I have owned an iPod Touch and currently have an iPhone 3GS. In all the time that I have owned them, I have only dropped my phone once and that was on a carpeted floor. I treat my devices like I treat anything that I care about and have spent good money for. Some people just don't care.
Doesn't matter how much care you take, accidents happen. That's why they're called accidents. Even you, a careful iPod owner, admit to having an accident. You were just lucky that your accident happened over a carpeted floor.
If you follow the link, and read the comments, a few details are revealed... "Chris" is the one replying for iFixIt.
Highlights:
- Surface: concrete
- Test: dropped face down onto concrete three times from 3.5 feet up.
- Retested using "typical" actions (fumbling out of a pocket, etc.). Needed to be dropped 6 or 7 times this way (still onto concrete) to break.
- They plan to retest with video.
My thoughts...
First, Apple isn't saying the thing is "invulnerable". You drop any electronics device onto concrete from a few feet up multiple times, it's going to start giving up on you... hit it with a hammer a few times. That'll break it too, guaranteed. Under "normal" usage (including a couple of drops), I doubt this would be much of a problem.
Second, it's obvious that the empty shell (without even the back plate) isn't going to absorb/deflect as much shock, or be as resilient as a denser, complete phone. This is a partially assembled device from parts. Come on. I hope they will try this again with a complete phone.
Finally, I think one other poster had this right. It's a marketing gimmick designed to promote iFixIt...
After all, here's the final line of the "test" post on their blog:
"We will continue to be the leader in iPhone Repair, and now iPhone 4 Repair."
The iPhone is VERY popular and therefore people are going to easily jump on the durability claims. However.... it is a smart phone, one of many which have breakable parts. If you think you are prone to breakage, then GET INSURANCE!!!! Stop the complaining and get real already. Be smart about the handling of your new iPhone.. but GET INSURANCE!!! SquareTrade is cheaper than AT&T's MobileProtect crap.
- Test: dropped face down onto concrete three times from 3.5 feet up.
Newsflash... glass breaks when you drop it on concrete. And here I thought Apple had invented a new kind of physics. Have to admit though... having exposed raised glass edges... while looking sexy... it a probably a no-no as far as durability goes. If the unit falls and hits on the edge of the glass... even a foot or two on a hard surface is going to completely shatter the thing.
Every few years there is a story about how girls at some Middle School suddenly all come down with some vague symptoms like feeling faint, having trouble breathing, etc. Later, after the Fire Department or EPA or whoever checks the place out and finds nothing amiss, it is determined that it was another case of mass hysteria. One girl had low blood sugar or something, and then her empathetic friends feel it too. Before long, rumors of toxic gases spread and soon, the panic that immature people are prone to, seems like the symptoms they heard described and girls (and some boys) start dropping like flies.
Be prepared for the adult iPhone owner version of this phenomenon as soon as the 4 ships. There will be the usual number of breakage mishaps, but they will be singled out and reported as if they are an epidemic. Panic on blogs will ensue. Haters will latch on to the only bad news they can to piss on the iPhone celebration.
Newsflash... glass breaks when you drop it on concrete. And here I thought Apple had invented a new kind of physics. Have to admit though... having exposed raised glass edges... while looking sexy... it a probably a no-no as far as durability goes. If the unit falls and hits on the edge of the glass... even a foot or two on a hard surface is going to completely shatter the thing.
It isn't news to most of us... I posted that because many people asked the material it was dropped onto, and the nature of the test.
I'm convinced this was a marketing gimmick.
I mistook this to be an "iFixIt" test too... but it's not. it's "iFixyouri", who I've never heard of before... piggybacking on iFixIt's brand maybe?
I detect a little scum floating...
AI should push this to the back page. It's pretty spurious...
Every few years there is a story about how girls at some Middle School suddenly all come down with some vague symptoms like feeling faint, having trouble breathing, etc. Later, after the Fire Department or EPA or whoever checks the place out and finds nothing amiss, it is determined that it was another case of mass hysteria. One girl had low blood sugar or something, and then her empathetic friends feel it too. Before long, rumors of toxic gases spread and soon, the panic that immature people are prone to, seems like the symptoms they heard described and girls (and some boys) start dropping like flies.
Be prepared for the adult iPhone owner version of this phenomenon as soon as the 4 ships. There will be the usual number of breakage mishaps, but they will be singled out and reported as if they are an epidemic. Panic on blogs will ensue. Haters will latch on to the only bad news they can to piss on the iPhone celebration.
Love this stuff.
I have to point out though that your emphasis on "girls" and "girls schools" is wrong. These are known sociological effects that have pretty much nothing to do with gender. It's humans that are easily fooled and misled, not a particular gender.
The more famous example of this is "The Mad Gasser of Matoon" where an entire town was convinced that a madman was wandering around poisoning people by introducing poison gas through their windows at night. No real proof of an actual "gasser," or actual gas was ever found and the entire thing (including real symptoms confirmed by doctors and hospital stays by the "victims"), turned out to be nothing at all.
It isn't news to most of us... I posted that because many people asked the material it was dropped onto, and the nature of the test.
I'm convinced this was a marketing gimmick.
I mistook this to be an "iFixIt" test too... but it's not. it's "iFixyouri", who I've never heard of before... piggybacking on iFixIt's brand maybe?
I detect a little scum floating...
AI should push this to the back page. It's pretty spurious...
Oh I agree with you. Fully. I was more commenting on the article itself that your post. When I found out it was concrete (thanks for that) I had the same reaction... DUH! Of course it's gonna break. Total marketing thing.
"iFixYouri contends that while the glass may be 30 times stronger than plastic"
Harder is not the same as stronger. Standard glass is significantly harder than aluminum - try to scratch one with the other. However, it is brittle and will break/shatter where AL will not.
I learned this in like 5th grade.
So Apple is not claiming that the iPhone is "stronger" than plastic. One would expect that it will be much more scratch resistant.
$30 for bumpers is an insanely high price, however.
2nd cent: Maybe they beat the glass on purpose to latter create a buzz.
3rd cent (and the most logical one): If that unit was for third-party solutions and only the cover with no internals was provided, the most possible thing is that it's for cover creating purposes. Then, why in the hell Apple would provide it with the expensive aluminosilcate glass?...
These guys are just as stupid as the more stupid a person can be.
I have owned an iPod Touch and currently have an iPhone 3GS. In all the time that I have owned them, I have only dropped my phone once and that was on a carpeted floor. I treat my devices like I treat anything that I care about and have spent good money for. Some people just don't care.
I care but accidents happen. At a club, a fellow dancer flung his arms out and my iPhone 3GS went flying off. Did that accidentally to a friends' boyfriend's iPhone 3GS at a cafe, flying off and took a few bumps on the ground.
It's impossible to be too careful, at least for me. Gotta hand it to Apple, iPhone 3GS so far looks pretty solid...
Macs, on the other hand, is a whole 'nother issue. Apple is pushing so hard with iPad and iPhone that the out-of-the-box component quality and repair part component quality is suffering. But I'm not here to push *that* agenda...
This "story" is just a plant. It's bogus people. Do ANY of u think Apple would hedge their number one device on material that nearly shatters from a VERY short fall? I've dropped, thrown, sat on every iPhone I've owned. 5 so far since it's release. I'm an executive at a film company in Los Angeles specifically in marketing. Apparently a majority of you here don't know what PAID shrills are. The story REEKS of a bogus plant by either money from HTC, Verizon, Google, and anyone else that has an interest to cast doubt on the new iPhone. Nuckleheads -- devices get better and more durable in new incarnations. Man the chit chat on this bogus story. We're talking Apple here. There are PLENTY of shrills being paid to invade forums like this to damage Apples image. Apple is the tech company to hate -- hello? Did somebody say Adobe? Get real folks.
This post is bogus. Notice that the unit does not have volume buttons, nor does it have a mute button. This leads me to believe that the unit is hollow, and therefore had no real display behind the glass when it was dropped. Also, the shatter pattern indicates that the unit was struck multiple times in different locations. Find the cracks and trace them back to the central points. There are at least 3 separate strikes on the screen which tells me it was not dropped, but beaten intentionally at the attempt to break the screen. This could also, in theory, have been the reason the side buttons fell out.
Bogus post. Embarrassing for AppleInsider.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rorybalmer
Does anyone ACTUALLY believe this amount damage was caused by a 3 foot drop?? I'm not saying it's ENTIRELY possible that Apple is overplaying how durable the phone is.. but come on, you can drop a $2 juice glass from Ikea on the ground and it won't cause that much damage.
Maybe they want to clarify some details.. such as, was dropped or thrown. And was it dropped on the ground or a steel pipe.. like seriously..
For all the exciting, sexy manufacturing imagery, look right here ~ notice no actual human, Chinese or otherwise, faces are shown during the manufacturing sequences. We're to believe it's all cool, high-tech, and utopian.
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.
Comments
I have owned an iPod Touch and currently have an iPhone 3GS. In all the time that I have owned them, I have only dropped my phone once and that was on a carpeted floor. I treat my devices like I treat anything that I care about and have spent good money for. Some people just don't care.
Doesn't matter how much care you take, accidents happen. That's why they're called accidents. Even you, a careful iPod owner, admit to having an accident. You were just lucky that your accident happened over a carpeted floor.
Highlights:
- Surface: concrete
- Test: dropped face down onto concrete three times from 3.5 feet up.
- Retested using "typical" actions (fumbling out of a pocket, etc.). Needed to be dropped 6 or 7 times this way (still onto concrete) to break.
- They plan to retest with video.
My thoughts...
First, Apple isn't saying the thing is "invulnerable". You drop any electronics device onto concrete from a few feet up multiple times, it's going to start giving up on you... hit it with a hammer a few times. That'll break it too, guaranteed. Under "normal" usage (including a couple of drops), I doubt this would be much of a problem.
Second, it's obvious that the empty shell (without even the back plate) isn't going to absorb/deflect as much shock, or be as resilient as a denser, complete phone. This is a partially assembled device from parts. Come on. I hope they will try this again with a complete phone.
Finally, I think one other poster had this right. It's a marketing gimmick designed to promote iFixIt...
After all, here's the final line of the "test" post on their blog:
"We will continue to be the leader in iPhone Repair, and now iPhone 4 Repair."
Yeah...
On the other hand... $30 for a small piece of rubber does seem a bit excessive, no? Oh wait. It does have color options.
The bumpers also have their own buttons. Otherwise the buttons that are integral to the iPhone 4 would be recessed and basically inaccessible.
Highlights:
- Surface: concrete
- Test: dropped face down onto concrete three times from 3.5 feet up.
Newsflash... glass breaks when you drop it on concrete. And here I thought Apple had invented a new kind of physics. Have to admit though... having exposed raised glass edges... while looking sexy... it a probably a no-no as far as durability goes. If the unit falls and hits on the edge of the glass... even a foot or two on a hard surface is going to completely shatter the thing.
Be prepared for the adult iPhone owner version of this phenomenon as soon as the 4 ships. There will be the usual number of breakage mishaps, but they will be singled out and reported as if they are an epidemic. Panic on blogs will ensue. Haters will latch on to the only bad news they can to piss on the iPhone celebration.
Newsflash... glass breaks when you drop it on concrete. And here I thought Apple had invented a new kind of physics. Have to admit though... having exposed raised glass edges... while looking sexy... it a probably a no-no as far as durability goes. If the unit falls and hits on the edge of the glass... even a foot or two on a hard surface is going to completely shatter the thing.
It isn't news to most of us... I posted that because many people asked the material it was dropped onto, and the nature of the test.
I'm convinced this was a marketing gimmick.
I mistook this to be an "iFixIt" test too... but it's not. it's "iFixyouri", who I've never heard of before... piggybacking on iFixIt's brand maybe?
I detect a little scum floating...
AI should push this to the back page. It's pretty spurious...
Although I did read the lcd is closer to the glass this time - maybe even fused together with the glass? That might make it more difficult to replace.
I suppose the bumpers say it all. Protect your $600 phone.
Every few years there is a story about how girls at some Middle School suddenly all come down with some vague symptoms like feeling faint, having trouble breathing, etc. Later, after the Fire Department or EPA or whoever checks the place out and finds nothing amiss, it is determined that it was another case of mass hysteria. One girl had low blood sugar or something, and then her empathetic friends feel it too. Before long, rumors of toxic gases spread and soon, the panic that immature people are prone to, seems like the symptoms they heard described and girls (and some boys) start dropping like flies.
Be prepared for the adult iPhone owner version of this phenomenon as soon as the 4 ships. There will be the usual number of breakage mishaps, but they will be singled out and reported as if they are an epidemic. Panic on blogs will ensue. Haters will latch on to the only bad news they can to piss on the iPhone celebration.
Love this stuff.
I have to point out though that your emphasis on "girls" and "girls schools" is wrong. These are known sociological effects that have pretty much nothing to do with gender. It's humans that are easily fooled and misled, not a particular gender.
The more famous example of this is "The Mad Gasser of Matoon" where an entire town was convinced that a madman was wandering around poisoning people by introducing poison gas through their windows at night. No real proof of an actual "gasser," or actual gas was ever found and the entire thing (including real symptoms confirmed by doctors and hospital stays by the "victims"), turned out to be nothing at all.
It isn't news to most of us... I posted that because many people asked the material it was dropped onto, and the nature of the test.
I'm convinced this was a marketing gimmick.
I mistook this to be an "iFixIt" test too... but it's not. it's "iFixyouri", who I've never heard of before... piggybacking on iFixIt's brand maybe?
I detect a little scum floating...
AI should push this to the back page. It's pretty spurious...
Oh I agree with you. Fully. I was more commenting on the article itself that your post. When I found out it was concrete (thanks for that) I had the same reaction... DUH! Of course it's gonna break. Total marketing thing.
"iFixYouri contends that while the glass may be 30 times stronger than plastic"
Harder is not the same as stronger. Standard glass is significantly harder than aluminum - try to scratch one with the other. However, it is brittle and will break/shatter where AL will not.
I learned this in like 5th grade.
So Apple is not claiming that the iPhone is "stronger" than plastic. One would expect that it will be much more scratch resistant.
$30 for bumpers is an insanely high price, however.
2nd cent: Maybe they beat the glass on purpose to latter create a buzz.
3rd cent (and the most logical one): If that unit was for third-party solutions and only the cover with no internals was provided, the most possible thing is that it's for cover creating purposes. Then, why in the hell Apple would provide it with the expensive aluminosilcate glass?...
These guys are just as stupid as the more stupid a person can be.
I have owned an iPod Touch and currently have an iPhone 3GS. In all the time that I have owned them, I have only dropped my phone once and that was on a carpeted floor. I treat my devices like I treat anything that I care about and have spent good money for. Some people just don't care.
I care but accidents happen. At a club, a fellow dancer flung his arms out and my iPhone 3GS went flying off. Did that accidentally to a friends' boyfriend's iPhone 3GS at a cafe, flying off and took a few bumps on the ground.
It's impossible to be too careful, at least for me. Gotta hand it to Apple, iPhone 3GS so far looks pretty solid...
Macs, on the other hand, is a whole 'nother issue. Apple is pushing so hard with iPad and iPhone that the out-of-the-box component quality and repair part component quality is suffering. But I'm not here to push *that* agenda...
This post is bogus. Notice that the unit does not have volume buttons, nor does it have a mute button. This leads me to believe that the unit is hollow, and therefore had no real display behind the glass when it was dropped. Also, the shatter pattern indicates that the unit was struck multiple times in different locations. Find the cracks and trace them back to the central points. There are at least 3 separate strikes on the screen which tells me it was not dropped, but beaten intentionally at the attempt to break the screen. This could also, in theory, have been the reason the side buttons fell out.
Bogus post. Embarrassing for AppleInsider.
Does anyone ACTUALLY believe this amount damage was caused by a 3 foot drop?? I'm not saying it's ENTIRELY possible that Apple is overplaying how durable the phone is.. but come on, you can drop a $2 juice glass from Ikea on the ground and it won't cause that much damage.
Maybe they want to clarify some details.. such as, was dropped or thrown. And was it dropped on the ground or a steel pipe.. like seriously..
Looks like it was *beaten* by a steel pipe LOL
Where did you see the glass being bent by Apple?
For all the exciting, sexy manufacturing imagery, look right here ~ notice no actual human, Chinese or otherwise, faces are shown during the manufacturing sequences. We're to believe it's all cool, high-tech, and utopian.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/#design-video
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.
I'm holding out for the iPhone 4 "Will It Blend?" video...THAT will be the real test!
Oh those Blendtec nuts will be looking forward to the challenge.