Shattered iPhone 4 photographed to challenge Apple's durability claims

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  • Reply 161 of 210
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DHKOsta View Post


    If I'm an expert at one thing, it's abusing my equipment.



    I've had my 3G since launch (nearly two years), and it's only ever been protected by an anti-glare film on the screen. After taking a call while driving, I typically stash my 3G between my legs. I often forget about it and when I get out it slides out of my GMC Sierra (an easy four feet) onto the concrete or asphalt and bounces. Conservatively estimating that this has happened once a week, I think this has happened at least a hundred times. Also, I once dropped it about twenty feet onto a wood deck, and my ex-wife hurled it at me once and it put a pretty good ding in a painted drywall surface.



    My glass is immaculate, though the bezel and back are a little scratched up.



    Also remember that the lcd screen laminated to the iPhone 4 probably lends much strength to the front display overall. Anyone taking this as even a general idea of what would likely happen in an end-use circumstance is kidding himself.



    LOL!



    I just gotta' comment!



    You're joking, right! Your opening line has me crying: "If I'm an expert at one thing, it's abusing my equipment."



    Kinda' like the macho guy in the TV commercial that brags: "I have a small business!"



    Back to your story... maybe if you were more careful about what was between your legs, your wife wouldn't be your ex-wife... and wouldn't feel like throwing things!



    .
  • Reply 162 of 210
    tribalogicaltribalogical Posts: 1,182member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    A free fall drop from several feet will not result in a multiple points of direct force impact that is being shown in this photo.



    That is the result of several focused blows from an external force directed down on a fixed object.



    I'm inclined to agree with that... it's bogus. Mac Rumors has already pulled the article on their site....
  • Reply 163 of 210
    hexorhexor Posts: 57member
    In other news, a new test posted shows that using only a quarter stick of dynamite strategically placed under a new iPhone 4 can actually cause some damage to the glass front and back side.
  • Reply 164 of 210
    foo2foo2 Posts: 1,077member
    The iPhone 4 is a sandwich of two such pieces of glass. Why doesn't iFixYouri repeat the test right away on the other side, with video recording this time?
  • Reply 165 of 210
    thekd80thekd80 Posts: 1member
    Call me paranoid and a conspiracy theorist but something is weird about the glass at that website.



    The website that did the test posted another photo of the broken glass.



    http://www.ifixyouri.com/blog/?p=62



    Look at the hole where the front camera is. There appears to be a crack that runs all the way across it, and it also appears to be flat glass.



    Look at any photo of the iPhone 4 on Apple's website and you'll see that the front camera hole is indented, just the like the mic hole.



    Am I the only one who see's that?
  • Reply 166 of 210
    augustwestaugustwest Posts: 157member
    My iphone was knocked out of my hands on...a subway platform! Luckily my reaction time is quick and I'm not one to stand near the edge, so I retrieved the phone with only a bounce on the floor (no case). One can only wonder what would have happened if it were run over by a train, or worse, eaten by one of the gigantic NYC subway rats.



    I've bounced the phone on concrete once or twice as well, and it's fallen out of a shirt pocket when I leaned forward a few times. The plastic back has a one inch "hairline fracture" that has yet to impact on my usability of the phone and that's about it. I've owned multiple phones and ipods and have never once had any problem with the glass on the front cracking. That photo of the cracked iphone 4 looks like someone dropped a bowling ball on it...
  • Reply 168 of 210
    8corewhore8corewhore Posts: 833member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by thekd80 View Post


    Call me paranoid and a conspiracy theorist but something is weird about the glass at that website.



    The website that did the test posted another photo of the broken glass.



    http://www.ifixyouri.com/blog/?p=62



    Look at the hole where the front camera is. There appears to be a crack that runs all the way across it, and it also appears to be flat glass.



    Look at any photo of the iPhone 4 on Apple's website and you'll see that the front camera hole is indented, just the like the mic hole.



    Am I the only one who see's that?



    I just posted about it not being the "official" Apple glass. See my link above. The glass and display are now fused - laminated - yet ifixyouri shows the parts as being separate.
  • Reply 169 of 210
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheToe View Post


    You know... if an article has 80 replies to it already, there is just a possible chance that someone has already posted what you are about to type.



    So before telling us all how bogus this article is because the case is empty, perhaps you could notice that like 20 other people have already reiterated that?



    But of course, if you're not going to read the last 80 posts, you're not going to read this either. So just post whatever is on your mind and expect everyone to read your post, even though you haven't read theirs.



    Hey everyone. TheToe has volunteered to be hall monitor for the iPhone forum on AI. Let's all give him a biiiiiiiig welcome. When he's done there, maybe he can volunteer to add some splashes of color to everyone else's posts. And even do some spel chekun for us, you know, on the side? And we never did fill that Forum Grammarian job posting...
  • Reply 170 of 210
    I read Aluminum Silicate glass. AlON is more like sapphire and much harder and stronger.
  • Reply 171 of 210
    sheffsheff Posts: 1,407member
    Interesting... Inconclusive but interesting. I have not had problems with iPod Touch even though I dropped it a few times (from the leg to ground distance while sitting in a car). But I mean come on, if you drop something enough times of course its gonna break, unless they create an aluminum display, but even that can get a bump or two.
  • Reply 172 of 210
    libertyforalllibertyforall Posts: 1,418member
    Yea well, anyone who does not get a case for their iPhone is just plain foolish. Monoprice has them cheap enough that there is no excuse!
  • Reply 173 of 210
    igxqrrligxqrrl Posts: 105member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mac Voyer View Post


    There are about 100 million iDevices in use today. I think the test data is in.



    This is my wife's 64GB 3G iPad after a 2-foot drop onto a wood floor. Wood floors are not particularly 'hard'. Granted that's only one data point.





  • Reply 174 of 210
    alanskyalansky Posts: 235member
    Totally bogus claim. No way in hell would theiPhone's glass screen shatter so catastrophically as a result of such a minor fall. No way in hell.
  • Reply 175 of 210
    djmikeodjmikeo Posts: 180member
    As many of you know, a lot of 3rd party companies have already announced their own iPhone-4 protectors. How were they able to announce them so fast? They probably had access to "dummy' iPhones that matched the final products dimensions, but had no guts to them. I would also assume that Apple would not bother putting in the same type of glass they use in the phone. Just plain plate glass and maybe just aluminum or other low cost bezel, since it is just a mock-up.



    This is not a true test.

    Cheers.
  • Reply 176 of 210
    The crack patterns imply a mid-side sharp impact (unlikely from a fall onto an even surface) and an impact, like a hammer or chisel/screwdriver blow to the face.



    Fraud.
  • Reply 177 of 210
    robogoborobogobo Posts: 378member
    basic simple FUD
  • Reply 178 of 210
    dws-2dws-2 Posts: 276member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by igxqrrl View Post


    This is my wife's 64GB 3G iPad after a 2-foot drop onto a wood floor. Wood floors are not particularly 'hard'. Granted that's only one data point.









    Well, they are called "hard"wood floors!



    Anyway, I think you have a point about the iPad's durability and Apple's general implication that they're something that you can toss around.



    On the other hand, the iPhone 4 uses a different glass than the iPad, so it really doesn't tell us too much about the iPhone.
  • Reply 179 of 210
    ruel24ruel24 Posts: 432member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rangerdavid View Post


    The crack patterns imply a mid-side sharp impact (unlikely from a fall onto an even surface) and an impact, like a hammer or chisel/screwdriver blow to the face.



    Fraud.



    Yes, one of the responses at iFixYouri claims he has a friend that is an industrial design specialist and says it's evident it was struck by a hammer, as noted in the near perfectly round shape where the damage starts from in the upper right hand corner. I'm pretty sure that's what probably happened, on top of a few other points provided by others: no internals, glass layers not fused together... It's a complete fraud...
  • Reply 180 of 210
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by eldernorm View Post


    ----- there will be 3rd party units that do the same thing for cheaper. And no it does not cost 1.7 cents. 50,000 $ for the cost of the mold, 125,000 $ for the injection machine, trained labor, and material. The cost for 1 is 175,000$ + the cost for 175,000 is 1$. But only if you sell all of them. :-)



    It's probably not far from the truth though. Given that Apple may well sell a million of them, their amortized per part cost for the bare part ( not including packaging, distribution, etc.) probably would not be far from a few cents. Contract injection molders don't make you pay for the whole injection machine, just the few seconds it takes to make the part, and that's embedded into the total per part incremental cost of a few cents a piece. The same goes with the labor, though much of it is automated, one person probably watches several machines at a time. It probably only takes a few thousand pieces to pay for initial costs.
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