return the phone! You should go do it at a store to make sure you don't run out of time!" Seriously? It took you EIGHT DAYS to get to me, and that was with "overnight" shipping!

Long story short, stores don't sell cyan apparently, and my wife decided she could live with white. It was surprisingly easy to make the return at the local AT&T store, and I'm now officially jealous of my wife's white phone. Beautiful and, yes, LESS slippery than my cyan...which is a good thing because my wife is definitely way prone to dropping her phone. Her Focus probably impacted the ground several hundred times in the last year and a half! I hope the 920 will stand up to similar abuse...

 

[jdhooghe]

No, and I have mild OCD. I love my red 920

 

[bigkevbosky]

I have the gloss white because it was literally the only 920 left in the AT&T store when I went, but I'm glad I bought it. I'm not a fan of white phones, or glossy phones, but this one seems to just...work. Fingerprints aren't as bad as advertised and it does stick to my hand pretty well. And since I'm a fan of the light background, it just seems to blend well with the white phone.

 

[vingengo]

I have to agree with everyone here. I couldn't really hold and try the phones at the store because they were secured with the sensors in the back.

I finally decided on the black matte. I will be honest, this thing is slippery. I have dry hands and it is not a good match for a matte finish. If you have sweaty hands, the matte might work.
The store manager was nice enough to give me a FREE belkin bumper (red/black) and let me tell you, I have no choice but to keep them on. The sides of the bumper provide the grip for me.

I am seriously thinking of replacing it with a glossy one. But the only color they have right now is the white one. At this time though, it is better to be safe than sorry.

 

[eallan]

No having used both, a cyan and a white model while waiting for my cyan to get replaced, the gloss is not slippery. In fact I came to enjoy the white 920 very much, to the point where I'm not sure which I want to keep.

I had the exact same color dilemma, I went with Cyan. White was gorgeous and nice, but the cyan is so unique.

 

[mlm1950]

From handling each in store, the gloss felt more grippy than the matte, but it was close.

 

[05Paris]

First, the way you ask the question presumes the gloss finish is to a certain degree bad which is somewhat leading. Second, I love the gloss finish better after having a L900 Cyan which I thought "really wasn't that bad".

 

[GSOgymrat]

I'm another glossy white owner who has not had issues. It must look distinctive because I have had a couple of people ask me "hey, is that one of those Windows phones?"

 

[blakej777]

I ended up getting Cyan, because the fingerprints bug me way more than slickness. My 900 is Cyan is matte as well, and i've never had any issues.

 

[Mr. Brown]

Okay guys well Telstra has finally got the 920 [out of stock in hours]. But unfortunately do not have the matte cyan =[. Are the gloss finishes really going to slip out of your hand. I'd like the experience of real users not biased reviewers. Is it at all annoying. Is it maybe even a deal breaker or do you not care at all.

I have the red 920 and it is pretty slippery especially if I try to stick it between my ear and my shoulder, I've tried that a few times and it doesn't work very well. I love the look of it, but am considering a case just to be on the safe side since it is pretty slippery.

 

[blackfire]

I agree with most comments here. I had the matte 920 first, and now the glossy red. I didn't liked the idea of glossy at first, but I actually love it now, and it feels more grippy than the matte 920.