iPhone 4 Drop Test

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/iphone-4-drop-test-yields-results-video/

That is the article where you can find Engadget's commentary and the video. My Opinion on the video is as follows:

A lot of the comments were made about how it isn't a big deal and all phones break and it's just glass and all that mumbo jumbo. My big thing about this is the hype about this new material. Though it wasn't as big and talked about as the new retina display, it was talked highly of and I honestly think it has failed to live up to it's claims. I will say I have a Droid and I have Verizon but I hate both greatly in more than one way. The only reason I'm with Verizon is because my dad has OnStar and Verizon and OnStar have an agreement. My dad is paying for my phone and plan so I'm not going to complain though I do have gripes about both. I'm not going to get into my likes and dislikes for Verizon/AT&T or Android/Apple and iOS in thisbut I will in another post.

With that being said, I think it's crazy the iPhone cracked so easily. I've dropped my Droid numerous times, albeit it wasn't on hard concrete but I've dropped it from heights upwards of 3+ feet. I am always scared I will crack my phone's screen so my heart always stops for a quick second to make sure nothing broke after my phone falls. I dropped my PSP 3000 from about two and a half feet up and there was a huge crack which made the entire right side of the screen impossible to use and I felt like crap that I made a $150 electronic device a $10 brick. Of course it was my fault the screen break and no one elses but I did feel very disappointed the screen broke so easilly. Luckily nothing has happened (yet) to my Droid's screen but it makes me worry. There's always that worry that I will break my screen so I try to keep it in a safe place when doing physical activities or activities that can cause risk to my phone's physical state. Some people are very careful with their things so they might keep their phone in an expensive case or in a tight pocket in their purse or pants when running but most people aren't like that. I think Apple advertised their custom glass that is "30x tougher than plastic and is comparable to sapphire crystal" to lure two specific kinds of people to buy their phone. Those two people are the very careful people who don't want any sort of scratch on their belongings and those who are constantly doing physical activities that may risk the physical state of their phones.

A person who always wants their products to look new would consider buying this so they could feel more comfortable that it will last the two years of its contract without it losing it's out-of-the-box look or getting scratched at all. If I were a consumer, I'd feel more comfortable buying a phone that's advertised as having a stronger glass than any other phone without this sort of claim including Android phones, Blackberries, HTC, Motorola etc. Making these claims might sway this type of person to go to Apple, which indirectly sends them to AT&T because no other carrier offers a phone with this type of claim.

The same goes for a person who does a lot of physical activities; if I were a construction worker and I'm constantly moving all over the place and I'm constantly around hard materials and surfaces at extreme heights, I'd feel more comfortable having a phone that could handle many falls while still being usable and looking new or almost new. I feel Apple's claim is directed at these two groups of people and it fails at living up to their claim. I'm no construction worker nor am I a person who has to have his or her stuff looking perfect all the time so I can't speak from experience but it's obvious Apple is aiming at those two types of people and it's obvious that four 4 foot falls severely cracking the screen shows the phone didn't live up to the claim. I don't care if it's grass, dirt, smooth concrete, or rough concrete, any number of falls at that height should have little, if any, effect on a phone with the hype this product has received.