The truth behind UV tempered glass

UV tempered glass. If you use a phone with a curved display, you may have seen this type of tempered glass a lot on Amazon and Flipkart. The markets are flooded with these new type of tempered glasses. Though the product pages show that it is better than normal tempered glass, that it sticks better and provides better clarity, the reality is very different. Read On!

What is UV tempered glass?

UV tempered glass sound so catchy and it sounds like some high end tempered glass. When I ordered one without knowing that it was UV glass, a small paper note in the package said “This is a high end product, please follow instructions in YouTube video and apply”. What is this UV glass? In reality, the glass has nothing to do with UV. It is just a normal glass without any glue/sticky substance that sticks a tempered glass to phone.

UV tempered glass package comes with something called LOCA gel. LOCA is a short form of ‘Liquid Optically Clear Adhesive). LOCA gel is used to stick cover lens, glass etc to phone’s body and as it is a clear adhesive, it has superior optical properties. As you use Ultraviolet light (UV) to harden this liquid glue, these accessory makers started calling this ‘UV glass’.

Liquid optically clear adhesive (LOCA) is liquid-based bonding technology used in touch panels and display devices to bind the cover lens, plastic, or other optical materials to the main sensor unit or each other. These adhesives improve optical characteristics and durability. LOCA glue is often hardened using ultraviolet light.

Wikipedia

The problem is

It is very difficult to get apply LOCA glue. It requires professional hands to apply LOCA glue and stick tempered glass. If the glue overflows on to the phone’s body and into the phone, it can cause damage to the phone. You have to be really accurate to apply the glue. Here is a LOCA glue container and UV light emitter that comes in UV glass package.

A common issue is that many end up with lot of bubbles underneath tempered glass. This happens if the glue did not spread in even manner and your phones ends up with patches of glue and patches of air pockets. These air pockets create big big air bubbles that will make you discard the glass. Given that you only get one vile of glue, if this happens, you have to clean up, buy new pack and start over again.

UV treatment is a tedious process

Once you apply the glue and put on the glass, you have to treat the glass with UV glue for 5 to 10 minutes, sometimes even more. This is a headache as you have to move the UV light over the phone over and over and over for 10 minutes. And if you got a cheap UV light emitter, the glue will never stick properly.

It takes 24 hours to 48 hours for the glue to really stick, even if you harden it using UV light. So, during this time, you should not use the phone with a case and you should not do things that require lot of swiping and rubbing.

If you buy a phone with poor quality LOCA glue, it can even damage your phone’s display panel. There are many in forums asking suggestions to remove the tempered glass that is glued to display and is not coming off (when they want to replace broken tempered glass).

Harder to remove in case of damage

Over a period of a year, we tend to change tempered glass atleast once. A normal tempered glass costs 70 rupees (approx) and is very easy to remove. You hold in one corner and peel it off. Unlike a normal tempered glass or PET film, it is very hard to remove a tempered glass glued using LOCA gel. It requires significant effort in many cases to remove a LOCA gel based glass. This is because the LOCA (adhesive) is lot stronger. The problem increases further if the tempered glass does not come with shatter-proof layer and you end up with tiny bits of glass stuck to phone. In such a case, you have to follow a painful and tedious process of getting each bit of glass off the display.

Overpriced

If you take Oneplus 8 phone, most of these UV tempered glasses come at minimum price tag of 499/-. That is nearly 6-8 times the price of a generic tempered glass. Though this costs 499/- or higher, these does not offer any kind of superior protection compared to generic tempered glass. The only reason they cost so much higher is because they are using this fancy ‘UV glass’ name and they have some extra things in the package, like UV light emitter and LOCA glue.

Given that the market for tempered glass is gone (you can get a tempered glass for 50 rupees from hawker stalls), this new thing is used to squeeze as much as possible from end users before UV glass market falls to sub 200 price point.

Better options

There is new type of screen protector and it is called ‘Hydrogel film’. This sits between a normal plastic screen protector and a tempered glass. Lot of models are available on sites like Aliexpress but it takes around a month or two for them to deliver to your home.

You can still try your luck with UV glass but do not try to apply this LOCA gel based tempered glass at home. Buy the tempered glass and get it applied by accessory seller who knows how to apply without damageing the glue or your phone.

Brands like Samsung and OnePlus provides in-house accidental damage protection where for one time in a year, you are allowed for free service. I have OnePlus 8 and I paid 5100 for 2 year accidental damage protection. A one year display protection costs some 2,200/- rupees and this will still cost less than changing your tempered glass once every 2-3 months (paying 500 – 700 rupees each time). Do go through the insurance documentation thoroughly before buying one. Many come with 7 days or higher cool down period and you still have to pay nominal charges (1000/- OP8 if I am right).

Get a TPU film tempered glass and a high quality case like Ringke Fusion X or OnePlus’s own protective case. These cases should raise above the display to provide decent drop protection. These are one time purchases and will last long to protect your phone. My Samsung Galaxy S7 case still offers very good protection and the phone is more than 3 years old. If you still end up with a broken display, you will have the accidental drop protection warranty cover display replacement charges and you end up paying very less amount.