Dear mobile device reviewers - Plastic isn't cheap, you're just uninformed!

OK so a lot of so called professional tech journalists and a plethora of users are always saying stupid things about devices made of plastic. For example, the most common one I've heard recently was comparing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus to other devices like the iPhone and calling it "cheaply made of inferior materials".
Holy crap this is an ignorant statement. Let's get into why.
First, let's talk about the word "plastic". 
Here's the definition from Wikipedia.
Plastic - A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids that are moldable. Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass, but they often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, but many are partially natural.[1]

Plastic is just a term that refers to a whole class of materials. It is equivalent to the term metal which also refers to a whole class of materials with widely different properties. Plastics are as widely varied as metals. To assume all plastic is "essentially the same" is equivalent to saying cast iron and titanium are "essentially the same". It's utterly ignorant of the facts.

For some reason, when many people hear the word "plastic" they think of cheap, low quality toys like those found in gumball machines and Cracker Jacks boxes. They don't seem to think of football helmets or bullet proof "glass" (which is actually a plastic).

This misconception seems to carry into those persons' views of consumer products and in particular mobile devices. This leads to incorrect and unfair perceptions of a device's build quality based on ignorance of materials. Let me illustrate. For the iPhone 5 Apple chose to use an aluminum body with anodized colouring. Reviewers gushed over the "quality materials" without taking a millisecond to think about it. Of course we know now that the anodizing is so delicate that many iPhone 5's come scratched out of the box from handling during manufacturing and shipping. 
Samsung, on the other hand, built the Galaxy Nexus out of PC/ABS which is an extremely durable, lightweight, and resilient material that is also transparent to radio waves. This was a brilliant choice of materials. It allows for a thin, lightweight device that can survive drops and bangs and bounce back without damage. The plastic body also helps absorb impact forces instead of passing the full G shock of a fall or bump to the electronic components. Where an aluminum device will dent from an impact, a plastic device will deform, absorb the shock, and bounce back into shape.

So next time you see that a device is made of plastic, think football helmets and bullet-proof glass and not cheap toys.  After all, would you rather play hockey wearing a plastic helmet, or an aluminum and glass helmet?

UPDATE - Here's a few links you might find intersting as it seems PhoneArena is coming around to the facts.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Confirmed-the-Samsung-Galaxy-S-III-is-polycarbonate-not-plain-plastic_id30304
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Whats-in-a-touch-The-Samsung-Galaxy-S-III-polycarbonate-debate_id30406