For most of the cases, we see that the drop tests receive a lot of appreciation, and criticism as well. Former, for helping people understand how the phone would respond to the accidental dropping from hands while they are being careless, and latter because people don’t like seeing the phones dropped as they don’t own it and they wished the phone was in their hands intact, rather than watching it drop and become an ultimate waste. Nevertheless, we do these to understand how well the mobile phone companies work to manufacture sturdy devices that might be able to resist drops from a certain heights, and what is the threshold limit for the same.
In the drop test that we did, there are several intentional attempts of dropping the Samsung Galaxy S III, the HTC One X and the Apple iPhone 4S from the various height levels, and see which holds a higher strength. And we did this intentionally on a flat surface rather than the cement or tar roads, because its inside your home where you see the phone dropped many a times, by you or your kids. We know the results would have been quite different if it was a rougher surface, but there is no use showing it when we know there is a shatter to be seen at such conditions. What we wanted to show was the actual response on the most common drop surface – Flat marble floor.
The phones that were tested –
- Apple iPhone 4S
- Samsung Galaxy S III
- HTC One X
The different height levels we dropped the phone from –
- Waist level – Front and Back facing down
- Shoulder level – Front and Back facing down
- Side Drop from Shoulder level
How each of them fared –
Apple iPhone 4S drop test results –
The Apple iPhone 4S saw no effect when dropped from the waist level with the front facing down, and then back facing down, and to make it look even stronger, we saw no scratches or breakage from the shoulder level too.
The side drop from shoulder height saw a scratch on the screen.
Samsung Galaxy S III drop test results –
The front and back facing drop from the waist level showed no scratches or changes.
The shoulder level drop with back facing down had a big scratch on the front, which actually was a crack of the screen deep into it rather than just being a surface mark.
The shoulder level drop with front facing down had the screen totally shattered, with numerous cracks and the display
The side drop just added up to the damage of the screen, and the display was already gone.
HTC One X drop test results –
The One X was the only phone which survived for most of the tests, except for minor scratches when there was a front facing down drop from the shoulder level.
Conclusion –
Polycarbonate is the body and not the screen, so the screen’s damage is totally dependent on the height from which the phone is falling, and the angle in which it falls. We saw the Galaxy S III screen totally being shattered, but that doesn’t make the device a totally delicate one, because it holds the advantage of not being a unibody one, and the other parts are well preserved. If given a bit of extra pressure or hit, the back panel of the iPhone 4S could have been damaged, and that would ask for the replacement of the entire panel, that being a unibody one.
It isn’t that easy to decide which phone is the strongest, and we did the tests to give you an idea, and for you to enjoy watching the falls.
Tips –
Use the flip cases that come with the phone. Unfortunately, there is nothing so specially built for these except the Samsung Galaxy S III, which has got the flip cover. If flip cases are not an option you would want to opt for, try to use the external panels and screenguards.
