Scared a Nintendo Wiimote will be tossed through the glass of your big new LCD TV? Gorilla Glass might be able to withstand the impact, and more.
Gorilla Glass is developed by Corning, the company best known for glass ovenware. Gorilla Glass is chemically strengthened during the manufacturing process to be stronger than regular glass and more scratch resistant. The glass is used in many appliances and phones already. It can be found on the upcoming Dell Streak, a smartphone-tablet, and the Dext and Milestone smartphones from Motorola.
While no agreements have yet been inked by the major TV manufacturers, Corning’s Gorilla Glass website suggests that may be about to change. But do we actually need stronger glass in our televisions?
While it makes a lot of sense for smartphones and other pocket devices, such as GPS products, to implement Gorilla Glass, is there really an imperative for our flat screen TVs to be overly rugged? They are, after all, not exposed to the many hazards that confront the average portable device.
Need is irrelevant. The thing is, most people view their flat screen TV as a fragile item. Anything big and comprised of a goodly chunk of glass is and, essentailly, your flat panel telly is like a huge window plonked in the middle of your lounge room, but one without the support of a frame or surrounding wall. Add toddlers and enthusiastic gameplay to the mix and the argument for toughened glass is a sane one.
Gorilla Glass will add marginally to the cost of a set, and because most LCD televsions use a plastic screen surface, is likely to be implemented in plasma models first.
