hardness test

I think this is a wonderful idea.

Getting a special place on the discussion board is unfourtantly all you might get if the post is favorable to apple. But all of us here would love to see the results!

I don't know if Apple would release the specs to you or broadcast them to the general public (and their competition)

On the otherhand, if you have access to the normal iPod and the nano and could do hardness testing on both devices (without breaking them!) You might be able to test Shiller's response that the nano's plastic is the same as the regular iPod (which I believe is true) but no one can argue with real unbiased data!

Brinell Hardness test? Sure hope thats not the same Brinell test I have done in the past. 3000 kg load for 10 seconds with a 10mm hardened steel ball. Leaves a sizable impression in a piece of steel. I'm sure it would crush any of the ipods. I know there is a brinell test at 500 kg but still would do in any ipod.

sure your not thinking of some other hardness test appropriate for plastic, or perhaps there is a brinell test at a much lighter load and smaller indentor.

Rick

Doesn't Apple saying you should get a cover if you are concerned about scratching an admission that it will scratch under normal use? I would be interested to hear an official Apple answer to the question "Is the Nano expected to scratch so badly it causes screen distortion when carried on its own in a pocket?"

As far as I can tell everything points that the answer to this would be yes. In which case I can't see how the Nano is fit for purpose as a portable device.

Hardness testing aside,
my nano is doing just fine in an iPod sock. I have owned many iPods, all have scratched. Then nano appears no different from my experience, but it is holding up quite nicely in the sock.
I don't know if there is a sub-lot of nanos out there with a poorly polymerized surface that is more prone to scratching, I am not seeing it with mine, but I only have had experience with one nano.

You should be careful which test you use. The Brinell Hardness test is inappropriate; rather, you should do a Taber Abrasion test. I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the ASTM testing standards and procedures.

Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of world-wide product marketing, said a "vendor quality problem" caused cracking on a small number of iPod-nano screens, affecting "less than one-tenth of 1%" of the devices Apple has shipped. Mr. Schiller said Apple's iPod-nano warranty will cover devices with cracked screens.

Apple's Mr. Schiller said the iPod-nano case and screen aren't more susceptible to scratching than previous versions of the iPod and that the company has received few complaints about the matter. On Mr. Peterson's Web site and others, iPod-nano users complain of abrasions on their screens. Jeremy Horwitz, editor in chief of the iPod enthusiast Web site iLounge, said the company has received many reports of scratched screens from the site's readers.

Mr. Horwitz, in an email message, said iPod users have complained of scratches on prior versions of the iPod, one reason that protective cases have been so popular for the devices.

The Wall Street Journal

I don't mean to be insulting here, but your Apple-baiting come across as a little childish. The hardness value of the nano may not be a quality control value tracked by Apple as this was never a problem until this product launch, therefore there may be no specification for it to publish.

If you are a real engineer or scientist, you would go ahead and take the initiative to test the sample you have with the most appropriate objective test.

I am scientist, not an engineer, but a quick search on Wikipedia would indicate that the tests you may wish to employ may be the Knoop test (a micro scale test able to test materials as soft as gold foil) or possibly the Shore hardness test for polymers.

I suspect that there may be a sub-lot of polycarbonate plastic on some nanos that was not cast or cured properly that may truly be more scratch-prone. I only have one black nano which I protect in an iPod sock and have no scratches to complain about.

Complaints about chrome scratching when placed in a plastic bag are just foolish. I suspect these were actually scratches in finger oils (which I have seen on my nano and were easily wiped away with a soft cloth).

If you are really interested in knowing the the hardness value, go ahead and do the test and report your results. I'm sure you have tables of hardness values for materials where you work, use these to help select the proper test conditions (we all you know you are testing plastic, not metal and shouldn't be performing the Brinell test).

Mark,

"I do not carry things in my pocket that need to be enshrined in gummy wraps.

Perhaps not.

But what about a shiny, new, freshly minted quarter? Carry it in your pocket for a while and it's not going to look so shiny and new any more either.

Matt

You carry a cell phone in your pocket? Does it get scratched?

Mine does.

Get a life, whiny people! Look, it's a machine, not a diamond coated piece of unobtanium. It will scratch. Worried about it, buy a case like everyone else.

Sheesh!