Poll results: What's your favorite material for a phone/tablet?

At the beginning of the week we asked you whether the material a smartphone or a tablet is made of actually makes a difference for you. You've cast your votes and now, the verdict is in. Today’s smartphones generally come in one of three materials: plastic, metal, and glass. Some exotic offerings like wood are also available in limited quantities for just a handful of phones. All in all, though, that’s the choice you get.

Plastic (in its polycarbonate form in higher end devices like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and recent Nokias) has the advantage of not interfering with signal, but the downside of often looking cheap. Metal conveys a feeling of solidity, but it blocks signal, so it’s hard to come up with an all-metal design for a phone. Finally, glass, is the middle ground, but it has one important downside - it tends to shatter easily.

So which one do you prefer? Your votes show that there is an overwhelming preference for devices made out of metal (mostly aluminum in the case of smartphones), as it grabbed more than 52% of the votes. After all, devices that are considered the gold standard for design are made of aluminum: we’re speaking about the Apple iPhone 5s, and the HTC One M8 here. This beauty often comes with the downside of harder repairs, batteries that are not user-replaceable, and often, no expandable storage option.

The most prolific material, plastic, is just fine for nearly 21% of you. After all, it's all about the finish on the plastic - this material has proven that it can feel good if treated right (think about the Galaxy S5 or the soft touch finish on the Nexus 5). Then glass gets 14% of the preferences, which earns it a third place. Lastly, only around 12% of you said they’d rather have other material, or don’t care at all about what’s a phone made of.