Why and how do we test protective glasses?

We do not include any of our protective glass in our range without testing it, because only through thorough and standardised testing do we know that the goods meet the specified flexibility, hardness and other key parameters.

Individual glass parameters are tested directly by our developers and in most cases products pass five tests. We will present them to you in more detail in the following lines.

Do you want to know what to choose protective glasses for your phone and which common myths circulate around them? Read a separate article about it. You'll learn, for example, why hardness and flexibility are crucial, or the importance of covering the camera and sensors with glass.

We test hardness, flexibility and light transmission

When you say "protective glass", the first thing most people probably think of is its resistance to hard impacts, typically when a phone is dropped on the ground. But that's just one of the parameters we test with FIXED glass. What all does a product have to meet before we "launch it on the shelves"?

Strength and flexibility test

This test is absolutely essential, and it's hard to imagine the glass going on sale without passing it.

The strength parameters are best tested by dropping a hard object on it from a height, simulating, for example, a phone falling from a height to the ground. We test the flexibility in the same way, as the glass is placed on a hollow base and when a hard object is dropped, the level of flexibility is immediately apparent.

In the test, we use a 64 g steel ball that we let fall several times from a height onto the protective glass. The aim is for the glass to withstand the ball falling from as high a point as possible.

Glass surface hardness test

Among other things, users expect protective glass to be scratch-proof at the first opportunity. The resistance to this damage is tested by the glass surface hardness test.

The test is carried out using scrapers, which the tester runs over the glass and uses a Mohs scale to determine its hardness, which is always somewhere on a scale of 1 to 10. The higher the number, the higher the hardness and the better the scratch resistance.

Edge resistance test

What can glass withstand when dropped on an edge? We test this with the edge resistance test, which is performed by applying pressure to the edge of the glass (the pressure resistance is given in kilograms). The more pressure the product can withstand, the better.

Light transmission test

A glass through which light does not penetrate easily would be of no use to the user. That is why one of the tests is devoted to the passage of a beam of light through glass. It is given as a percentage and again, the higher the number, the better. The measurement is made with an instrument that shows what percentage of the transmitted light is intercepted on the other side of the glass.

The more light that passes through, the less it is reflected off the protective glass, so the protective glass has virtually no effect on the display. The highest possible light transmission is also crucial because reflected light (for example, outdoors in the sun) causes glare.

Surface finish test

It is also important that the user's finger slides over the protective glass with the same comfort as on a mobile screen without glass and that no smudges or fingerprints remain on the glass. That's why, in practice, glasses cannot be used unless they have a coating - in short, because they don't let your finger slide on them.

That's why protective glasses are coated with an oleophobic layer that repels water, making the display easier to slide on.

And how does the glass finish test work in FIXED? We do it by dripping distilled water and analyzing the resulting bubbles under a microscope. The larger the bubble's edge angles, the more it is repelled by the glass and the better the oleophobic coating.

For example, FIXED Armor glass performs even better than phone displays.

How did the FIXED Armor extra-resistant glass perform in the tests?

FIXED Armor is the flagship among our protective glasses. Thanks to its extra durability, it can withstand almost anything and will protect your display several times better and longer than regular glass. We like facts instead of promises, so let's take a look at how FIXED Armor glass performed in each of the five tests above and how it stacked up against standard glass.

FIXED Armor protective glass test results

Strength and flexibility test - FIXED Armor withstood a 64g steel ball drop from a height of 190 cm, while standard glass can handle a maximum of 105 cm.

Glass surface hardness test - FIXED Armor reached grade 8 on the Mohs scale (8H hardness), while ordinary glass only 6H.

Edge resistance test - FIXED Armor can handle a 20 kg load on the edge of the glass, standard glass can only handle 12.1 kg.

Light transmission test - FIXED Armor boasts a light transmission of 95.5%, while standard glass can pass 91.86%. This is because it includes an anti-reflective layer that improves readability, even in the sun.

Surface finish test - FIXED Armor achieved an oleophobic layer of 118 in more than 10,000 rubs, while standard glass only reached 113.1.