As the smartphone market grows larger in size, and we start seeing more sophisticated devices emerge from manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola, LG and HTC, the demand for protection solutions become much greater. Why? Well, let’s face it… No one wants their brand new Android smartphone to crack, shatter, or scratch when it hits the ground. There’s a lot of money invested in mobile devices these days, more than than ever, in fact. Today’s smartphones provide us with the ability to accomplish over 50% of the tasks that we would normally tend to on our home or work computers, so why shouldn’t we have the best protection for quality investments?

If you’ve been following the latest smartphones and gadgets, then you’ve probably heard the name Gorilla Glass before. If you haven’t, then you’ll be ecstatic to discover that there’s such a product on the market that offers a level of protection like no other.

Corning has developed an environmentally friendly alkali-aluminosilicate thin sheet of glass that’s designed specifically to function as a protective window for high-end display devices. With its superior composition, a deeper layer of chemical strengthening is achieved unlike other chemically strengthened glasses.

So how is it made? Corning explains it as a chemical strengthening process which is achieved through an ion-exchanged process that creates a compression layer on the surface of the glass substrate. This compressive layer provides an armor which reduces the propagation of flaws, created either in productive processes or by end users.

We had a chance to check out Corning’s booth at CES 2011 last week, and saw a few demonstrations and comparisons which involved some serious key-scratching and device-dropping that would make any smartphone owner cringe at the mere sight of it. Check out this video from Fox Business that caught the action on tape, showing just how strong this stuff is.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9J4R3fH_hs&feature=fvst[/video]

Maybe a bit more brutal than the average smartphone owner, but it definitely gets the point across of how well Gorilla Glass is made and holds up. So let’s go over some key points of Gorilla Glass and its features.

• Pristine Surface Quality: Because it is formed using Corning’s proprietary fusion process, Gorilla Glass offers the same high-quality pristine surface available with all Corning’s high-technology display substrates. With the right process, this features offers the ability to use the glass “as drawn,” eliminating lapping and polishing processes which can introduce surface damage.
• Thinner Form Factor: Gorilla Glass retains its performance advantage over standard chemically strengthened substrates even when used in thin form factors. It’s currently available as-drawn in thicknesses ranging from 0.5mm to 2.0mm.
• Easy to Clean, Wear Resistant Coating: Version’s of Gorilla Glass are available which offer a special coating making it easier to clean than other cover glasses. This is especially useful for devices that function by touch.
• Compliance with Environmental Standards: Gorilla Glass is RoHS compliant, making it an ideal component for devices engineered to meet environmental standards.

Although this may seem like break-through technology here, it’s actually been around for many years. What’s changed is the demand for high-end touchscreen devices and the need to protect them more so than the average plastic or glass display. Already Corning’s Gorilla Glass is offered in devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Dell Aero, Dell Streak, LG Optimus 7, Motorola DROID 2, DROID Pro, Samsung Captivate, Continuum, Galaxy S, Transform, Vibrant and even in LCD televisions like the Sony BRAVIA.

The bottom line is that we can surely expect Gorilla Glass to be a huge part of the future of smartphone manufacturing, whether it’s Android or not. But I think we can all agree that Gorilla Glass looks best on an Android device than any other.

[video] FoxBusinessNetwork