Despite the fact that many phones have adopted the “glass sandwich” design of glass back panels, it’s still unusual to see a phone with a fully transparent back. HTC’s recently-released U12+ fully embraced the transparent design, but as YouTube’s very own Lord of Destruction JerryRigEverything demonstrates, the cool design comes with a few trade-offs.
The biggest problem seems to be that the back can and does come off easily. It won’t fall off with regular use, but any kind of bending of the frame — for example, sitting down with the phone in your back pocket — can detatch the backplate from the rest of the chassis, opening the phone up to liquid or dust damage.