Apple looks to protect dropped iPhones by shifting their orientation mid-flight

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  • Reply 61 of 91


    Coolest innovation in gadgets for years IMO.  This is so Apple.  Jobs would be proud.

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  • Reply 62 of 91

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


     


    I don't see how.  


     


    A weighted plunger inside the device (the most practical method mentioned) would take up half the phone if it had enough weight to seriously shift the device orientation in mid flight.  The other suggestions (growing wings, etc.) are just silly for the time being.  It reminds me of all that transforming suit crap in the Iron Man movies.  None of that is possible in the real world.  At all.  It's just CGI.  



    Mass is only one part of the momentum equation.  


     


    This is totally possible, although you're right that it would take up significant space (but not half according to the patent drawings).  Good thing components keep getting smaller.

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  • Reply 63 of 91
    People who bring up liquidmetal in these threads remind me of 9/11 conspiracy theorists mentioning thermite.
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  • Reply 64 of 91
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Tim Shundo View Post

    People who bring up liquidmetal in these threads remind me of 9/11 conspiracy theorists mentioning thermite.


     


    Why, do you not believe it exists? image

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  • Reply 65 of 91
    wovelwovel Posts: 956member
    chrispoe wrote: »
    What physics program did you graduate from? Newton would be shocked to hear that force = mass x speed squared.


    Would you have preferred i said the kinetic energy would be equal tohalfmass multiplied by speed squared.

    EDIT
    I still think more people would understand the way i said it the first time though

    Acceleration is not speed squared, you are confused.
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  • Reply 66 of 91
    tom01tom01 Posts: 1member
    Every corpus is falling with the same speed, independently of it's weight.
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  • Reply 67 of 91
    v5vv5v Posts: 1,357member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    For a device of this size, that's so negligible as to be pointless to measure.



     


    Not if you drop it from an airplane! image


     


    Unless the airplane is on the ground. Then yeah, you're right.

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  • Reply 68 of 91
    v5vv5v Posts: 1,357member


    The Americans design a phone with GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes and motors to position the device for minimum damage on impact.


     


    The Koreans just make the phone out of rubber.

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  • Reply 69 of 91
    spaceraysspacerays Posts: 116member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by v5v View Post


    The Americans design a phone with GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes and motors to position the device for minimum damage on impact.


     


    The Koreans just make the phone out of rubber.





    Rubber, yeah :) Check out those rubber-bordered phones Nokia makes for the low-end segment in India. Those phones are practically unbreakable in a fall, or even if you throw them.

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  • Reply 70 of 91
    bleh1234bleh1234 Posts: 146member
    If other manufacturers have a mil spec 810 phones, why not apple?
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  • Reply 71 of 91
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by bleh1234 View Post

    If other manufacturers have a mil spec 810 phones, why not apple?




    Because they'd rather make things that look good and save the crap design for third-party cases.

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  • Reply 72 of 91
    seankillseankill Posts: 569member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Macnewsjunkie View Post



    jonshf do you really need to be reminded that air friction is a negligible effect with falling bodies that are solids like a phone or a rock? Galileo proved that over 500 years ago dropping rocks off the tower at Pisa. The force of impact will change, but not the acceleration by gravity which remains constant. All this device will do is estimate the rate of rotation and attempt to make the phone land on its side rather than it's face. To work it would need some estimate of how high up in the air the phone is located. I assume an estimate will work for most cases. So don't try and drop your phone off a building to see what will happen unless you have insurance.


      


    You are both right and wrong. Air resistance is negligible over a short fall. But for long falls the object will reach what is called a terminal velocity. Where the force of air resistance is equal to the force of gravity. 


     


    Even a bullet has a terminal velocity which is much slower than the rate at which it was fired. By your argument, the bullet would accelerate forever (wrong). I am not sure if you have ever studied drag but the drag force is not linear. Basically, the faster you go, your drag increases much faster.  So if the drag force is a pound for 10 ft/s. it may be 2.8 for 20ft/s.   Make sense?


     


    However, for a fall of 10 feet, it can be ignored. Maybe I am getting technical but if you are going to call someone out, you will have to be specific.

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  • Reply 73 of 91
    Micah. I see what you mean... Frank`s c0mment is unbelievable, on monday I got a top of the range Lancia Straton since I been earnin $8744 this-last/five weeks and just a little over ten-k last-munth. this is actually the most comfortable job Ive had. I actually started four months/ago and almost immediately began to bring in over $85... per/hr. I follow instructions here Snap11.comisit
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  • Reply 74 of 91
    tjwaltjwal Posts: 404member


    Just make it as light as a feather and it will drift slowly to the ground when dropped.

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  • Reply 75 of 91
    Gee, if Apple we ever to create a device that reverses itself in free fall, that would be cool. Instead of hitting the ground, it would snap back up like a yoyo without a string. That would be inovation.
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  • Reply 76 of 91


    Attach a string to the phone, it would do the same thing. Wait.....create a way to do it without the string. Snap back like a YOYO. That would be cool. maybe if they started working on that now, the stock price would jump. After all, They are Apple and all is possible righty?

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  • Reply 77 of 91
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
  • Reply 78 of 91

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by broadbean View Post



    Isn't it a tad early for April Fool's?


    Why are there so many posts after this one?

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  • Reply 79 of 91
    With Apples trend toward making devices lighter and thinner, a dropped i-device will simply float to the ground. No harm done!
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  • Reply 80 of 91


    How about a patent to make Apple fanboys less absent minded so they won't drop their phones to begin with?  Either that or a patent to coat their fingers with glue.

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